Flying High and Saying Goodbye

Champions Cup Round 4

Round 4 of the Champions Cup was a biggy for the Aviva Premiership teams as three players scored hat tricks, Harlequins lost their unbeaten record, Northampton ran in 11 tries at Franklin's Gardens and Wasps said goodbye to Adams Park in fashon.

Pool 1
Saracens 28 - 15 Sale Sharks
Saracens kept their chances of progressing to the quarter – finals alive after doing the double over Sale.

After a couple of penalties from Owen Farrell to give Sarries the lead it was Nathan Hines, who dived over several bodies to score the first try of the game for the Sharks. 

Sarries then scored with five minutes of the first half left with Alex Goode finishing a brilliant team move to touch down and the hosts went into the break with a 11 – 8 lead. 

The home side extended their lead to six points with Farrell’s third penalty of the game and they got their second try after a cracking break from Billy Vunipola whose pass found Chris Wyles who then passed to Ben Ransom to score.

Vunipola did get a try of his own crashing over with six minutes left, however it was the visitors who got the final points with Eifion Lewis – Roberts scoring from a rolling maul.

Scorers
Saracens
Tries: Goode, Ransom, Vunipola
Conversions: Farrell (2)
Penalties: Farrell (3)

Sale Sharks
Tries: Hines, Lewis - Roberts
Conversion: Ford
Penalty: Macleod

Pool 2
Leinster 14 - 13 Harlequins
Leinster will be happy to get revenge which ended Harlequins unbeaten streak, but Quins will be content by leaving with a losing bonus point.

It took a while for the first points to get on the board with Ian Madigan’s penalty on 25 minutes, but for the rest of the first half it was the hosts taking advantage as Isaac Boss got the first try of the match five minutes later and then with three minutes to go before the interval Madigan scored another penalty.

The visitors had to wait until the second half to get their first try as Charlie Hopper broke the host defense who then offloaded to Danny Care and after a couple of passes Mike Brown was in space to score and when Tim Swiel added a penalty it give Quins the lead.

However , it was Madigan penalty who made sure the Dublin faithful had something to cheer about.

Scorers
Leinster
Try: Boss
Penalties: Madigan (3)

Harlequins
Try: Brown
Conversion: Swiel
Penalties: Swiel (2)

Wasps 44 - 17 Castres
Wasps made sure their last ever game at Adams Park was a memorable one as they scored seven tries and did the double over Castres.

It took four minutes for the hosts to get their first try with Jake Cooper – Woolley scoring his first ever try in Europe with Nathan Hughes scoring a second before 23 minutes.

The visitors did reply with Marc – Antoine Rallier touching down, but it didn’t take too long for Tom Varndell to get Wasps third and his first scoring after 30 minutes. Just before the break Wasps got the bonus point with Ben Jacobs spotting a gap in the French side's defence to score under the posts to make it 25 – 5.

In the second half Max Evans scored for Castres, but the home side replied quickly and again it was Varndell scoring is second of the match. With seven minutes to go the two sides swapped tries as Guy Thompson and Florian Houerie scoring for their teams.

In added time Jacobs had enough reach to score his second and the final ever try at Adams Park to cap off a fairytale ending.

Scorers
Wasps
Tries: Cooper - Woolley, Hughes, Varndell (2), Jacobs (2), Thompson
Conversions: Goode, Lozowski (2)
Penalty: Goode

Castres
Tries: Rallier, Evans, Houerie
Conversion: Palis

Pool 3
Toulon 23 - 8 Leicester Tigers
Toulon showed last week's defeat was just a one off and made sure Leicester left France with nothing.

The French side scored 13 points in 15 minutes with two Leigh Halfpenny penalties, an Ali Williams try and a Halfpenny conversion and then on 25 minutes another Halfpenny penalty extended their lead to 16 – 0.

The tigers did respond with Owen Williams showing some good strength through the middle of the host’s defence and the ball went wide to Blaine Scully to score in the corner.

A brilliant worked try from the reigning champions set up Mathieu Bastareaud to score on 54 minutes and even though Williams did score a penalty they could do nothing to break the Toulon defence.

Scorers
Toulon
Tries: Williams, Bastareaud
Conversion: Halfpenny
Penalites: Halfpenny (3)

Leicester Tigers
Try: Scully
Penalty: Williams

Pool 4
Bath Rugby 32 - 12 Montpellier
Bath were finally able to get the bonus point they needed to have a chance of progressing after doing the double over Montpellier.

Matt Banahan got a hat trick under the Friday night lights at the Rec with the first coming from a bit of luck as the winger was able to get hold of the ball after bouncing off Sam Burgess’s knee. 

His second came after a great running line and break from Semesa Rokoduguni who passed to Anthony Watson, who then quickly offloaded to Banahan and the hosts went into half time 17 – 0 in the lead.

The 28 year old got his third as scrum half Chris Cook was able to offload the ball to Banahan who scored in the corner before getting tackled. The French side were able to get a couple of tries of their own through Alex Tulou and Mickael Ivaldi.

Bath finally got what they wanted and got the try bonus point as Horacio Agulla scored under the posts to get the Rec rocking.

Scorers
Bath Rugby
Tries: Banahan (3), Agulla
Conversions: Ford (3)
Penalties: Ford (2)

Montpellier
Tries: Tulou, Ivaldi
Conversion: Paillaugue

Pool 5
Northampton Saints 67 - 0 Treviso
It was a try fest at Franklin’s Gardens as Northampton ran in 11 tries with two players getting hat tricks.

A penalty try got the scoreboard ticking on 11 minutes, then five minutes later George North ran in to score the second of the match, but it was Kahn Fotuali’i who scored the home side’s third which could be considered for try of the tournament.

The Saints got the bonus point just before half time with Ken Pisi getting his first of the game with the sides going in at 24 – 0. Then five minutes into the second half George Pisi got on the scoresheet which was quickly followed up by Ken who got his second of the game and he would have to wait to get his hat trick as he was beaten by Samu Manoa.

The American number 8 scored his hat trick in 12 minutes of coming off the bench and then on 75 minutes K. Pisi finally joined his team mate to score his third of the match as Northampton showed complete dominance.

Scorers

Northampton Saints
Tries: Penalty, North, Fotuali'i, K Pisi (3), G Pisi, Manoa (3), Foden
Conversions: Myler (4), Wilson (2)