Bordeaux-Begles rout Northampton, Toulouse lose
SUNDAY WRAP: English Prem leaders Northampton paid the price for ill-discipline as they lost a feisty rematch of last season’s Champions Cup Final 28-50 on Sunday as Antoine Dupont’s Toulouse tripped up at Saracens.
Munster’s hopes of reaching the last 16 suffered a blow when the two-time champions lost 25-27 in a Pool Two thriller at Toulon.
And English side Harlequins booked their place in the knockout stages with a one-sided 61-10 bonus point win at home to Cape Town Stormers in Pool Three.
Both defending champions Bordeaux-Begles and Northampton were already sure of qualifying before their Pool Four meeting.
Salesi Rayasi gave the hosts an early lead with an unconverted try. Henry Pollock replied and Frenchman Anthony Belleau converted to give the Saints the lead.
After Northampton’s Danilo Fischetti collected a 16th minute yellow card for a scrum offence, fullback Rayasi scored again to restore the Bordeaux-Begles lead.
As Fischetti returned, teammate Rory Hutchinson replaced him in the sin bin after taking out star winger Louis Bielle-Biarrey.
Again, the hosts exploited their advantage as scrumhalf Martin Page-Relo and lock Cameron Woki touched down to put them 24-7 up at half-time.
Rayasi completed his hat-trick two minutes into the second half.
Woki then scored twice either side of a Saints try by Tommy Freeman.
Matthieu Jalibert added an eighth home try before Pollock, booed throughout by the home fans, scored his second.
With the hosts down to 14 after substitute Arthur Retiere staggered off after seeing a yellow card and stars for an illegal tackle on the charging Pollock which left him dazed, Fischetti crashed over to earn Saints a bonus point.
“I’m happy. We won the match we gained a bonus point,” said Bordeaux-Begles winger Damian Penaud.
Bordeaux-Begles will visit Bristol in the final round next weekend with first place at stake.
Toulouse lose
In the late game, Toulouse were beaten 20-14 at Saracens to leave the record six-time champions in trouble in fourth in Pool One ahead of their closer against Sale.
Toulouse opened the scoring in London through a Blair Kinghorn try, converted by Thomas Ramos, before the hosts hit back through a Rotimi Segun brace, with Tom Willis also touching down a minute before the break.
Matthis Lebel crossed for the French Top 14 champions in the second period but an Owen Farrell penalty just after the hour rounded off the scoring as Saracens moved to third in the pool, three points ahead of Toulouse.
In the south of France, Toulon edged a tight encounter to lead Munster 7-6 at the break.
The first 10 minutes of the second half then produced three tries as Ben White first crossed followed by Gael Drean, with Munster’s Calvin Nash jotting down between the two Toulon scores.
Domon stretched the Toulon lead to 24-13 with a penalty before the Irish hit back again through Jack O’Donoghue’s unconverted try and a Tom Farrell score that Jack Crowley converted to give Munster a one-point lead.
But four minutes from time, Toulon secured the victory as Domon landed his second penalty.
The pool will be decided next week when Munster host Castres and Toulon travel to Gloucester.
See below for Sunday’s scores and scorers!
Toulon 27-25 Munster
The scorers:
For Toulon:
Tries: Domon, White, Drean
Cons: Dormon 3
Pens: Dormon 2
For Munster:
Tries: Nash, O’Donoghue, Farrell
Cons: Crowley 2
Pens: Crowley 2
Teams:
Toulon: 15 Marius Domon, 14 Gaël Drean, 13 Nacho Brex, 12 Jérémy Sinzelle, 11 Mathis Ferte, 10 Tomas Albornoz, 9 Ben White, 8 Zach Mercer, 7 Esteban Abadie, 6 Lewis Ludlam, 5 David Ribbans, 4 Charles Ollivon (captain), 3 Kyle Sinckler, 2 Teddy Baubigny, 1 Jean-Baptiste Gros.
Replacements: 16 Jeremy Toevalu, 17 Leo Ametlla, 18 Dany Priso, 19 Brian Alainu’uese, 20 Corentin Mezou, 21 Jules Coulon, 22 Paolo Garbisi, 23 Setariki Tuicuvu.
Munster: 15 Shane Daly, 14 Calvin Nash, 13 Tom Farrell, 12 Alex Nankivell, 11 Ben O’Connor, 10 Jack Crowley, 9 Craig Casey, 8 Gavin Coombes, 7 Jack O’Donoghue, 6 Tadhg Beirne (captain), 5 Fineen Wycherley, 4 Edwin Edogbo, 3 Michael Ala’alatoa, 2 Diarmuid Barron, 1 Jeremy Loughman.
