Vaipulu try puts the spoilers on Gloucester away day
GLOUCESTER were in despair on their knees after being denied a notable European win by a late late try by Maama Vaipulu.
The Castres No.8 bulldozed his way over from close range five minutes into added time as the French side stole the points in this final pool clash.
Johan Ackermann’s young side had defended stoutly and led for most of the game until the dramatic twist.
With little riding on this Champions Cup Pool 2 contest at Stade Pierre-Fabre both sides were keen to play open, attacking rugby. But it was Gloucester who were the more accurate and inspired in an opening half where their defence was also outstanding.
Henry Trinder gave them the perfect start after 80 seconds. Put through the defence by Matt Banahan, Trinder exchanged passes with the supporting Freddie Clarke on the left wing and then dived over for the opening try. Owen Williams converted.
Banahan was at his powerful best, making surging runs and tackling hard. One impressive break led to the visitors’ second try. The wing charged through two attempted tackles before putting a kick through for supporting scrum-half Ben Vellacott to dribble and then pick up and dive across the line.
Williams converted and French fans were stunned.
A try-saving tackle from fly-half Lloyd Evans which forced the charging Vaipulu to drop the ball demonstrated once more how determined and fired up the Gloucester men were to leave France with a victory.
But the visitors’ defence was unable to stop Castres from eventually breaking through and crossing for their opening try. The hosts camped on the Gloucester line and the ball was finally swept wide left to centre Florian Vialelle who forced his way through attempted tacklers to grab a fine try.
Rory Kockott converted and Castres domination of the ball and territory continued after the break. Vialelle showed his dynamic running skills again to put Gloucester on the back foot but the hosts were left frustrated by some more brave last ditch defence.
Yet, the visitors’ resilience could only last so long and a flowing, quickfire move by Castres sparked by wing Martin Laveau finished with Camille Gerondeau and Vaipulu feeding Vialelle for his second try.
Kockott levelled the scores with his conversion. But not for long as Williams’ first penalty nosed Gloucester ahead once more.
And when Banahan popped up on the right wing to skilfully keep the ball from bouncing into touch and tap it back for the on-rushing Williams to take in his stride and stretch over the line the travelling Gloucester fans were vocal once again.
Vialelle fed wing Armand Batlle for a try in the left corner to set up a tense final nine minutes with Castres trailing by three points. Then as time went on and Gloucester tried hard to repel their attackers, Vaipulu struck from close range.