Latest
Overview
Season so far
Tournament record
Gloucester director of rugby David Humphreys admits his side are the favourites to top Pool 5 - but insists they can't underestimate Brive. - 15/10/2014 12:13
Gloucester director of rugby David Humphreys admits his side are the favourites to top Pool 5 – but insists they can’t underestimate Brive.
Brive travel to Kingsholm on Thursday (7.45pm) hoping to brush off their Top 14 troubles. The French outfit are second-bottom of the Top 14 after six defeats from their opening nine games.
Only Oyonnax- who are also in Pool 5 – have a worse record in the league this season. Gloucester have themselves made a mixed start with three wins and three defeats in the Aviva Premiership but Humphreys believes they will enter round one of the European Rugby Challenge Cup as the team to beat.
“We believe we have a team that is capable of winning the group but if you look at some of the results, Oyonnax have had some good wins in the past and Zebre have beaten Ulster and should have beaten the Ospreys,” said Humpheys.
“Based on league standings you can’t disagree that we are favourites. The difficulty is if you look at Brive they are averaging 26-points a game so they are scoring a lot of points and are a huge threat.
“It would be hugely disrespectful to sit here and say we will win the group. There is no doubt that those teams will want to win at home.
“But we want to challenge in the competition. We will be picking teams that are able to compete and win. It’s absolutely vital that we make a good start to the competition, it’s vital that we build on the performances of the last couple of weeks and it’s important we lay down a marker early.”
Brive head coach Nicolas Godignon said he will use the competition to blood a few of his younger players but dismissed any suggestions the Challenge Cup is not a priority for them.
Godignon said: “It's a competition that we approach with great respect and ambition. “We are not there just to participate in games – they are not friendlies.
“We will do as we have always done, play make a mix of our younger players so they can gain experience in high level games and surround them with senior players and some players lacking playing time.”
Match Notes
- These teams have met just once before in the Challenge Cup, with Gloucester coming out on top 46-13 in the quarter final in 2005/06.
- Brive’s Kieran Murphy made the most carries in the Challenge Cup last season (97).
- Brive’s Simon Pinet made four line-out steals in last season’s Challenge Cup, only four players made more.
- Gloucester are just six tries away from reaching 250 tries in their Challenge Cup history.
- In their one previous meeting in the Challenge Cup Gloucester managed seven tries to Brive’s one.
- Brive’s Venione Voretamaya had the sixth highest average gain for any player to make more than 20 carries in last season’s Challenge Cup.
- Gloucester have lost just two of their last 12 home games in the Challenge Cup, however both of these defeats came against French teams.
- Brive have won just four of 16 away games against English sides in the Challenge Cup, however those four wins have come in their last six trips across the Channel.
- Gloucester had the third best tackle success rate in the Heineken Cup last season (89%).
- This will be the Cherry and Whites 51st game in this competition, they average 38 points game in their history of the tournament.
Charlie Sharples set the new European Rugby Challenge Cup alight with a 150th appearance hat-trick as Gloucester romped to a 55-0 victory over Brive. - 16/10/2014 22:08
Charlie Sharples set the new European Rugby Challenge Cup alight with a 150th appearance hat-trick as Gloucester romped to a 55-0 victory over Brive.
A crowd of 9,739 saw a magical Kingsholm showdown, with seven Cherry and White players crossing for tries.
Sharples got the try-fest underway with a jinking try but it was to be the only one of the first-half as they went in at 10-0.
But the floodgates opened in the second-half. Hook got in on the act before Sharples scored his second. The electric England wing got his hat trick after Darren Dawiduik crossed.
A Charlie Sharples seven-pointer and a penalty try rounded off a dream Challenge Cup start for Gloucester.
Riaan Swanepoel missed two early chances to put the Top14 side ahead before Charlie Sharples got the try he had been dreaming of on his 150th appearance in Cherry & White.
The England flyer finished off a slick backs move that saw James Hook bring Billy Twelvetrees and Jonny May into play before Sharples jinked past the scrambling Brive defence to score.
Scotland scrum-half Laidlaw slotted the conversion from the right-hand touchline to give his new side a 7-0 lead after six minutes.
Guillaume Namy thought he had replied for the visitors just two minutes later after broke finished off a swift Brive counter attack. But Alfifeleti Mafi knocked on at the start of the move and the try was ruled out.
Former All Black John Afoa also had one ruled out, but Gloucester kept pressing their case and won a penalty five minutes later which Laidlaw knocked over to put his side 10-0 ahead at the break.
Hook set the second-half off with a bang with a try of his own. Ben Morgan barrelled up the wing before the ball was switched. Afoa made a snipe at the line but offloaded to Hook who was cutting an inside line to score.
It did not take long for Sharples to get his second of the match. He showed electric pace as he raced on to Laidlaw’s chip through to dot down at the posts.
Gloucester's Yann Thomas and Brive's Damien Jourdain yellow carded for scrummaging infringements before replacement hooker Darren Dawiduick crashed over for the bonus-point score. And then the magical moment, Dan Robson mimicked Laidlaw’s earlier chip and the same result occurred as Sharples latched on to the kick and scored for a dream 150th appearance.
Jonny May’s cheeky tap penalty released Robson for try number six before referee Ian Davies awarded a last-play penalty try, which Rob Cook converted to take the final score to 55-0.
LIVE - TEST - Commentary