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The Heineken Cup
Photo: Michael Paler |
Stade Toulousain and Biarritz Olympic both
won their final pool matches on Sunday - against Sale Sharks and Glasgow
Warriors respectively - to seal vital home advantage for their quarter-final
ties.
Biarritz had to rally from 11-18
down shortly after half-time as they initially struggled at home to
Glasgow Warriors. Tom Evans' 10th-minute try gave the Scots the early
advantage and former Perpignan scrum-half Chris Cusiter added a second try
on 49 minutes at the Parc des Sports Aguiléra.
Quarter-final ties:
Munster v Northampton Saints
Biarritz Olympic v Ospreys
Stade Toulousain v Stade Francais
Leinster v Clermont Auvergne
Rudi Coetzee's 37th-minute response for
Biarritz at least kept the French side in contention, before a 30-point
burst after the interval eventually led to their 41-20 home win.
Fly-half Valentin Courrent initially
kicked three penalties to bring them back to 20-20, before American
speedster Takudzwa Ngwenya touched down just after the hour mark.
A penalty-try four minutes later stretched
the lead further before Fijian winger Ilikena
Bolakoro wrapped up the victory with his last-minute
effort. Courrent kicked both conversions to complete a 21-point haul as the
Basques earned the bonus-point win.
The result means Biarritz
will now play their home quarter-final at the Estadio Anoeta in San
Sebastian, Spain.
"Securing a home tie in the
quarter-finals was always our objective from the start of the tournament,"
said Biarritz coach Jack Isaac. "We left it pretty late to get that bonus
point but it was credit to the patience of the players. You can't force
these things, but they stuck to their guns and had confidence in their
ability to get the last try," he added.
Heineken Cup Pools & Fixtures
Stade Toulousain's
hard-fought 19-13 win at Sale Sharks also guaranteed them a home tie,
with the three-time champions set to host Paris giants Stade Francais in a
mouthwatering all-French quarter-final.
Fly-halves Charlie Hodgson
and Jean-Baptiste Elissalde ensured it as all square 6-6 at half time, with
Hodgson landing a brace of penalties and Elissalde a pair of drop-goals.
But Stade took a grip on the
tie when hooker Virgil Lacombe touched down, with Elissalde adding the
conversion and two penalties as the French side pulled clear.
Sale rallied with Matthew
Tait's converted try but Stade held on to ensure the win, and set up their
home quarter-final against Stade Francais as at least one French side is now
guaranteed to be in the semi-finals.
On Saturday, Top 14 leaders Clermont Auvergne
sealed their Heineken Cup quarter-final berth in style, running in nine
tries tries away to Viadana as they overwhelmed the Italian side.
Clermont went into the match knowing a
bonus-point win would be enough to guarantee their progress from Pool 3, and
they achieved that five minutes before half-time when skipper Aurélien
Rougerie touched down for their fourth try of a dominant opening period.
The score was Rougerie's second of the
half, adding to those by Fijian winger Napolioni Nalaga and French
scrum-half Morgan Parra.
Parra was first over the line, touching
down after just two minutes as 'Les Jaunards' got off to the perfect start.
It remained largely one-way traffic thereafter, with the French side in
total control as they continued their excellent recent form.
Viadana's only reply was a Lloyd Johansson
drop-goal after nine minutes as they went in 3-26 down at half time.
Full-back Garry Law added a penalty shortly after the resumption, but
Clermont stepped on the gas once more to run in a further two tries as they
moved 6-40 ahead after just 51 minutes. Replacement lock Elvis Vermeulen (on
for the ko'd Jamie Cudmore) was first over, before recalled France winger
Julien Malzieu followed in soon after.
Australian fly-half Brock James ensured
maximum points were accrued by landing both conversions, adding to his three
first-half efforts.
Four minutes later Nalaga grabbed his
second - and Clermont's eighth - before prop Julio Garcia crossed for
Viadana to add a modicum of respect to the score. Pierre Hola converted to
leave it 13-45, but Clermont just came bouncing back, despite coach Vern
Cotter introducing a host of second-half replacements.
A 64th-minute penalty try - converted by
Anthony Floch - brought up the visitors' half century, although a subsequent
yellow card for lock Julien Pierre briefly stopped the scoring. Indeed,
Viadana used their man advantage to get their second try of the match,
through replacement Gareth Krause, before France flanker Julien Bonnaire
touched down two minutes from time for Clermont's ninth try of the
afternoon. Floch again converted to make it 20-59 to the French side, and
their joy was then doubled when they learnt that Ospreys had beaten
Leicester Tigers 17-12 in the other Pool 3 match.
The result wasn't enough, however, to earn
Clermont a home tie, and they now face a tough assignment if they're to
reach their first Heineken Cup semi-final, with an away trip to defending
champions Leinster in the last eight.
Stade Francais also sealed their
quarter-final berth on Saturday despite losing 9-7 away to Edinburgh at
Murrayfield. The Paris giants scored the only try of the match, through
international lock Pascal Papé, but they were undone by Chris Paterson's
boot as the Scot landed three penalties.
But the result was still enough to secure
Stade top spot in Pool 4, although not enough to get them a home tie as they
only finished with 18 points. Their trip to Stade Toulousain now awaits.
