Section Paloise reserved their place in the playoffs with a 24-15 win over the Dragons RFC in the final Round 3 action of the weekend in the 2024/25 EPCR Challenge Cup.
Axel Desperes' trio of penalties was enough to take Section Paloise side into the break with a 9-8 lead after Aaron Wainwright muscled over to keep Dragons RFC in it.
The French side scored their opening try in the second half through Clément Mondinat to go 19-8 up.
Before adding a third through Dan Jooste, Rio Dyer scored a consolation try for Dragons as Section Paloise won 24-15 and earned their spot in the Round of 16.
Scorers:
Dragons RFC: Tries: Aaron Wainwright, Rio Dyer. Conversion: Lloyd Evans. Penalty: Lloyd Evans.
Section Paloise: Tries: Clément Mondinat, Dan Jooste. Conversion: Axel Desperes. Penalties: Axel Desperes (4).
Teams
Dragons RFC: 15 Cai Evans, 14 Rio Dyer, 13 Joe Westwood, 12 Harri Ackerman, 11 Jared Rosser, 10 Angus O’Brien (c), 9 Che Hope, 8 Taine Basham, 7 George Young, 6 Shane Lewis-Hughes, 5 Barny Langton-Cryer, 4 Joe Davies, 3 Chris Coleman, 2 Elliot Dee, 1 Rodrigo Martinez Manzano. Replacements: 16 James Benjamin, 17 Dylan Kelleher-Griffiths, 18 Dimitri Arhip, 19 George Nott, 20 Dan Lydiate, 21 Morgan Lloyd, 22 Lloyd Evans, 23 Ewan Rosser.
Section Paloise: 15 Clément Mondinat, 14 Theo Attissogbe, 13 Eliott Roudil (c), 12 Fabien Brau-Boirie, 11 Gregoire Arfeuil, 10 Axel Desperes, 9 Dan Robson, 8 Thibaut Hamonou, 7 Reece Hewat, 6 Mehdi Tlili, 5 Jimi Maximin, 4 Hugo Auradou, 3 Jon Zabala Arrieta, 2 Romain Ruffenach, 1. Remi Seneca. Replacements: 16 Dan Jooste, 17 Daniel Bibi Biziwu, 18 Harry Williams, 19 Remi Picquette, 20 Loic Credoz, 21 Thomas Souverbie, 22 Quentin Valentino, 23 Jack Maddocks.
