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Lyon’s Pierre-Louis Barassi during last week’s 19-13 EPCR Challenge Cup win over Gloucester
Dragons want to preserve their dominating track record when it comes to French sides – and it begins as they host Lyon in the EPCR Challenge Cup on Friday.
Rodney Parade is proving something of a fortress – Dragons have won ten of their 12 games against TOP 14 sides in Europe, scoring more than 30 points in eight of those matches.
The Pool B match kicks off at 8pm, and is available to watch on S4C and beIN SPORTS.
Other key facts:
- Dragons and Lyon have never met in Europe before, Lyon will be the 34th different side that the Dragons have faced in Europe and the 12th different side from France.
- Lyon have only won three of their 12 away games in the Challenge Cup, losing the other nine, and losing each of the most recent five; they lost their two previous trips to Wales in the competition, both in 2017 (against the Ospreys and Cardiff).
- Lyon made 16 successful offloads during the first round of the EPCR Challenge Cup 2021/22, no other team made more than 10, while only Edinburgh (1) made fewer offloads than Dragons (4); individually, Lyon’s Davit Niniashvili made six offloads, twice as many as any other player.
- Taine Basham (Dragons) beat 11 defenders in the EPCR Challenge Cup last weekend, more than any other player during the opening round; no Lyon player beat more than three defenders in Round 1 (Killian Geraci, 3).
Quotes:
Dragons centre Jamie Roberts told the club website: “Plenty to work on now and get back to the drawing board ahead of the game against Lyon. As a group we need to pull together to get out of this run. We will just get together, look back at the game and aim to put things right against Lyon.”
Lyon scrum-half Jonathan Pelissie
Lyon came out on top of an entertaining EPCR Challenge Cup Round 2 game at Rodney Parade on Friday night, beating Dragons 41-28 in Pool B.
Winger Ethan Dumortier notched a brace of tries for visitors Lyon, with fly-half Leo Berdeu kicking three conversions and five penalties – including four in the last 20 minutes – to take his match tally to 21 points.
Dumortier crossed for his first score in addition to tries from centre Alfred Parisien and scrum-half Jonathan Pelissie to give Lyon a commanding early lead.
Claiming a 7-try thriller, @LeLOURugby made it two from two 👏#ChallengeCupRugby highlights 📹 pic.twitter.com/MniUIYM84w
— EPCR Challenge Cup (@ChallengeCup_) December 17, 2021
Dragons fly-half Sam Davies, who racked up 13 points over the course of the game, slotted two penalties before prop Mesake Doge went over just before half time to reduce the deficit to eight points.
Dumortier crossed again on 41 minutes, but Dragons responded through prop Aki Seiuli and then flanker Aaron Wainwright as they moved to within four points.
Berdeu’s penalties would, however, be enough to see Lyon home despite seeing two players yellow carded in the second half.
Lyon, who are away at USAP in Round 3, now top Pool B on nine points, while Dragons are fourth on one point – they travel to Benetton Rugby next.
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