Cheetahs crash out of Challenge Cup after heavy defeat to Lyon

Needing a win away from home in their final pool match to secure their passage into the knockout stages of the competition, it was always going to be a tough ask for the men from Free State to come away with a victory in Lyon, but the final tally of 10 tries to three in the French side's favour underscores the comprehensive nature of their defeat.

Surprisingly, it was the Cheetahs who opened the scoring on the night after some solid phase play took them to the line before hooker Louis van der Westhuizen charged over from close range.

But Lyon were back level within moments of the restart after Davit Niniashvili ran through the heart of the Cheetahs' defence to score a brilliant solo try.

And when a crossfield kick found Dylan Cretin for Lyon's second try not long after, it opened up the floodgates, as the hosts proceeded to run away with the contest, scoring three more first-half tries as outside centre Josiah Maraku picked up two in quick succession before scrumhalf Martin Page-Relo made it 33-7 to Lyon at the break.

Any hopes of a Cheetahs fightback in the second half were quickly snuffed out as Lyon continued to run riot with three more unanswered tries from Monty Ioane and Leo Berdeu, who bagged a quickfire brace.

The visitors did show some signs of life on attack in the latter stages of the game as Prince Nkabinde and Neels Volschenk both went over for well-worked scores, but their defence continued to leak tries as well as Lyon continued to inflict more misery on their hapless opponents until the referee's whistle finally brought some relief.

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