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Gloucester Rugby director of rugby David Humphreys wants to build the defence of their Challenge Cup title on an away win at La Rochelle. - 17/11/2015 10:37
Gloucester Rugby director of rugby David Humphreys wants to build the defence of their Challenge Cup title on an away win at La Rochelle.
The Cherry and Whites won away at Oyonnax and Brive during the pool stages of their their unbeaten campaign last season. It’s La Rochelle this season for Humphreys’ side and he is hoping a victory in the west of France can put them on the road to the quarter-finals after a 23-10 round one triumph over Zebre.
He said: “We built our success last season on going to a couple of difficult places in France and winning. We know La Rochelle have been going well in the Top14 and they will pose a huge challenge for us. But we want players to come in and put their hands up, we have to develop the squad. We want at least 30 players who are able to come into the side if their is an injury or we decide to rest someone, and the performance doesn't suffer.
“I thought a number of players came in against Zebre and played well. We’re delighted to kick off with a win, and it sets us up for a busy week.”
La Rochelle were kept at arm’s length by Worcester Warriors in round one, eventually slipping to a 19-3 defeat at Sixways. Gloucester have met the French side on four occasions, with three wins and a defeat so far. Gloucester warm-up for the Challenge Cup clash with a clash against a star-studded Barbarians side tonight.
Match Facts
- Gloucester Rugby have won three of their four matches against La Rochelle, though their last encounter ended 24-18 in favour of the French side.
- Gloucester Rugby have won 9 of their last 10 matches against French opponents in the Challenge Cup.
- Gloucester Rugby have won eight of their last nine matches away from home in the Challenge Cup, their only loss in that period coming against fellow English side Wasps.
- La Rochelle have lost their last five Challenge Cup games in a row; previously they had never lost more than two on the bounce in the competition.
Il aura manqué dix minutes aux Rochelais
A late show saw Gloucester triumph 33-20 over La Rochelle to keep their Challenge Cup defence on-track.
Ben Morgan gave the Cherry and Whites and early lead, but they were pegged back by home scrum-half Julien Audy. Jason Eaton put the hosts into the ascendancy after the break, but late tries from Steve McColl and Charlie Sharples secured Gloucester’s 11th successive Challenge Cup triumph.
Gloucester made a lightning start as they went in search of their 10th successive Challenge Cup triumph. Cherry and Whites captain Greig Laidlaw exchanged penalties with La Rochelle marksman Fabien Fortassin, before England international Morgan took things into his own hands. The Gloucester no.8 powered through a gap in the home defence and beat the final man to score.
But David Humphreys’ men were pegged back just four minutes later. A kick through landed in the hands of Eliot Roudil who fed the ball inside to Audy to score. But Laidlaw was on-hand to kick a pair of penalties and silence the the home crowd after half-an-hour. The kickers traded penalties again before the hosts came racing out of the blocks after the break.
La Rochelle claimed possession after the restart and Fortassin sent a well-weighted cross-field kick for Jason Eaton to dot down, Fortassin converted to give the Top14 side a 20-19 lead. Just when it looked like it could be La Rochelle’s day, James Hook combined with Rob Cook, who fed McColl to race over at the corner. Billy Twelvetrees landed the conversion before Charlie Sharples raced over for the 33-20 triumph.
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