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Gloucester full-back Rob Cook reckons their back-to-basics approach will help them claim their second French scalp in as many weeks in the European Rugby Challenge Cup. - 23/10/2014 12:14
Gloucester full-back Rob Cook reckons their back-to-basics approach will help them claim their second French scalp in as many weeks in the European Rugby Challenge Cup.
Oyonnax are next up for David Humphreys' men after the Kingsholm faithful saw their side crush Brive in their European opener last Thursday.
Oyonnax battled past Zebre on their tricky Italian trip in round one to turn the tables on their miserable league form.
They are rock bottom of the Top 14 with two wins from their nine matches so far. But they will be buoyed by their triumph over Stade Francais.
New-look Gloucester have been in indifferent league form with three wins from their six Premiership outings.
But they are flying high in Europe and will be hoping Charlie Sharples can continue the form that saw him score three tries in the 55-0 hammering of Brive.
Gloucester full-back Rob Cook said: “Even though we ran in seven tries against Brive it was not out most clinical performance of the year. It was good to nil them of course but we are still working hard to improve week on week.
“We want to go out and win every game that we play, we are seeing how it goes, putting in performances every week and getting used to playing together and hopefully can create a bit of momentum to take back into the Premiership.
“We are not doing anything too complicated at the moment, the coaching has been very well organised and I'm sure that will come as we continue. We are obviously getting there, the focus is on our game and what we can achieve and we are working hard to improve every time.”
Match Facts
- These two sides have not met before in the Challenge Cup.
- After beating Zebre last weekend, Oyonnax are looking for their first ever consecutive wins in the tournament.
- Oyonnax have won just one of their four games against English opposition in the competition (D1, L2).
- Gloucester’s 55-0 win against Brive last weekend was their third largest winning margin against a French side in the Challenge Cup.
- No player has scored more tries in the tournament so far than Charlie Sharples (3).
En danger dans la poule 4 d'European Rugby Challenge Cup
Gloucester Rugby – the 2006 tournament champions – made it two from two in Pool 5 with a battling 25-15 victory over Oyonnax at Stade Charles Mathon.
After scoring seven tries in beating former European champions Brive 55-0 in Round 1 the Premiership club had to largely rely on the boot of scrum half Greig Laidlaw.
He contributed 20 of their points in a tight contest in which flanker Matt Kvesic scored the only try of the night.
Oyonnax, 33-24 winners at Zebre last weekend, failed to score a try and it was honours even in a battle of the boots at the break, Laidlaw landing three from four penalty goal chances and Adriaan Smit faultless with three from three.
He promptly made it four from four five minutes after the restart to give Oyonnax the lead for the first time but that advantage was quickly blown away with Kvesic breaking the kicking duel by scoring with the ball in hand.
Laidlaw added the conversion but Regis Lespinas kept the home side firmly in touch with a penalty, outside half James Hook wayward with a drop attempt at the other end.
The expected flurry of replacements made it a stop-start affair before Laidlaw added another penalty with 15 minutes left on the clock.
A yellow card for replacement Tichit did not help the home cause, Laidlaw punishing Oyonnax with another penalty and then opened up a 10-point advantage with yet another success with the boot to boot Gloucester to the four points.
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