Pool 2 blown wide open

Wasps left Galway with their heads in their hands after a terrific encounter against Connacht. A try and conversion with the clock gone gave the home side a 20-18 victory. It felt harsh on the English, who were the better team for much of the second half, but still shouldn’t harm their chances of qualification. With both of these teams and Toulouse all locked on 13 points, two of them should definitely progress.

Joe Simpson replied to an early Connacht penalty with a try after some surges from his forwards, Jimmy Gopperth converting. Jack Carty slotted another penalty for the hosts, before he chipped over the top of the defence for Danie Poolman to score a converted try and retake the lead going into the break. Upon the resumption, the visitors were a force to be reckoned with. Gopperth landed a couple of penalties to level the scores. The Wasps pack then won a scrum against the head, which resulted in Josh Bassett cruising over in the corner. Crucially, Gopperth was unable to convert. The visitors then risked playing out the game in their own half, which they were punished for when holding on to the ball. Connacht kicked for the corner, and Naulia Dawai found himself over the line as a result of the maul. The scores were tied and Carty was left with a difficult conversion. The fly-half made no mistake to send the fans into raptures.

Toulouse ran in eight tries to Zebre’s two to claim a second bonus point win in a row, keeping the pressure on Wasps and Connacht. The match ended 54-10 and the French giants are looking like the team they should be after starting the tournament off in a wobbly manner.

Looking at the fixtures that remain in this pool, Wasps are still favourites to go through top, with Connacht likely for one of the best runner up spots. However, Toulouse will have a few things to say about that, I’m sure.

Warriors take the initiative in Pool 1

Glasgow went a long way towards qualifying for their first quarter final by backing up their historic win against Racing 92. They put in a monumental first forty, all but wrapping the game up before the break. The 23-7 scoreline leaves last season’s finalists without a point from three games and out of the competition. Glasgow, meanwhile, will find their only disappointment to be a failure to nab a bonus point when they had a glorious opportunity to do so.

The writing was on the wall early, as the Warriors’ defence smashed their opponents back, and wouldn’t let them have any meaningful possession. Finn Russell started a wonderful move that resulted in Josh Strauss going over. Fraser Brown was on the end of the next score, another beauty initiated by Russell, this time converting the try, having missed the first. He nailed a couple of penalties to extend the lead to 18-0 at the break. Ali Price sniped and glided over shortly after, but Racing then started to build some phases. They substituted the ineffective Dan Carter and Maxime Machenaud and began to find a rhythm. The Warriors defence were mostly equal to the task until Xavier Chauveau bundled over for a late consolation.

Leicester Tigers, fresh from a drubbing at the hands of Munster, had the unenviable task of facing the same opposition this week. At Welford Road, they are a different beast, and Munster found out the hard way. A late Owen Williams penalty secured a 18-16 win for the hosts to keep them in the hunt.

The first half was a tense, if low on quality, affair. Two Williams penalties to two from Tyler Blyendaal meant the sides were level at the break. More Williams penalties had meant the Tigers led 15-9 and were also a man up with five minutes to go. Munster had a penalty and went for a line out close to the line. Hooker Niall Scannell flopped over to narrow the gap to one, and despite a slip on the strike, Blyendaal converted. Tigers looked gone. That was until Williams nervelessly smashed over that late, long-range penalty to keep the East Midlanders in the competition.

Scarlets back in the hunt with massive victory

The Welsh representatives in the competition, Scarlets, held on for a memorable 22-21 result over three time champions, Toulon. The win means that they remain in the competition, albeit with a lot of work left to do, and also puts a huge amount of pressure on the French outfit to qualify.

Scarlets dictated play for most of the game, but failed to make the most of what they did. A Scott Williams try and 11 points from the boot of Rhys Patchell was enough to guide them to a 16-9 lead at half-time. Leigh Halfpenny’s boot kept the French in the game, due to Scarlets’ indiscipline, but with one point in it with the last play, he missed a penalty from afar and his side went down.

Record-equalling Saracens effectively qualified from the pool when they beat a stubborn, yet poorly disciplined Sale 26-10. It was their 13th straight victory in Europe, drawing level with Munster’s record. The game was tightly poised and low on quality, but an abundance of yellow cards ended up costing the Sharks, with their visitors pulling away in the closing stages.

Big Leinster win puts Northampton out

Leinster put in another hide performance against a woeful Northampton to win 60-13. It puts them well in control of Pool 4, and all but through to the quarter finals. The English side had made a number of changes, but took an early lead after a Ken Pisi breakaway try. From then, Leinster gained full control and ran in nine tries in total.

Castres avenged last week’s defeat to Montpellier by beating them 29-23. It means that the teams are fairly evenly poised, although with bonus points such a big thing, giving one away and not securing one for themselves may come back to haunt them.

Ulster’s away form proving costly

They have been more than a match for any team at home, but put them in France and Ulster seem to go to pot. They were hammered 38-19 by Clermont, which leaves them needing two wins from two games to have any chance of going through.

The Devonians may be out, but Exeter are not a teams that rolls over. They went to Brodeaux and beat their fourteen man opponents 20-12. The result may have no significance on their progress in Europe, but will have done a world of good for morale.

Gloucester’s perfect start ends

La Rochelle comfortably ended Gloucester’s maximum-points start to the Challenge Cup. The heavily changed Cherry and Whites lost 42-13, meaning both teams are joint at the top of their pool. Trevino also recorded a second win in two weeks to stay in the hunt, beating Bayonne 21-17.

Ospreys made it 20 points from a possible 20, as they beat Grenoble 71-3. I say beat, I mean embarrassed. Scoring 11 tries against French opposition is no mean feat, even if they are an opposition with a blatant disregard for the tournament. They stay above Newcastle and Lyon, who played out an entertaining 48-29 game, with the English coming out on top.

Harlequins also ran in 11 tries, smashing Timisoara Saracens 75-3. The Romanians were down to 14 men within minutes, due to a red card for a high tackle. If your afternoon is going to be difficult anyway, don’t make it more so than it needs to be. The Londoners leapfrogged Edinburgh, who went down 26-20 to Stade Francais.

Bath drew level with Cardiff Blues on 13 points in Pool 4, by beating them 38-3. Both teams are just above Bristol, who are back in contention after seeing off Pau for a second consecutive week, this time 28-18.

In a tight Pool 3, Brive seized control, beating Enisei-STM 38-18. The Russians promising start seems to be going off the rails. Dragons also won against Worcester 22-7.

Try of the weekend

I had pretty much made my mind up that Josh Strauss’ effort was going to be try of the weekend from the second Finn Russell started the move. He chipped over the defence, Tommy Seymour gathered, fed Stuart Hogg, who drew two defenders and offloaded to Strauss (who was winning his 100th cap) to dive over. An absolute pearler.

Hero of the weekend

It could have gone to Finn Russell for the second week in a row for an authoritative performance in attack and defence, however, by his own admission, he switched off in the second half, which may have cost his side a vital bonus point. So, my heroes this week are the teams that may have looked down, but have not given up. Particularly Castres, Exeter and Scarlets, and to an extent Leicester. It makes the Champions Cup a lot more entertaining and unpredictable.

Villain of the weekend

It may be harsh to give him villain, as his eyes were on the ball, but with the laws at the moment, Nans Ducuing was always going to end up in trouble. Bordeaux were heavy favourites to win the game, and would have put themselves in a great position to go through if that had. They lost and now face an uphill struggle. His red card could not have proved more costly.

By Joe Large