European Challenge Cup: Gloucester hammer Brive at Kingholm

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Gloucester’s Charlie Sharples marked his 150th game for the club by bagging a hat-trick and picking up the man of the match award as Gloucester thrashed Br

Charlie Sharples marked his 150th appearance for Gloucester with a hat-trick of tries, helping his side thrash Brive 55-0 on the opening night of the European Challenge Cup.

Winger Sharples broke the deadlock in the 16th minute before touching down twice from clever kicks after the break as the Cherry and Whites ran riot in the second half at Kingsholm.

James Hook, Darren Dawidiuk and Dan Robson also crossed for the hosts, while Greig Laidlaw kicked three conversions and a pair of penalties before being withdrawn before the hour mark.

Brive battled hard in the opening 40 minutes of the Pool 5 contest, including having a try of their own chalked off for a knock-on after fly-half Riaan Swanepoel had failed to locate the posts with two early penalty attempts.

The French side - who currently sit second from bottom in the Top 14 table and have been shown 13 yellows and 1 red card so far this season - actually only trailed 10-0 at the break.

Sharples shrugged off Elia Radikedike to get over in the corner, Laidlaw adding the conversion from out wide before following up with a much easier penalty that carried his team into a double-digit advantage.

In truth Gloucester’s lead could - perhaps really should - have been even greater, particularly as centre Billy Twelvetrees let the ball slip from his grasp with the try-line at his mercy.

Cut loose

Home prop John Afoa also had a try correctly ruled out for offside after a clearing kick had been charged down, though Gloucester had no such frustrations after the interval as they cut loose, going at better than a point a minute.

It took them just six minutes into the second half for the floodgates to open, New Zealand international John Afoa showing superb hands to send the ball back inside and set up fly-half Hook for a straightforward finish.

The speedy Sharples then got on the end of a perfectly-weighted kick over the top from Laidlaw, with the scrum-half slotting over the simple conversion before immediately making way for Robson.

The replacement No 9 showed he too can create with his right boot, his chip clearing a broken defensive line and allowing Sharples to collect and finish to complete his treble and cap a landmark outing for the 25-year-old in fine style.

In between his second-half double there was a try for substitute Dawidiuk that came when both teams were down to 14 men, Gloucester prop Yann Thomas and fellow front rower Damien Jourdain seeing yellow after issues at scrum time.

Robson helped himself to a score of his own in the 73rd minute and the Aviva Premiership club made sure they hit their opponents for a half-century in the final move of the match, referee Ian Davies growing tired of Brive consistently infringing at the breakdown and awarding a penalty try.