Heineken Champions Cup: Round 5 Review
Richard Cockerill's Edinburgh side produced an excellent display to beat Toulon
©PA
What a weekend of Heineken Champions Cup action. Edinburgh went to Toulon and won, Exeter's European hopes are somehow still alive meaning Munster's win over Gloucester sets up a mammoth clash in the final round.
But before all of that, Joe Harvey takes a look back at the action from Matchday Five.
Friday
Gloucester Rugby 15 – 41 Munster Rugby
Not a night to remember for the Kingsholm faithful as Munster turned over the Cherry and Whites on their own patch. It was the perfect start to a Champions Cup weekend, despite a promising start from Gloucester.
Drawing first blood with a Billy Twelvetree’s penalty, the three pointer was quickly wiped out by an effort from Joey Carbery. The 23-year-old would be at it again soon after, this time converting his own impressive try. Carbery would score five more points off the tee in the half, kicking a penalty first before converting Rory Scannell’s try late in the first period.
In the second half, the Munster dominance continued. Gloucester’s Ollie Thorley and prop Fraser Balmain would provide momentary speed bumps for the Irish side, but scores from Keith Earls, Andrew Conway and another Carbery try would halt any chance of a Gloucester revival.
Saturday
Montpellier 45 – 8 Newcastle Falcons
A disappointing Falcons season continues for Dean Richards’ side as they were thoroughly dismantled by Vern Cotter’s Montpellier. Fijian wing Timoci Nagusa started the job, scoring in the corner, making it difficult for Ruan Pienaar to convert. Toby Flood’s penalty in the 21st minute would offer some respite for the visitors, but wouldn’t do much in the long run.
Yvan Reilhac, Paul Willemse, Henry Immelman, Nico Janse van Rensburg and Romain Ruffenach would all cross the whitewash for the home side, Immelman going over twice and Ruffenach scoring less than a minute after returning from the sin bin. Zach Kibirige did give the travelling fans something to cheer about, crossing the try line on the 77th minute mark.
Leinster 29 – 13 Toulouse
Leinster proved that they were cream of the crop on Saturday by beating pool rivals Toulouse comfortably at the RDS Arena. In what was a competitive first half, Ross Byrne was the first to draw blood for Leinster. The stand-in fly half kicked an early penalty and had to bide his time for a second opportunity.
Thomas Ramos would kick two penalties in the opening half, but they were overshadowed by Jack Conan’s converted try. The second half followed a similar pattern. Dave Kearney scored an acrobatic try in the corner before Sean Cronin and Adam Byrne wrapped things up for the Dublin side. Cheslin Kolbe provided his familiar dazzling skills to end the game. Breaking through the Leinster defence, the South African converted his own try in an attempt to reignite Toulouse’s spirits, but it was too late.
Bath Rugby 18 – 16 Wasps
Bath defeated fellow Premiership side Wasps at the Rec on Saturday afternoon, in what was a fairly meaningless game between two sides already out of the competition. Lima Sopoaga started the afternoon’s scoring with a sixth minute penalty, however, Bath instantly wiped out the effort with an unconverted Max Green try.
Wasps’ only try of the game would be converted, though. Nathan Hughes’ tackle-breaking effort was converted by Sopoaga. Bath’s second effort would be converted by the departing Rhys Priestland, the Welsh international slotting the conversion for Zach Mercer’s 21st minute try.
The second half was far more subdued. Sopoaga and Rob Miller scored two more penalties for Wasps, but it was the boot of Priestland that handed the home side the win. Landing two penalties in the half, Priestland’s winning penalty was scored just two minutes from time, making a nervy ending for the Rec faithful.
Toulon 17 – 28 Edinburgh Rugby
Guilhem Guirado opened the scoring for Toulon, but the home side were comfortably beaten by Richard Cockerill’s Edinburgh. Darcy Graham continued his good form for the Scottish side, after Jaco van der Walt’s penalty, with yet another try.
Facundo Isa’s 21st minute try was converted by Anthony Belleau, but it would be a while until Toulon fans would be cheering again. Efforts from Blair Kinghorn and James Johnstone would be converted by van der Walt, who also added two more penalties to his personal tally in the second period. Toulon would end the game on a high note with a well worked Julian Savea try, but this was a superb victory for Edinburgh.
Ulster Rugby 26 – 22 Racing 92
Ulster picked up an impressive victory at the Kingspan on Saturday, beating group leaders Racing. Emerging star Robert Baloucoune scored an excellent try for Ulster seven minutes in, following Billy Burns’ penalty.
Jacob Stockdale, would take the limelight back soon after as the Ireland star scored the first of his two tries, but Racing responded thanks to Virimi Vakatawa and Simon Zebo’s efforts which sandwiched Will Addison’s 25th minute penalty.
Ulster’s start to the second half was impressive on its own. Continued pressure led to another Stockdale chip try, the wing rounding his French opponents to score closer to the posts. Brice Dulin and Olivier Klemenczak scored a try apiece to bring the Parisiens back into contention, the second score being converted by Teddy Iribaren. However, Will Addison secured the win with a late penalty for another thoroughly deserved win for Ulster.
Scarlets 33 – 10 Leicester Tigers
Scarlets put Tigers to the sword on Saturday, with Ken Owens garnering a lot of praise for his emergency performances at number eight. All of the Scarlets’ points would be scored before Leicester got on the board.
Rob Evans scored two tries, one in the first half and one in the second, as Owens, Johnny McNicholl and Steff Evans all added to the Scarlets effort, with Dan Jones kicking four of the five conversions. Leicester’s scores came from Will Evans and Mike Fitzgerald.
Sunday
Exeter Chiefs 34 – 12 Castres Olympique
Exeter kept their chances of staying in Europe alive by beating Castres comfortably at Sandy Park. Jack Nowell and Taylor Paris traded tries early on, Nowell recently returning for Exeter after another spell out with injury.
Exeter scored two further tries in the first half, Joe Simmonds and Jonny Hill getting those scores for the home side. Simmonds only converted the Hill score, but Exeter were comfortably in front. The second half would continue in the same fashion. Tom O’Flaherty and Henry Slade both crossed the try line with the later dotting down after Castres’ Thomos Combezou had his try converted.
Prop Tudor Stroe was red carded for Castres for what George Clancy deemed to be a dangerous challenge on his opposite man. The Exeter icing was put on the cake with a powerful Luke Cowan-Dickie try in the 65th minute.
Lyon 10 – 28 Saracens
Lyon started this game quickly as a Jonathan Wisniewski drop goal opened the scoring in just the sixth minute. From there, Saracens became dominant. Nick Tompkins and Jackson Wray would cross the whitewash for Mark McCall’s men, allowing Owen Farrell to collect four points from the tee.
The second half was largely the same. This time Tompkins and Ben Spencer would register scores for Farrell to convert. Lyon did score one try late on as Alexis Palisson converted his own effort to make the score look more respectable.
Glasgow Warriors 33 – 24 Cardiff Blues
Glasgow got themselves an early advantage in this game as hooker Grant Stewart and Scott Cummings flew out of the blocks to give Warriors an early advantage. South African fly half Brandon Thomson converted both scores to give Warriors a healthy lead. Blues did reply with an Owen Lane effort that Jarrod Evans dragged wide.
The second half was slightly more competitive and began with Glasgow’s Chris Fusaro and Cardiff’s Harri Millard scored a try apiece. Oli Kebble’s try was converted for Glasgow, along with Josh Navidi’s for Cardiff. Lane and replacement scrum-half George Horne would trade tries in the dying minutes of the match as Glasgow secured the win.