Brive were France's other Top 14
side in action on Friday and the Limousin club finally earned their first
point of the competition despite slipping to a 17-20 home defeat against the
Scarlets.
Brive hooker Jean-Philippe Bonrepaux
opened the scoring when he piled over in the corner after 19 minutes, and
the hosts doubled their lead five minutes later when Argentine winger
Horacio Agulla followed suit. Both conversions were missed by Andy Goode -
making his comeback after injury - but the 10-0 lead was good reward for
Brive's early pressure.
England hooker Steve Thompson was playing
in an unaccustomed number eight role, but his presence was clearly helping
Brive's dominance up front as they put the Scarlets pack to the sword with a
number of excellent rolling mauls.
Welsh fly-half Stephen Jones finally put
Scarlets on the board with a 28th-minute penalty, and the visitors drew
level just before half-time when he also converted lock Damian Welch's try.
The Scarlets then moved ahead for the
first time in the match when Morgan Stoddart touched down seven minutes
after the restart - with Jones again adding the extras - but Brive replied
with a Ronnie Cooke try after 58 minutes shortly after flanker Josh Turnbull
had seen yellow for the Welsh side.
Replacement scrum-half Luciano Orquera
kicked the conversion to make it 17-17, but Jones then kicked the decisive
score when he was on target with a penalty from just within the Scarlets'
own half. Lou Reed's subsequent sin-binning reduced the visitors to 14 men
as Brive piled on the pressure, but the Scarlets held out for a valuable win
which sent them through to the ACC quarter-finals - as one of the three best
placed teams outside the initial eight in the Heineken Cup.
The other Pool 6 match saw defending
champions Leinster draw 11-11 at London Irish to seal top spot
and their own quarter-final berth.
The loss was their sixth successive
reverse in the Heineken Cup, but they did at least outscore their hosts by
three tries to two
On Friday, French champions Perpignan bid
'adieu' to this season's Heineken Cup with a 34-6 home win against
Benetton Treviso in Pool 1.
The win was only their second in the
competition - from six outings - with the Catalans running in five tries
(four in the second half) to seal their bonus-point win.
But the victory could not mask a massively
disappointing Heineken campaign, which began with a shock 8-9 defeat away to
Treviso in round one.
Friday's comprehensive win
did at least see them finish on a winning note - a welcome result after
losing six of their previous eight games in all competitions - although to
label it as 'revenge' for their earlier loss in Italy would be stretching
its significance.
Still, at least they gave
the near 10,000-strong crowd something to cheer about on another chilly
evening in southern France, with hooker Charles Geli grabbing the opening
try just before the half-time interval. Treviso scrum-half Simon Picone was
then sin-binned in the 40th minute to compound the visitors' misery as they
went in 8-3 down.
Perpignan quickly
capitalised on their numerical advantage after the break, with replacement
hooker Marius Tincu following Geli's earlier example in crossing the try
line. Nicolas Laharrague's conversion stretched the home side's advantage to
15-3, although Tobias Botes kicked a penalty soon after to give Treviso
another lift.
| Friday 22/01/10 |
|
|
|
| Munster |
12 |
Northampton Saints |
9 |
| Perpignan |
34 |
Benetton Treviso |
6 |
| Saturday 23/01/10 |
|
|
|
| Ospreys |
17 |
Leicester Tigers |
12 |
| Viadana |
20 |
Clermont Auvergne |
59 |
| Bath |
10 |
Ulster |
28 |
| Edinburgh |
9 |
Stade Francais |
7 |
| Brive |
17 |
Scarlets |
20 |
| London Irish |
11 |
Leinster |
11 |
| Sunday 23/01/10 |
|
|
|
| Harlequins |
20 |
Cardiff Blues |
45 |
| Sale Sharks |
13 |
Stade Toulousain |
19 |
| Newport Gwent
Dragons |
23 |
Gloucester |
32 |
| Biarritz
Olympique |
41 |
Glasgow Warriors |
20 |
The Italians continued to
defend manfully as they held the at 15-6 until 15 minutes from time, but
then Perpignan's superiority finally told as they scored three more tries in
a devastating five-minute spell with second row Yohann Vivalda getting the
first of those.
Tincu then doubled his own tally shortly after,
with centre Jean-Philippe Grandclaude completing Perpignan's scoring when he
crashed over 10 minutes from time. Jérôme Porical converted the last of
those tries, adding to Laharrague's two earlier successes to leave the final
score 34-6.
The win, however, was not
enough to lift Perpignan above third place in Pool 1, with twice champions
Munster beating Northampton Saints 12-9 in the group's other
match on Friday night to ensure they ended as pool winners.
The Irish side had fly-half
Ronan O'Gara (pictured) to again thank for their win as the veteran
international landed four penalties - two in each half - but the hosts were
given a mighty scare as Northampton's pack largely dominated throughout.
Munster even had to weather
a 10-minute spell of pressure in the second half without their sin-binned
skipper Paul O'Connell, and Northampton's defensive bonus means these two
sides could yet meet again if the English team sneak through as one of the
two best pool runners-up. They will now an anxious wait over the weekend to
see if their efforts proved in vain or not, with their main rivals for that
spot likely to come from Pools 3 and 6.