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LIsten to the second edition of Amlin European Club Rugby Podcast previewing all the action from Round 2 of the Heineken Cup and Amlin Challenge Cup - 17/10/2013 12:34
Thursday’s clash between Lusitanos and I Cavalieri Prato is guaranteed to finish with a first of some sorts as the hosts target their maiden tournament points and the visitors seek to break their duck of never having won back-to-back European games.
The Italians ran out 40-22 winners at the Stadio Enrico Chersoni last week, scoring six tries in the process to close the gap on second-placed Stade Francais to three points at the halfway mark of the pool stages.
Lusitanos fought valiantly throughout, though, and they finished the stringer of the two sides by scoring a brace of late tries to bring a level of respectability to the scoreline after successive thumpings from London Irish and Stade Francais.
The Portuguese outfit are in their first season of European rugby and are yet to come close to a losing bonus point but they will see this week’s fixture as their best chance to get off the mark in one way or another.
They will enter the Round 4 clash wither greater expectation than in their previous home game against London Irish when a shock was never really on the cards, but victory would still be a significant surprise given that Prato ran Stade so, so close in Round 2.
Prato have never won away from home in four seasons of continental competition, though, with 10 games on the road resulting in 10 straight defeats.
As well as losing to London Irish in Reading this term, Prato have been beaten at Grenoble, Stade Francais, London Welsh, Exeter Chiefs, Perpignan, Newport Gwent Dragons, Harlequins, Bayonne and Connacht since their tournament debut in 2010.
LIsten to the second edition of Amlin European Club Rugby Podcast previewing all the action from Round 2 of the Heineken Cup and Amlin Challenge Cup - 17/10/2013 12:34
I Cavalieri Prato are already celebrating their most successful campaign in European rugby after clinching their second win of this Amlin Challenge Cup season.
The Italian club had lost 19 games in a row after winning their first European fixture against Connacht in 2010. But Thursday night’s success against Lusitanos of Portugal saw them celebrating a brace of firsts: their first away win and their first back-to-back victories in continental competition.
No8 Giacomo Bernini scored twice while flanker Gabriele Cicchinelli and a penalty try completed a bonus-point win at Estadio Universitario de Lisboa. The victory lifts Prato above French giants Stade Francais, who are yet to play their Round 4 tie.
Lusitanos, in their debut European season, scored the first and last tries of the game through Vasco Fragoso Mendes and Antonio Salgueiro.
Filippo Vezzosi and Toby Browne kicked penalties for Prato but they trailed 7-6 after 25 minutes when flanker Mendes crossed for the game’s first try, converted by Nuno Penha Costa.
In need of a response, the Italians turned to the power of their pack who squeezed their opponents into conceding a penalty try after several scrums collapsed just five metres from the Lusitanos line.
Prato turned up the pressure and it told on the hosts who lost prop Jorge Segurado to the sin bin and Bernini pounced to make the advantage count for a crucial try on the stroke of half-time. Browne missed the conversion but Prato led 18-7 at the break.
The next score would be crucial and it went to the Italian outfit with Segurado seconds from coming back onto the pitch. Cicchinelli scored Prato’s third, which also went unconverted.
With the visitors leading 23-7, the game broke open as both sides rang the changes and Bernini grabbed a second in the 55th minute to clinch the bonus point.
This time Browne converted for 30-7, though Lusitanos, who have shown plenty of courage and spirit in their maiden campaign, still had the last say in front of their home supporters when Salgueiro crossed in injury time for their second try, converted by Costa.
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