Newcastle and Pau make Challenge Cup semis

Newcastle and Pau progressed to the Challenge Cup semi-finals after they beat Brive and Stade Francais in their respective quarter-finals.

Newcastle 25-10 Brive

The Falcons were too good for Brive on Friday as scores from Scott Wilson, Zach Kibirige and a double from Alex Tait saw them to the win.

Toby Flood was instrumental in the victory though as despite only kicking one conversion, he set up tries and directed the traffic well.

Newcastle led 12-10 at the break but kept Brive scoreless in the second-half as Flood and Tait combined to see them into the next stage.

The scorers:

For Newcastle:
Tries: Wilson, Kibirige, Tait 2
Con: Flood
Pen: Hodgson

For Brive:
Try: Herjean
Con: Bezy
Pen: Bezy

Newcastle Falcons: 15 Simon Hammersley, 14 Alex Tait, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Josh Matavesi, 11 Zach Kibirige, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Sam Stuart, 8 Nili Latu, 7 Will Welch, 6 Ryan Burrows, 5 Sean Robinson, 4 Calum Green, 3 Scott Wilson, 2 Scott Lawson, 1 Sam Lockwood
Replacements: 16 Santi Socino, 17 Rob Vickers, 18 Trevor Davison, 19 Will Witty, 20 Callum Chick, 21 Joel Hodgson, 22 Adam Radwan, 23 Tom Penny

Brive: 15 Thomas Laranjeira, 14 Guillaume Namy, 13 Felix Le Bourhis, 12 Seremaia Burotu, 11 Sevanaia Galala, 10 Nicolas Bézy, 9 Florian Cazenave, 8 Etienne Herjean, 7 Retief Marais, 6 Said Hireche, 5 Jan Uys, 4 Johan Snyman, 3 Soso Bekoshvili, 2 Francois Da Ros, 1 Julien Brugnaut 
Replacements: 16 Thomas Acquier, 17 Na'ama Leleimalefaga, 18 James Johnston, 19 Peet Marais, 20 Julien Le Devedec, 21 Vasil Lobzhanidze, 22 Arnaud Mignardi, 23 Franck Romanet

Referee: John Lacey (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Andrew Brace (Ireland), Frank Murphy (Ireland)
TMO: Simon McDowell (Ireland)

Pau 35-32 Stade Français

Pau won a high-scoring affair at Stade du Hameau as they beat French rivals Stade Francais to join Newcastle in the European semi-finals.

Tries from Jale Vatubua, Benson Stanley and Thibault Daubagna before the interval were backed up by Quentin Lespiaucq in the second-half as the hosts saw off the Paris side. New Zealander Tom Taylor slotted 15 points off the tee via three conversions and three penalty goals.

For Stade their tries came via Clement Daguin, Charlie Francoz, Djibril Camara and Marvin O'Connor, with Jules Plisson kicking 12 points.

The scorers:

For Pau:
Tries: Vatubua, Stanley, Daubagna, Lespiaucq
Cons: Taylor 3
Pens: Taylor 3

For Stade Francais:
Tries: Daguin, Camara, Francoz
Cons: Plisson 3
Pens: Plisson 2

Pau: 15 Charly Malie, 14 Frank Halai, 13 Benson Stanley, 12 Jale Vatubua, 11 Julien Fumat, 10 Tom Taylor, 9 Thibault Daubagna (c), 8 Stefon Armitage, 7 Sean Dougall, 6 Ben Mowen, 5 Dave Foley, 4 Daniel Ramsay, 3 Malik Hamadachie, 2 Quentin Lespiauco, Thomas Domingo
Replacements: 16 Lucas Rey, 17 Jamie Mackintosh, 18 Lourens Adriaanse, 19 Julien Pierre, 20 Paddy Butler, 21 Julien Tomas, 22 Antoine Hastoy, 23 Florian Nicot

Stade Français: 15 Morné Steyn, 14 Marvin O'Connor, 13 Théo Millet, 12 Jimmy Yobo, 11 Djibril Camara, 10 Jules Plisson, 9 Clement Daguin, 8 Willem Alberts, 7 Matthieu Ugena, 6 Charlie Francoz, 5 Hugh Pyle, 4 Mathieu De Giovanni, 3 Ramiro Herrera, 2 Remi Bonfils (c), 1 Zurabi Zhvania
Replacements: 16 Lucas Da Silva, 17 Heinke van der Merwe, 18 Paul Alo Emile, 19 Paul Gabrillagues, 20 Sergio Parisse, 21 Charl McLeod, 22 Waisea Vuidarvuwalu, 23 Jonathan Danty

Referee: JP Doyle (England)
Assistant referees: Marius Mitrea (Italy), Ian Tempest (England)
TMO: Graham Hughes (England)