Gloucester put one over messy Biarritz
Sat, 11 Oct 2008 20:37
Gloucester exploited an unstructured Biarritz on Saturday to claim a 22-10 opening Heineken Cup victory at Kingsholm, which included five penalty goals.
There wasn't much in the first half, although Gloucester dominated the territory and possession stakes.
England international Olly Barkley slotted two penalties to give the hosts a 6-0 lead after 10 minutes, while Julien Peyrelongue replied immediately with a drop-goal for Biarritz.
Gloucester's efforts eventually paid off with a late first-half Simpson-Daniel try, thanks to an overlap and a clean long-range pass from captain Mike Tindall - giving the hosts a healthy 16-3 half-time lead over the visitors.
Biarritz came back with a statement in the second half with a try by wing Jean-Baptiste Gobelet in the 43rd minute off a charging break from Romain Cabannes - after Barkley failed to take down the abrasive centre.
Peyrelongue converted to close the gap on the hosts, 16-10.
Barkley then slotted a medium range penalty kick in the 58th minute to bump up the hosts' lead. A try went begging in the 68th minute when England back Iain Balshaw chased a grubber right on the goal-line, but was eluded with the bounce.
The final quarter saw a host of substitutions, including Lesley Vainikolo replacing Barkley. Biarritz' ill-discipline continued through to the final whistle, handing Gloucester another penalty which Ryan Lamb duly converted in the dying minutes to consolidate a victory for the hosts.
Scorers:
For Gloucester:
Tries: Simpson-Daniel
Con: Barkley
Pens: Barkley 4, Lamb
For Biarritz:
Try: Gobelet
Con: Peyrelongue
Dg: Peyrelongue
Yellow cards: Morgan (Gloucester), Thion (Biarritz)
Teams:
Gloucester: 15 Olly Morgan, 14 Iain Balshaw, 13 Mike Tindall (captain), 12 Olly Barkley, 11 James Simpson-Daniel, 10 Ryan Lamb, 9 Gareth Cooper, 8 Luke Narraway, 7 Alasdair Strokosch, 6 Peter Buxton, 5 Alex Brown, 4 Marco Bortolami, 3 Carlos Nieto, 2 Olivier Azam, 1 Alasdair Dickinson.
Replacements: 16 Scott Lawson, 17 Jack Forster, 18 Adam Eustace, 19 Andy Hazell, 20 Rory Lawson, 21 Willie Walker, 22 Lesley Vainikolo.
Biarritz: 15 Benjamin Thiery, 14 Takudzwa Ngwenya, 13 Romain Cabannes, 12 Damien Traille, 11 Jean-Baptiste Gobelet, 10 Julien Peyrelongue, 9 Fabien Cibray, 8 Jacques Cronjé, 7 Samiu Vahafolau, 6 Magnus Lund, 5 David Couzinet, 4 Jéróme Thion (captain), 3 Mosese Moala, 2 Benoit August, 1 Fabien Barcella.
Replacements: 16 Benoit Bourrust, 17 Eduard Coetzee, 18 Manuel Carizza, 19 Petto
Som, 20 Laurent Tranier, 21 Andrea Masi, 22 Philippe Bidabé.
Referee: Peter Allan (Scotland)
Touch judges: Rob Dickson (Scotland), Ron Dumma (Scotland)
TMO: Andy Ireland (Scotland)
