Gloucester began their Amlin Challenge Cup campaign with an 11-6 victory over Mont de Marsan in an ill-tempered encounter.
Referee Neil Hennessy dished out three yellow cards and one red as both sides struggled to find their stride in rainy conditions.
Gloucester boss Nigel Davies had rung the changes for the game, one of which saw Charlie Sharples return to action after an injury lay-off. The winger was lively in the opening exchanges but there was little quality to really speak of.
The Cherry and Whites opened the scoring in the 29th minute when Ian Clark dived over from close range after a good break from Dave Lewis.
The try came shortly after Mont de Marsan lock Scott Murray had been sent to the sin bin. Ill-discipline was a theme of the clash, with replacement prop
Ephraim Taukafa also earning himself a yellow card.
Tim Taylor and Jean-Baptiste Claverie exchanged penalties after the break before Andy Hazell came to the fore for all the wrong reasons.
The flanker was red carded in the 55th minute after aiming a flurry of punches and a knee to one of the home players after being taken out late. Matt Cox joined him on the sidelines for ten minutes for his involvement in the scuffle.
Replacement Billy Twelvetrees added another penalty early in the final quarter which was cancelled out by Claverie's second three-pointer fifteen minutes later.
While the penalty cut the deficit to just five with a handful of minutes to go, Gloucester held on for the win.
The scorers:
For Mont-de-Marsan:
Pens: Claverie 2
For Gloucester:
Tries: Clark
Pens: Taylor, Twelvetrees
Yellow cards: Murray, Taukafa (Mont-de-Marsan), Cox (Gloucester)
Red card: Hazell
The teams:
Mont de Marsan: 15 Jean Baptiste Claverie, 14 Jordan Beaulavon, 13 Christofer Baegert, 12 Tamaz Mchedlidze, 11 Jean Baptiste Dubié, 10 Alexandre Douvesy, 9 Julien Cabannes, 8 Aldric Lescure 7 Sebastian De Chaves, 6 Yann Brethous,5 Vickus Liebenberg,4 Scott Murray,3 Mathieu Giudicelli, 2 Thomas Bordes, 1 Pierre Correia.
Replacements: 16 Ephraïm Taukafa, 17 Morgan Phelipponneau, 18 Eric Dos Santos, 19 Vincent Farre, 20 Laurent Magnaval, 21 Thibault Duvallet, 22 Yohann Durquet, 23 Sebastien Ormaechea.
Gloucester: 15 Martyn Thomas, 14 Charlie Sharples, 13 Tim Molenaar, 12 Mike Tindall, 11 Ian Clark, 10 Tim Taylor, 9 Dave Lewis, 8 Sione Kalafamoni,7 Andy Hazell, 6 Matt Cox, 5 Will James,4 Peter Buxton, 3 Shaun Knight,2 Koree Britton, 1 Yann Thomas.
Replacements: 16 Tommaso D'Apice, 17 Nick Wood, 18 Dario Chistolini, 19 Elliot Stooke, 20 Gareth Evans, 21 Jimmy Cowan, 22 Henry Trinder, 23 Billy Twelvetrees.
Referee: Neil Hennessy (Wales)
Assistant referees: James Jones (Wales), Martyn Lewis (Wales)
Television match official: Gareth Simmonds (Wales)
Comments
damo says...
Feel for Hazel he is a class player he needs to stand up and appologise and take his punnishment as he is a class player
Posted 22:42 12th October 2012
melkdave says...
A very scrappy game,in very bad conditions,with Mont de Marsan committing so many offences it was laughable,Why the referee took so long to yellow card them for it ,god only knows.That being said though ,doesnt excuse A.Hazells behaviour ,though his claiming eye gouging for it.The loss of disapline from Gloucester was shocking imo.Anyway enough said on that,the posatives where Gloucester got an away win ,and Twelvetrees is starting to look the player we thought he would be, .He even maybe the answert o Englands backline problems if he keeps improving at this rate,F.Burns again got his team moving ,and they always looked the better side ,and never like losing
Posted 04:17 12th October 2012