Connacht's perfect campaign continues

Yesterday at 01:59 AM

FRIDAY WRAP: With their fourth win of the EPCR Challenge Cup pool stage, Connacht put themselves in a great position for the top ranking spot when holding off a Cardiff Rugby comeback in the Welsh capital.

Connacht completed a perfect Challenge Cup campaign to defeat Cardiff and leave the Welsh side's hopes of reaching the knockout stages in danger.

Connacht landed the first blow against Cardiff in the Welsh capital, with Josh Murphy breaking the deadlock with a great line and step.

Cardiff hit back shortly after though through Evan Lloyd muscling his way to the line from close quarters.**

Joe Joyce put Connacht back in front, powering over from close range with Josh Ioane converting to send them into the sheds 14-7 up.

Thomas Young broke away from a ruck through the middle for Cardiff to add to their score in the first half.

Connacht hit back shortly after to regain the lead, with Byron Ralston finishing some great hands to add to Josh Murphy and Joe Joyce's first-half scores.

But again the hosts responded through Young, with some fancy footwork and a grubber out wide, before getting it back to speed into the corner, closing the gap to 21-19.

Continuing the back-and-forth, Matthew Devine crashed over for Connacht, and JJ Hanrahan's conversion was enough to see the game out 28-19 for the visitors.

*Montpellier Hérault Rugby secured the top spot in Pool Two with a win over Newcastle Falcons at Kingston Park.

Having scored in the opening minutes through Alexis Bernadet, the French side started the second half in the same manner, with Jan Serfontein getting over.

Lyam Akrab added a third not long after, and the Falcons had no response, leaving it 26-7 at full-time.

*Montpellier got the perfect start against Newcastle Falcons, breaking down the right with scrumhalf Alexis Bernadet on hand to cross in the corner, with Thomas Darmon converting.

Just after the half-hour mark Falcons got on the board through Alex Hearle following a few great breaks, with Kieran Wilkinson levelling the score sending them into the break at 7-7.

Friday's scores and scorers:

Cardiff 19-28 Connacht

Scorers:

For Cardiff:
Tries: Lloyd, Young 2
Cons: Thomas 2

Connacht:
Tries: Murphy, Joyce, Ralston, Devine
Cons: Ioane 3, Hanrahan

Teams

Cardiff: 15 Jacob Beetham, 14 Gabe Hamer-Webb, 13 Rey Lee-Lo, 12 Rory Jennings, 11 Tom Bowen, 10 Ben Thomas (captain), 9 Ellis Bevan, 8 Alun Lawrence, 7 Thomas Young, 6 Alex Mann, 5 Teddy Williams, 4 Josh McNally, 3 Keiron Assiratti, 2 Evan Lloyd, 1 Rhys Barratt
Replacements: 16 Efan Daniel, 17 Danny Southworth, 18 Rhys Litterick, 19 Rory Thornton, 20 Seb Davies, 21 Johan Mulder, 22 Callum Sheedy, 23 Cam Winnett

Connacht: 15 Santiago Cordero, 14 Chay Mullins, 13 Piers O'Conor, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 Byron Ralston, 10 Josh Ioane, 9 Ben Murphy, 8 Paul Boyle, 7 Conor Oliver, 6 Cian Prendergast (captain), 5 Joe Joyce, 4 Josh Murphy, 3 Finlay Bealham, 2 Dave Hefferman, 1 Peter Dooley.
Replacements: 16 Eoin de Buitlear, 17 Jordan Duggan, 18 Jack Aungier, 19 David O'Connor, 20 Sean Jansen, 21 Matthew Devine, 22 JJ Hanrahan, 23 David Hawkshaw.

Referee: Morné Ferreira (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Aimee Barrett-Theron (South Africa), Griffin Colby (South Africa)
TMO: Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa)

Falcons 7-26 Montpellier

Scorers:

For Falcons:
Try: Hearle
Cons: Wilkinson

For Montpellier:
Tries: Bernadet, Serfontein, Akrab, Martins
Cons: Darmon, Barreau 2

Teams

Newcastle Falcons: 15 Louis Brown, 14 Ben Redshaw, 13 Alex Hearle, 12 Oli Spencer, 11 Max Pepper, 10 Kieran Wilkinson, 9 James Elliott, 8 Freddie Lockwood, 7 Ollie Leatherbarrow, 6 Reuben Parsons, 5 John Hawkins, 4 Philip van der Walt (captain), 3 Murray McCallum, 2 Bryan Byrne, 1 Mike Rewcastle
Replacements: 16 Jamie Blamire, 17 Connor Hancock, 18 Callum Hancock, 19 Kiran McDonald Seran, 20 Callum Chick, 21 Joe Davis, 22 Brett Connon, 23 Max Clark

Montpellier: 15 Julien Tisseron, 14 Pierre Lucas, 13 Thomas Darmon, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Gabriel N'Gandebe, 10 Domingo Miotti, 9 Alexis Bernadet, 8 Sam Simmonds (captain), 7 Alex Becognee, 6 Romain Delemarle, 5 Marco Tauleigne, 4 Youssouf Soucouna, 3 Mohamed Haouas, 2 Christopher Tolofua, 1 Baptiste Erdocio
Replacements: 16 Lyam Akrab, 17 Nika Abuladze, 18 Wilfrid Hounkpatin, 19 Florian Verhaeghe, 20 Nicolas Martins, 21 Aurelien Barreau, 22 Auguste Cadot, 23 Anthony Bouthier.

Referee: Filippo Russo (Italy)
Assistant referees: Alberto Favaro (Italy), Simone Boaretto (Italy)
TMO: Stefano Penne (Italy)