POOL 4
FRIDAY
NORTHAMPTON 10-37 LEINSTER
NACEWA GIVES LEINSTER BIG BONUS POINT
The evening had started badly for the hosts as Ireland
centre Garry Ringrose crossed within the opening two minutes, and his side led
10-3 at the interval.
But wing Ahsee Tuala helped Saints level the scores, going
over in the corner five minutes after the restart following a JJ Hanrahan
break.
Soon after Hartley came on, O'Brien drove over from close
range as Leinster regained the lead.
And within two minutes, the England captain was off -
dismissed by referee Jerome Garces after striking O'Brien on the head with a
swinging arm.
The Irish side made the most of the extra man, with Rory
O'Loughlin, Jamison Gibson-Park and Nacewa crossing for late tries.
Leinster are showing that last year was a fluke as they are
showing the type of form that can make them champions of Europe. Leinster have
got the players to win this years competition and we can see this in the way
that they are playing
SUNDAY
MONPELLIER 32- 14 CASTRE
GALTIER TRY KEEPS MONTPELIER IN PACK
Prop Davit Kubriachvili was given his marching orders in the
18th minute after he charged into the ruck with his shoulder and caught Castres
lock Thibault Lassale in the face.
Montpellier were already trailing 8-3 after a Rory Kockott
penalty and an interception try by winger Remi Grosso, who plucked a long
floating pass from Jesse Mogg out of the air and raced away to score.
Castres looked to have the better of their Top 14 rivals as
they went into a 11-3 lead after another Kockott penalty, however, on the
stroke of half-time, Montpellier hit back with their first try.
Their forwards drove to the line from a five metre line-out
and created an opening on the blindside for winger Timoci Naguca to barge his
way over. Francois Steyn added the conversion to send Montpellier into the
break 10-11 down.
Despite replacement fly-half Benjamin Urdapilleta kicking
Castres further ahead with a penalty after the re-start, the rest of the half
belonged to Montpellier.
The home side rolled up their sleeves in the second half and
dominated the game as their seven-man pack took control. Like the first try,
the second and third came from driving line-outs with flanker Kelian Galletier
and hooker Shalva Mamukashvili going over.
Nic White then added the bonus-point try as he regathered
his own kick after a good break from Naguca down the wing.
Castres threw everything into the final ten minutes but when
Alexandre Bias was sin-binned with eight minutes to go, the fight went out of
them and Montpellier claimed the spoils.
An all French battle that tells us that the French teams
play well at home and find it difficult to play well away from home we have
learned very little from this match
Team
|
Played
|
Won
|
Lost
|
Drawn
|
BP
|
Points
|
Leinster
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
0
|
3
|
11
|
Monpellier
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
0
|
2
|
10
|
Castre
|
3
|
1
|
2
|
0
|
1
|
5
|
Northampton
|
3
|
1
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
4
|
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