Champions Cup – Lyon loses at Bristol on the siren despite a good comeback

Not necessarily comfortable away from their bases at the start of the Top 14 championship (a defensive bonus for Racing), the Lyonnais opened the Champions Cup bracket on Saturday evening with a… trip to Bristol. They leave England with a mixture of emotions, a huge final disappointment punctuating the satisfaction of having completely reversed the course of this game.

A breathtaking end to the match

Five minutes after the siren, the Bristol players have already gone back sixty meters. They pound near Lou’s goal. The Lyon defense is bracing itself and does not want to give in, the team has come back too far in this part… And with enormous self-sacrifice. Unfortunately for the Rhone residents, the Bears end up finding a drop situation for Callum Sheedy. It passes and Bristol wins 36-34.

On the Rhône side, it will therefore be necessary to settle for a double bonus, defensive for having conceded only two spending points to the opponent. And offensive, rewarding the six tries scored by the gang to Sébastien Taofifenua. But a few moments before the end of the match, the Lyonnais held on to an improved victory, which seemed illusory just before the hour mark. At that moment, the Lou players were trailing 33-10. Previously, the French team suffered from the realism of its opponent. The Rhône players quickly conceded a try by Richard Lane (5th) at the end of the line. Led, they respond very quickly, in the aspiration of an inspired Martin Page-Relo. He chooses the closed side behind scrum to extend towards Ethan Dumortier, served along the line (7th). In the process, the Italian international scrum-half offers himself a suitcase at the heart of the Bristol defense. Martin Page-Relo infiltrates it, shifts Ethan Dumortier who will crash into the defense before making contact with the young third line Marvin Okuya (7-10, 9th).

Avalanche of tests

Afterwards ? Bristol takes the lead. The English team decides to rely on its fundamentals to regain control of this match. Steven Luatua escapes to score another try, following a start from Harry Randall behind a carried ball (23rd). There is still talk of a penetrating group and a test of strength when Harry Thacker collapses in the goal (21-10, 30th). At the very end of the first act, the Lyonnais in turn turned their backs and succeeded in anesthetizing an opposing penetrating group. At halftime, Bristol leads 21-10. And pushes his offensives again at the start of the second period. With tries from Harry Randall, on the edge of the ruck (48th). Then from the replacement hooker Gabriel Oghree, thanks to enormous work from Gabriel Ibitoye (33-10, 54th).

The Lyonnais overturn the table

On this festival of lights weekend in Lyon, the people of Rhone are rekindling the flame. On a magnificent action with a pass from Liam Coltman to Fletcher Smith, the latter passes his arms towards Thaakir Abrahams. The rear finishes the job (58th). Then it’s Semi Radradra who shows the way forward, starting at the edge of the ruck (65th). The Lou is launched, Thaakir Abrahams is put into orbit by Monty Ioane (70th). Then Alfred Parisien in turn mystifies the Bristol defense in the center of the field (77th). As Alexandre Tchaptchet succeeds in this transformation, Lou is then in front (33-34). Above all, Fabien Gengenbacher’s players have just inflicted a 0-24 on their opponents (admittedly reduced to 14 part of this period, following the yellow card addressed to Kalaveti Ravouvou). The Lyonnais overtook their opponents. But there was still a little time left in this part. This unbridled match had not yet reached its epilogue. And this famous drop attempted and succeeded by Callum Sheedy (36-34, 80th+5). Next Saturday, Lou will welcome the Bulls to Gerland as part of the second day of this Champions Cup. With the hope of succeeding in tipping the scales to the right side this time.