Challenge Cup: Glasgow hold off second-half comeback from Perpignan | Rugby Union News

Glasgow beat Perpignan 26-18 in the Challenge Cup; Connacht pick up 31-24 victory over Brive; Emirates Lions beat Stade Francais 30-12.

Last Updated: 16/12/22 11:28pm

Glasgow Warriors' Rufus Mclean scores their first try against Perpignan

Glasgow Warriors’ Rufus Mclean scores their first try against Perpignan

Glasgow made it two victories from two as they saw off a second-half comeback from Perpignan to claim a 26-18 Challenge Cup win on Friday night.

Tries from Rufus McLean and Huw Jones helped establish a 14-5 lead at the interval.

However, when Lucas Dubois touched down on the hour, the visitors – assisted by a couple of penalties from Dorian Laborde – edged ahead 15-14.

A yellow card for Tristan Labouteley handed the advantage to the home side before they retook the lead courtesy of penalty try.

Another Laborde kick reduced the deficit but Sebastian Cancelliere, a minute from the end, safeguarded the result and secured a bonus point.

Connacht are in pole position for a place in the knockout stages after their 31-24 bonus-point win against 14-man Brive.

First-half tries from David Hawkshaw, Tom Daly and Diarmuid Kilgallen – after Abraham Papali’i was sent off for a head-on-head collision after just 23 minutes – were followed by Shane Delahunt’s score to make it six wins from their last eight games in all competitions.

Flanker Francke Horn scored a pair of tries in Emirates Lions’ first victory – a 30-12 win over Stade Francais.

Horn dived over in the corner for his first try before breaking clear to crash over for a second and with Jordan Hendrikse converting both.

Scrum-half James Hall got the visitors on the scoreboard on the stroke of half-time to make it 20-5 at the break.

But Lions full-back Andries Coetzee crossed with 15 minutes remaining after latching onto a superb long pass to restore the 20-point advantage and Ruan Smith’s try made sure of the bonus point.