Sloppy Bulls bettered by Lyon

Last year’s EPCR Challenge Cup winners earned themselves a crucial bonus-point win, with two tries from Guillaume Marchand, a wonderful score by Jean-Marc Doussain and another by Leo Berdeu, who also kicked 11 points.

Vodacom Bulls, meanwhile, simply couldn’t put together enough phases without making a mistake, their one breakaway try scored by Kurt-Lee Arendse.

Lyon set the tone early, with hooker Marchand going over on four minutes following a well-worked lineout maul.

Fly-half Berdeu kicked the conversion and followed that up with a penalty minutes later to give the home side a ten-point lead within ten minutes. The 24-year-old was perfect from the tee on the night and kicked conversions for all four Lyon tries.

Over the next 20 minutes it was predominantly Vodacom Bulls applying the pressure, but they were unable to avail themselves of their entries to Lyon’s 22.

While the French club’s defence was solid and disciplined at the breakdown, the visiting side’s penchant for errors was their undoing, as it was all game.

On 36 minutes, it was Lyon’s turn to return to their opponent’s territory, moving up the field with a fast break. Their pressure culminated in a brilliant try from Doussain, the scrum-half going over after driving through a Vodacom Bulls defender in a brilliant piece of individual determination.

Lyon smelt blood just before the break and tightened the screw on Vodacom Bulls once more. With Simphiwe Matanzima in the sin bin, the victim of a number of Vodacom Bulls infringements, Marchand went over with for his second, Lyon’s pack once again dominating their South African counterparts.

Lyon were on top for the first moments of the second period, but when full-back Arendse intercepted a long pass, he went from one end of the pitch to the other to score Vodacom Bulls’ first points of the game.

Johan Goosen kicked the conversion, but that proved the South African outfit’s last points as they failed to build on their score, Lyon weathering an initial storm of pressure in the wake of Arendse’s try to come out on top.

The final points of the game came on 57 minutes when Lyon earned their crucial fourth try, Berdeu spotting a gap in the defensive line, powering through it and getting over to give his team the bonus point.

Lyon now must wait and see if they will qualify for the Round of 16, but they have done all they can with their bonus-point win.