Cardiff salvage bonus point as they fall to narrow defeat in France

Cardiff came away from France with a losing bonus point as they fell to a narrow 23-20 defeat away to Perpignan in the Challenge Cup.

Second-half tries from Rey Lee-Lo and Johan Mulder gave them hope of sneaking a victory at Stade Aime Giral, but their efforts ultimately came up short. However, the bonus point could prove crucial for their hopes of qualifying for the knockout stages.

Cardiff had gone into the match sitting third in Pool 1, having lost in Lyon before beating the Cheetahs at the Arms Park.

In a tight first-half, the swirling wind certainly played its part. With it blowing towards the Cardiff tryline in the first-half, the Blue and Blacks managed to steal a few lineouts, but also had some of their own pulled up for not being straight.

The conditions seemed to matter less in the second-half, as the home side's power ultimately told - even if tries at either end of the half from Lee-Lo and Mulder kept Cardiff in the fight.

On his debut for the club, Regan Grace managed just under an hour - looking solid before being replaced.

It was the hosts that took an early lead, after Italy international Tommaso Allan stroked over a penalty after four minutes.

Perpignan looked likeliest to score once the brief deadlock was broken, with Cardiff's rear-guard forced to stand up to the rising pressure of some repeat attacking sets by the home side.

To their credit, the much-changed Cardiff side held firm, growing into the half in the face of the wind. However, despite managing the conditions, Matt Sherratt's struggled to turn field position into points.

It would take until the 36th minute before Cardiff troubled the scorers, when Tinus de Beer knocked over a simple penalty.

That looked to be enough to take the teams level