It was a blended weekend within the Challenge Cup for the Lions and Cheetahs, because the Lions claimed a good 30-12 bonus level win over Stade Francais, whereas the Cheetahs went down in a heavy 45-26 defeat to Scarlets.
Having drawn their opening match every week earlier it was necessary for the Lions to bounce again with a win, which they managed comfortably and picked up the bonus level besides due to a robust begin to the match.
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Two tries to wing Quan Horn within the first 26 minutes, and the unerring boot of flyhalf Jordan Hendrikse noticed them race right into a 20-0 lead.
A strong fightback from Stade Francais then put the brakes on the Lions, with the rating going into the final 10 minutes 25-12, however the house aspect managed to clinch the bonus level within the 75th minute with a attempt to substitute prop Ruan Smith.
“Five points against a team that is currently third in the French Top 14 is a good result,” mentioned Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen.
“They didn’t carry a full power workforce however they nonetheless had some high quality gamers right here. They introduced some robust Georgian forwards. They had some tall lanky backline gamers who’re harmful if you happen to don’t cease their momentum as a result of they appear to dump and get their sport going.
“So we will take the five points against Stade Francais any day.”
Wake-up name
For the Cheetahs they obtained a wake-up name after their profitable begin to the competitors towards Pau in France final weekend was adopted up by a heavy loss to Scarlets.
The Cheetahs sadly don’t actually have a house fixture as a result of a part of the deal that noticed them invited to play within the Challenge Cup was that they’re primarily based in Europe, in order that they performed their house match towards Scarlets in Parma, Italy.
After opening the scoring within the match the Cheetahs then watched in horror as Scarlets tore right into a 38-7 lead at half-time.
The Cheetahs then produced a good comeback within the second half to scale back the deficit to 38-26 with 5 minutes to go, however a late transformed attempt to Scarlets made certain of their win.
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