Wins for Cardiff, Exeter, Gloucester, Stade Francais

There were wins for Cardiff Blues, Exeter Chiefs, Gloucester and Stade Francais as the second round of European Rugby Challenge Cup fixtures drew to a close today.

Pool 1: Rovigo 18-33 Cardiff Blues
Pool 2: Exeter 33-13 Connacht
Pool 3: Bucharest Wolves 9-13 Stade Francais
Pool 5: Oyonnax 15-25 Gloucester

Stade Francais survived a scare to beat Bucharest Wolves in a low-scoring Pool Three encounter played in wintry conditions at the Stadium Arcul de Triumf.

Bucharest led 6-0 before Stade Francais hit back to lead 10-6 at the break and held on to their lead until the end of the match.

A brace of Florin Vlaicu penalties put the Romanians ahead before Vali-Catalin Mototolea was sin-binned, and Stade took advantage through a Morné Steyn penalty and a converted Digby Ioane try on the stroke of half-time.

Steyn landed another penalty soon after the break and a third penalty from Vlaici was the only other score of the match.

Cardiff Blues took a bonus-point win over Rovigo, beating their hosts 33-18 at Stadio Mario Battaglini in Pool One.

They led 19-10 at the break and extended their advantage in the second half to notch their second win in the competition.

Kristian Dacey, Josh Turnbull and Gethin Jenkins crossed in the first period and further tries from Manoa Vosawai and Macauley Cook ensured a perfect return for the Blues.

Luciano Javier Rodriguez and Jean-Francois Montauriol touched down for Rovigo

Exeter Chiefs bounced back from their defeat last week to Bayonne with a 33-13 win over Connacht that keeps Pool 2 wide open.

They scored three tries in the first half to lead 19-6 and completed the bonus-point win with an equally commanding second-half performance.

Tries from Will Chudley and Henry Slade put Exeter ahead after Craig Ronaldson had kicked Connacht ahead and once Damian Welch crossed on the stroke of half-time, the home side never looked back.

Dave Ewers secured the bonus point on 46 minutes before Ben White also dotted down. Fionn Carr scored a try late on for Connacht.

Gloucester followed up their 55-0 hammering of Brive last week with a 25-15 win over Oyonnax at Stade Charles Mathon in Pool Five.

The sides were locked at 9-9 at half-time with kickers Greig Laidlaw and Adriaan Smit trading penalties.

Smit put Oyonnax ahead with another three-pointer early in the second half before Matt Kvesic crossed for the game's opening try.

It was converted by Laidlaw but a penalty from Regis Lespinas reduced Gloucester's lead to 16-15.

James Hook missed a drop goal but Gloucester went on to make points safe with Laidlaw slotting over further penalties on 65, 71 and 76 minutes, the latter two coming after Antoine Tichit had been given a yellow card.

ROUND 2
23/10/2014	07:45 PM		London Welsh	20-52	Bordeaux-Begles		Kassam Stadium
24/10/2014	07:30 PM		Grenoble	15-25	London Irish		Stade Lesdiguières
24/10/2014	07:30 PM		La Rochelle	25-13	Bayonne		Stade Marcel Deflandre
24/10/2014	07:30 PM		Newport Gwent Dragons	26-30	Newcastle Falcons		Rodney Parade
24/10/2014	07:30 PM		Brive	21-26	Zebre		Stade Amédée-Domenech
24/10/2014	07:45 PM		Edinburgh Rugby	25-17	Lyon		BT Murrayfield Stadium
25/10/2014	03:00 PM		Femi-CZ Rugby Rovigo	18-33	Cardiff Blues		Stadio Mario Battaglini
25/10/2014	03:00 PM		Exeter Chiefs	33-13	Connacht Rugby		Sandy Park Stadium
25/10/2014	03:00 PM		Bucharest Wolves	9-13	Stade Francais Paris		Stadium Arcul de Triumf
25/10/2014	08:45 PM		Oyonnax	15-25	Gloucester Rugby		Stade Charles Mathon