Byrne late penalty fires Leinster into Champions Cup last 16
SATURDAY WRAP: Replacement flyhalf Harry Byrne kicked a last-gasp penalty as Leinster edged La Rochelle 25-24 on Saturday to secure their place in the Champions Cup last 16.
Byrne, 26, slotted his dramatic 82nd-minute kick as the four-time winners move to the top of Pool Three before they head to Bayonne in the final round of group games next weekend.
La Rochelle, who had beaten the Irish province when they met in the 2022 and 2023 finals, had re-taken the lead with three minutes to go thanks to Nolann Le Garrec’s touchline conversion following Ihaia West’s second try.
Ronan O’Gara’s side welcome Harlequins next Sunday, hoping to claim a spot in the next round.
Elsewhere, Sale also advanced to the knockout stages with a 26-10 win over the Sharks in Pool One thanks to a stand-out performance from winger Tom O’Flaherty.
Earlier, Bristol beat the Bulls 61-49 in Pretoria, and Glasgow held off Clermont 33-21 to reach the knockouts.
Glasgow, who staged a remarkable comeback to beat Antoine Dupont’s six-time champions Toulouse in the last round, were too strong for Clermont, who are now out of the tournament after three straight defeats.
Flanker Euan Ferrie got the opener after 10 minutes before Scotland centre Huw Jones, playing his first game of the season, sliced through the midfield to dot down.
Scotland winger Kyle Steyn made it 19-0, and in spite of George Moala’s response, Glasgow took the bonus point when No.8 Jack Dempsey scored the Warriors’ fourth six minutes before half-time despite spending 10 minutes down to 13 men due to two yellow cards.
Steyn’s second try six minutes from time sealed the victory.
“We’ve just got a really good group that’s been together for a number of years now, and we are just really keen to play for each other,” Steyn told Premier Sports.
“We were obviously very nervous, and you don’t want that, but we had a clear plan of what we had to do if something like that (the two yellow cards) happened,” he added.
Leicester Tigers kept their knockout hopes alive with a 57-14 win over Bayonne, while Section Paloise recorded a 47-38 win over the Bulls ahead of their meeting with the Bulls in France next weekend.
Sunday’s highlight is Toulouse’s trip to three-time winners Saracens as superstar Dupont captains his side in north London.
See below for Saturday’s scores and scorers!
Clermont 21-33 Glasgow
The scorers:
For Clermont:
Tries: Moala, Penalty, Simone
Cons: Plummer 2
For Glasgow:
Tries: Ferrie, Jones, Steyn 2, Dempsey
Cons: Horne 4
Teams:
Clermont: 15 Axel Guillaud, 14 Bautista Delguy, 13 Alifereti Loaloa, 12 George Moala, 11 Yerim Fall, 10 Harry Plummer, 9 Lucas Zamora, 8 Selevasio Tolofua, 7 Pita-Gus Sowakula, 6 Killian Tixeront (captain), 5 Rob Simmons, 4 Thibaud Lanen, 3 Giorgi Dzmanashvili, 2 Barnabe Massa, 1 Sacha Lotrian.
Replacements: 16 Seilala Lam, 17 Etienne Falgoux, 18 Cristian Ojovan, 19 Leo Michaux Vargas, 20 Pio Muarua, 21 Niek Doornenbal, 22 Irae Simone, 23 Timeo Frier.
Glasgow: 15 Kyle Rowe, 14 Kyle Steyn (captain), 13 Huw Jones, 12 Sione Tuipulotu, 11 Jamie Dobie, 10 Dan Lancaster, 9 George Horne, 8 Jack Dempsey, 7 Matt Fagerson, 6 Euan Ferrie, 5 Scott Cummings, 4 Alex Craig, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 Gregor Hiddleston, 1 Patrick Schickerling.
Replacements: 16 Seb Stephen, 17 Rory Sutherland, 18 Sam Talakai, 19 Max Williamson, 20 Gregor Brown, 21 Ally Miller, 22 Stafford McDowall, 23 Ben Afshar.
Referee: Luke Pearce (England)
Assistant referees: Joe James (England), Jamie Leahy (England)
TMO: Stuart Terheege (England)
Leinster 25-24 La Rochelle
The scorers:
For Leinster:
Tries: Kenny 2, Van der Flier, Henshaw
Con: Prendergast
Pen: Byrne
For La Rochelle:
Tries: Niniashvili, West 2
Cons: Le Garrec 3
Pen: Le Garrec
Teams:
Leinster: 15 Ciaran Frawley, 14 Tommy O’Brien, 13 Rieko Ioane, 12 Robbie Henshaw, 11 Joshua Kenny, 10 Sam Prendergast, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Caelan Doris (captain), 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Jack Conan, 5 James Ryan, 4 Joe McCarthy, 3 Tom Clarkson, 2 Dan Sheehan, 1 Paddy McCarthy.
