Perpignan off to comfortable start
Fri, 10 Oct 2008 23:30
Perpignan got their 2008 Heineken Cup campaign off to a comfortable enough start at the Stade Aime Giral with a 27-16 win over Treviso.
A penalty try, as well as one each from Jerome Porical and JP Grandclaude, helped ensure that Perry Freshwater's troops were able to get off to the ideal start on Friday night.
The home side start got the ball rolling almost immediately with a Porical penalty in the opening minute.
The Italian side then took some sense of control of the game. Andrea Marcato opened their account after seven minutes before wing Emiliano Mulieri gave them the lead with his try with just 13 minutes gone.
It was not to last though and, with just over a quarter of the match gone, the home side were awarded a penalty try. De Jager’s infringement not only gave the opposition their first five pointer, it also earned him a ten minutes spell on the sideline for, what the referee decided, was a yellow card offence.
Marcato slotted his second penalty of the night before Mele sunk his first drop goal and the teams wrestled for the control of the match.
Late into injury time of the first half then Porical delivered a decisive blow. With his conversion to go along with his try, Perpignan went into the break with the lead as well as the match momentum.
Six minutes after the break and Mele was at it again. His second drop goal of the night giving the home side a seven point cushion with Treviso knowing they needed to score next to stay in touch.
It wasn’t to be through and, less than fifteen minutes into the second period, centre Grandclaude crashed over for Perpignan. The conversion followed and the game, although still twenty-five minutes from the end, seemed to be wrapped up.
Replacement Marius Goosen added a penalty kick for Treviso with six minutes to go but they were ultimately unable to get themselves back to within touching distance and therefore earn themselves a valuable bonus point.
Although certainly not a vintage performance from the team currently sitting in 3rd place in the Top 14, it will be a pleasing enough start for Freshwater and his men as they look to qualify for the quarterfinals of Europes' biggest competition for the second year in a row.
Scorers:
Perpignan:
Tries: Penalty Try, Porical, Grandclaude
Con: Porical 3
Drop: Mele 2
Treviso:
Tries: Mulieri
Con: Marcato
Pens: Marcato 2, Goosen
Teams:
Perpignan: 15 Jérôme Porical, 14 Adrien Plante, 13 David Marty, 12 Jean-Philippe Grandclaude, 11 Farid Sid, 10 David Mele, 9 Chris Cusiter, 8 Damien Chouly, 7 Jean-Pierre Perez, 6 Gerrie Britz, 5
Rimas Alvarez Kairelis, 4 Olivier Olibeau, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 Marius Tincu, 1 Perry Freshwater (captain).
Replacements: 16 tbc, 17 Sebastien Chobet, 18 Kisi Pulu, 19 Guillaume Vilaceca, 20 Guilhem Guirado, 21 Nicolas Durand, 22 Philip Burger.
Benetton: 15 Brendan Williams, 14 Emiliano Mulieri, 13 Benjamin De Jager, 12 Fraser Waters, 11 Andrew Vilk, 10 Andrea Marcato, 9 Simon Picone, 8 Dion Kingi, 7 Hottie Louw, 6 Silvio Orlando, 5 Cornelius Van Zyl, 3 Salvatore Costanzo, 2 Augusto Allori, 1 Marco Riva.
Replacements: 16 Diego Vidal, 17 Enrico Ceccato, 18 Marco Filippucci, 19 Enrico Pavanello, 20 Tobias Botes, 21 Marius Goosen, 22 Alberto Sgarbi.
