Match Centre: Gloucester 22-17 Bordeaux

Gloucester 22-17 Bordeaux Begles, Kingsholm Stadium

Gloucester Rugby have kick-started their Heineken Champions Cup campaign with a 22-17 victory over Bordeaux Begles at Kingsholm Stadium on Saturday.

Bordeaux opened their account in the second minute as Sipili Falatea breached the Gloucester defence to touchdown and Zack Holmes kicked a conversion and a penalty apiece to take them to a 0-10 lead.

Gloucester's response came in the 24th minute as Santi Socino broke a couple of tackles in midfield to send an inside pass from Stephen Varney to touchdown but his effort was cancelled out with former Wasps number eight Tom Willis awarded their second try after a lengthy check from the TMO and Holmes kicked the conversion as the teams completed the opening half with a 5-17 scoreline.

Bordeaux missed an opportunity to extend their lead in the second half as Holmes' penalty kick drifted wide before the home side clawed their way back into the game with Albert Tuisue, who came in as a HIA replacement for Cam Jordan powered his way over but Santiago Carreras missed out on the conversion.

The gap came down to two points by the the 68th minute as Santiago Socino dotted down at the back of a line out but Carreras missed out on the conversion.

As the game entered the final few minutes, Bordeaux almost held on to their two-point lead but Charlie Chapman had other plans as he collected an offload from Mati­as Alemanno to score and Carreras kicked the extras to steer the Cherry and Whites to a five-point victory.

Team line up:

Gloucester: Evans; Hearle, Harris, Atkinson, May; Carreras, Varney; Rupava Ruskin, Socino, Balmain, Jordan, Alemanno, Clarke, Ludlow, Morgan.

Reserves: Blake, Elrington, Knight, Tuisue, Clement, Chapman, Twelvetrees, Reeves

Bordeaux Begles: Buros; Cordero, Vili, Mori, Cros; Holmes, Lucu; Kaulashvili, Lamothe, Faletea, Douglas, Roussel, Giammarioli, Diaby, Willis

Reserves: Maynadier, Vaotoa, Cobilas, Cazeaux. Timu, Gimbert, Masse, Bielle-Biarrey