European Challenge Cup

Gloucester 33 Oyonnax 3

GLOUCESTER will travel to Brive on Thursday evening in the knowledge that just one point will be enough to give them a home European Challenge Cup quarter-final tie after they secured a bonus-point victory over French side Oyonnax at Kingsholm on Saturday.

The Cherry and Whites now have five successive group victories in the competition but this win was more of a case of getting the job done.

Gloucester had their bonus point and their qualification to the knock-out stages done and dusted by half-time although they made heavy weather of it once they got the second of their four tries after the break.

It looked at one stage that the Cherry and Whites would rattle up a try every few minutes as they opened the scoring when England centre Billy Twelvetrees put a neat grubber kick from the 22 towards the visiting line for fly half Billy Burns to secure and run-in unopposed.

Oyonnax got their only points of the half soon after when fly half Regis Lespinas landed a kick from in front of the posts.

But a brilliant breakaway from halfway led to wing Jonny May racing in from 25 metres, and then centre Mark Atkinson mirrored his wing's effort to take Gloucester to 19-3.

Just 12 minutes had elapsed and Gloucester were flying. It must have seemed all too easy for the Pool Five leaders as they let their foot off the accelerator and allowed Oyonnax back into the contest.

In fairness to the shell-shocked Frenchmen, they got their act together and caused Gloucester some headaches.

Up front, they drove to the home line and only a brilliant piece of interception at a ruck from the Gloucester pack, that brought a turnover a metre from the scoring zone, kept Oyonnax out.

Gloucester got themselves going again and an excellent kick to the corner from Twlevetrees was the preamble for Oyonnax giving away penalty after penalty until the ref Andrew McMenemy had enough of the visitors repeatedly dropping the set-piece scrum.

He yellow-carded Oyonnax tight-head prop Antonie Guillamon and gave Gloucester a penalty try which Laidlaw converted to present the hosts with a bonus point.

As much as last week's second half against Saracens was brilliant, this second period was woeful.

In fact, it took a whole 30 minutes for them to get inside the Oyonnax 22 and even then the Frenchmen managed to clear the danger.

The home faithful were frustrated at the absence of any kind of excitement which was typified by the ironic cheers when the Cherry and Whites won a scrum or a line-out.

The match score remained the same from half-time until two minutes from the end when Gloucester eventually got their fifth try, replacement Dan Robson completing the move from five metres out.

It was the ugliest of second halves but if there was one positive to take it was that the defence stuck to their task and denied a try to a French outfit who battered the home line at times and looked capable of getting at least a consolation touchdown.