Ngwenya stars as Brive battle past feisty Russians

BRIVE took firm control of Pool 3 as they secured a 38-18 bonus-point win over

Enisei on Friday night. American speedster Taku Ngwenya helped himself to two tries as the hosts, who take on Worcester and the Dragons next, crossed six times in total in what was a feisty affair.

English referee Tom Foley dished out four yellow cards with the Russians picking up three.

Having taken the lead with a penalty from Iurii Kushnarev, the visitors then lost Mikheil Gachechiladze to the sinbin three minutes later.

While he was off, Benito Masilevu crossed for the first of the home tries and Johan Snyman was next to score 20 minutes in.

Ramil Gaisin became the second Enisei player to see yellow. A minute later, Sisa Koyamaibole extended the lead for Brive but it was cut to 15 points at the break as Kushnarev slotted a penalty.

Brive started the second half with 14 men as Wilhelm Steenkamp saw yellow a minute before halftime but not to be outdone, Enisei picked up a third yellow nine minutes into the second half. This time it was Viacheslav Krasylnyk who left the field and two minutes later Ngwenya crossed for his first.

Enisei hit back with two tries from Shamil Magomedov but Ngwenya’s second and a final score from Julien Le Devedec made it a good night’s work for the home side.

Treviso overcame the handicap of seeing two players pick up yellow cards to beat Bayonne 21-17 in a Pool 1 deadrubber in Italy yesterday.