Narrow victories for Exeter and Leicester ensured English teams came away with more wins than losses on a second-straight weekend of Champions Cup action.
Although, Harlequins were outclassed by a brilliant Toulouse side as the five-time champions laid down another impressive marker of their ambitions to extend their record as Europe’s greatest team.
Online Editor Nick Powell rounds up what happened on Sunday in the Investec Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup.
Champions Cup
2020 winners Exeter made another statement of intent as they showed quality and grit in equal measure to see off Munster, who have now gone winless in their first two matches in European competition for the first time since the 1997/98 season.
Munster were ahead by 11 points heading into the final quarter, but two quick tries from Ross Vintcent and Jack Dunne wiped out their lead, before Henry Slade continued to display his superb recent form with a late interception score to seal a 32-24 win.
Harlequins impressed in their thrilling win against Racing last weekend, but never looked like repeating the feat against another French side laden with superstars, as they were beaten 47-19 by Toulouse at The Stoop.
A try just before the break gave the 2021 Premiership winners hope, trailing 21-12, but Toulouse added further scores through Matthis Lebel and Pierre-Louis Barassi either side of an Irne Herbst try to effectively seal the victory.
Harlequins went in search of a fourth try, as they looked to take something from the contest, but after a raft of missed opportunities for the hosts Toulouse displayed their attacking brilliance with two more tries to condemn Quins to a second 28-point home defeat of the season.
Sunday’s Champions Cup action concluded with Leicester Tigers heading to Stade FranΓ§ais, with the Parisians making a raft of changes from their heavy defeat at Sale last week to strengthen their starting XV back on home soil.
Leicester were ahead at the break, but less than a minute into the second half Charles Laloi rounded off a fine try for Stade to nudge them back in front.
Tigers‘ hooker Archie Vanes completed his hat-trick to put his side ahead, but after a Jamie Shillcock penalty extended Leicester’s lead to seven Leo Barre scored to level the contest for Stade.
In the end, Shillock’s boot got the job done again, as he struck a 52-metre penalty before Harry Wells held up a late Parisian drive to the line to seal another hard-earned win (27-24), and leave his club already on the verge of progressing from Pool 4, despite the group arguably being the pool of death.
Challenge Cup
A thrilling South African derby was the pick of the fixtures in the Challenge Cup, as Currie Cup side the Cheetahs stunned URC team the Sharks in a 32-29 victory in Bloemfontein.
The largely inexperienced hosts had just one player who had ever played for the South African national team, 39-year-old scrum-half Ruan Pienaar, while the Sharks turned up with no less than 10, including scorers and World Cup winners Eben Etzebeth, Grant Williams and Makazole Mapimpi.
But despite Mapimpi’s try seemingly finishing off an impressive comeback from 15-7 down at the break, Cohen Jasper showed great feet to snatch not only a win, but a four-try bonus point too.
Ospreys would have been confident of getting a win at Montpellier after a fine display last week against Benetton got their campaign off to a victorious start.
They had made changes, such as leaving out Wales captain Jac Morgan, but few would have expected the 39-5 drubbing they ultimately received.
Out-thought and out-fought, Ospreys were 19-0 down at the break, with their only response to six eventual scores being Reuben Morgan-Williams’ try.
It was a sign of their inconsistency this season, though coach Tony Booth was relatively positive and remarked the defeat: “Won’t be a defining game for us”.
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