Replacements: 16 Ronan Kelleher, 17 Jerry Cahir, 18 Andrew Sparrow, 19 Diarmuid Mangan, 20 Max Deegan, 21 Luke McGrath, 22 Harry Byrne, 23 Andrew Osborne.
La Rochelle: 15 Dillyn Leyds, 14 Jack Nowell, 13 Jules Favre, 12 Simeli Daunivucu, 11 Davit Niniashvili, 10 Ihaia West, 9 Nolann le Garrec, 8 Grégory Alldritt (captain), 7 Levani Botia, 6 Oscar Jegou, 5 Will Skelton, 4 Charles Kante Samba, 3 Uini Atonio, 2 Tolu Latu, 1 Reda Wardi.
Replacements: 16 Quentin Lespiaucq, 17 Louis Penverne, 18 Aleksandre Kuntelia, 19 Kane Douglas, 20 Kirill Fraindt, 21 Thomas Berjon, 22 Antoine Hastoy, 23 Nathan Bollengier.
Referee: Matthew Carley (England)
Assistant referees: Adam Leal (England), John Meredith (England)
TMO: Ian Tempest (England)
Scarlets 38-47 Section Paloise (Pau)
The scorers:
For Scarlets:
Tries: Macleod 2, Hughes, Plumtree, Hawkins
Cons: Hawkins 2
Pen: Hawkins
For Pau:
Tries: Butlin 2, Mondinat, Tuipulotu, Seneca, Attissogbe, Tokolahi
Cons: Desperes 6
Teams:
Scarlets: 15 Blair Murray, 14 Tom Rogers, 13 Joe Roberts, 12 Eddie James, 11 Ellis Mee, 10 Joe Hawkins, 9 Archie Hughes, 8 Fletcher Anderson, 7 Josh Macleod (captain), 6 Taine Plumtree, 5 Jake Ball, 4 Sam Lousi, 3 Henry Thomas, 2 Ryan Elias, 1 Kemsley Mathias.
Replacements: 16 Marnus van der Merwe, 17 Alec Hepburn, 18 Harri O’Connor, 19 Jac Price, 20 Dan Davis, 21 Dane Blacker, 22 Carwyn Leggatt-Jones, 23 Ioan Nicholas.
Pau: 15 Theo Attissogbe, 14 Gregoire Arfeuil, 13 Nathan Decron, 12 Quentin Valentino, 11 Toshi Butlin, 10 Axel Desperes, 9 Thibault Daubagna (captain), 8 Carwyn Tuipulotu, 7 Reece Hewat, 6 Sacha Zegueur, 5 Mickael Capelli, 4 Thomas Jolmes, 3 Jon Zabala Arrieta, 2 Youri Delhommel, 1 Alexandre Etchebehere.
Replacements: 16 Lucas Rey, 17 Remi Seneca, 18 Siate Tokolahi, 19 Brent Liufau, 20 Xander Iosefo, 21 Paulo Pelesasa, 22 Dan Robson, 23 Clément Mondinat.
Referee: Sam Grove-White (Scotland)
Assistant referees: Ian Kenny (Scotland), Finlay Brown (Scotland)
TMO: Dave Sutherland (Scotland)
Leicester 57-14 Bayonne
The scorers:
For Leicester:
Tries: Radwan 2, Reffell, Henderson, Searle 3, Chessum, Ilione
Cons: Searle 5, Woodward
For Bayonne:
Tries: Spring, Tumania
Cons: Spring, Boyle-Tiatia
Teams:
Leicester: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Adam Radwan, 13 Will Wand, 12 Orlando Bailey, 11 Gabriel Hamer-Webb, 10 Billy Searle, 9 Jack van Poortvliet, 8 Olly Cracknell, 7 Tommy Reffell, 6 James Thompson, 5 Ollie Chessum (captain), 4 Cameron Henderson, 3 Joe Heyes, 2 Charlie Clare, 1 Nicky Smith.
Replacements: 16 Jamie Blamire, 17 Tarek Haffar, 18 Will Hurd, 19 Joaquin Moro, 20 Emeka Ilione, 21 Tom Whiteley, 22 Joseph Woodward, 23 George Pearson.
Bayonne: 15 Tom Spring, 14 Gabriel Lapegue, 13 Guillaume Martocq, 12 Manu Tuilagi, 11 Victor Hannoun, 10 Pyrénées Boyle-Tiatia, 9 Baptiste Tilloles, 8 Manex Ariceta, 7 Raphael Marchesin, 6 Rob Leota, 5 Alvaro Garcia Iandolino, 4 Arthur Iturria, 3 Pascal Cotet, 2 Lucas Martin, 1 Ignacio Calles.
Replacements: 16 Facundo Bosch, 17 Emosi Tumania, 18 Junior Tagi, 19 Ewan Johnson, 20 Noa Traversier, 21 Herschel Jantjies, 22 Jonah Thompson, 23 Bastien Rasal.
Referee: Hollie Davidson (Scotland)
Assistant referees: Ru Campbell (Scotland), Jonny MacKenzie (Scotland)
TMO: Mike Adamson (Scotland)