Replacements: 16 Niall Scannell, 17 Michael Milne, 18 John Ryan, 19 Tom Ahern, 20 Brian Gleeson, 21 Paddy Patterson, 22 JJ Hanrahan, 23 Dan Kelly.
Referee: Karl Dickson (England)
Assistant referees: George Selwood (England), Simon Harding (England)
TMO: Hamish Smales (England)
Bordeaux 50-28 Northampton
The scorers:
For Bordeaux:
Tries: Rayasi 3, Page-Relo, Woki 3, Jalibert
Cons: Page-Relo 5
For Northampton:
Tries: Pollock 2, Freeman, Fischetti
Cons: Belleau 4
Teams:
Bordeaux: 15 Salesi Rayasi, 14 Damian Penaud, 13 Nicolas Depoortere, 12 Yoram Moefana, 11 Louis Bielle-Biarrey, 10 Matthieu Jalibert, 9 Martin Page-Relo, 8 Temo Matiu, 7 Cameron Woki, 6 Jean-Luc du Preez, 5 Cyril Cazeaux, 4 Adam Coleman, 3 Carlü Sadie, 2 Maxime Lamothe (captain), 1 Jefferson Poirot.
Replacements: 16 Gaetan Barlot, 17 Matis Perchaud, 18 Ben Tameifuna, 19 Boris Palu, 20 Bastien Vergnes-Taillefer, 21 Arthur Retiere, 22 Joey Carbery, 23 Rohan Janse van Rensburg.
Northampton: 15 George Hendy, 14 Ollie Sleightholme, 13 Tommy Freeman, 12 Rory Hutchinson, 11 Edoardo Todaro, 10 Fin Smith, 9 Alex Mitchell, 8 Henry Pollock, 7 Tom Pearson, 6 Callum Chick (captain), 5 JJ van der Mescht, 4 Alex Coles, 3 Trevor Davison, 2 Craig Wright, 1 Danilo Fischetti.
Replacements: 16 Robbie Smith, 17 Emmanuel Iyogun, 18 Elliot Millar-Mills, 19 Ed Prowse, 20 Chunya Munga, 21 Sam Graham, 22 Archie McParland, 23 James Ramm.
Referee: Gianluca Gnecchi (Italy)
Assistant referees: Robbie Jenkinson (Ireland), Padraic Reidy (Ireland)
TMO: Olly Hodges (Ireland)
Saracens 20-14 Toulouse
The scorers:
For Saracens:
Tries: Segun 2, T Willis
Con: Burke
Pen: Farrell
For Toulouse:
Tries: Kinghorn, Lebel
Cons: Ramos 2
Teams:
Saracens: 15 Elliot Daly, 14 Noah Caluori, 13 Alex Lozowski, 12 Olly Hartley, 11 Rotimi Segun, 10 Fergus Burke, 9 Ivan van Zyl, 8 Tom Willis, 7 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 6 Theo McFarland, 5 Hugh Tizard, 4 Maro Itoje (captain), 3 Marcus Street, 2 Jamie George, 1 Eroni Mawi.
Replacements: 16 James Hadfield, 17 Rhys Carre, 18 Marco Riccioni, 19 Andy Onyeama-Christie, 20 Ben Earl, 21 Charlie Bracken, 22 Owen Farrell, 23 Max Malins.
Toulouse: 15 Thomas Ramos, 14 Dimitri Delibes, 13 Paul Costes, 12 Santiago Chocobares, 11 Matthis Lebel, 10 Blair Kinghorn, 9 Antoine Dupont (captain), 8 Alexandre Roumat, 7 Anthony Jelonch, 6 Jack Willis, 5 Emmanuel Meafou, 4 Thibaud Flament, 3 Dorian Aldegheri, 2 Julien Marchand, 1 David Ainu’u.
Replacements: 16 Peato Mauvaka, 17 Benjamin Bertrand, 18 Paul Mallez, 19 Joshua Brennan, 20 Efrain Elias, 21 Leo Banos, 22 Paul Graou, 23 Lucas Vigneres.
Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy)
Assistant referees: Ru Campbell (Scotland), Federico Vedovelli (Italy)
TMO: Matteo Liperini (Italy)
