Leinster 45; Harlequins 28
Leinster may be four-time champions but they look nothing like a side capable of repeating their exploits despite opening this year’s Champions Cup campaign with 17 points to spare against Harlequins at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.
They huffed and puffed for up to an hour at which time the England club was a mere three points in arrears 24-21. However if there was a bright point it came from there to the final whistle when Leo Cullen’s charges scored three converted tries while conceding one.
After starting well with dot downs by Garry Ringrose and Ciaran Frawley to augment a Jordan Larmour double, there were rocked when Luke Northmore and Cassius Cleaves went over for Harlequins. Then a penalty try by the visitors after the interval cut the deficit to a mere three points.
Both sides were reduced to 14 players in the second half and finally Leinster opened up by running in the last three of their seven tries thanks to Tommy O'Brien, Jack Conan and Jimmy O’Brien.
Oscar Beard sprinted to touchdown late on for the Quins but the game had been decided long before that touchdown.
However, bigger tests are ahead and Leinster need to find that X-factor which is only appearing spasmodically.
Speaking after the match, Lions second row star Joe McCarthy accepted his side was still trying to get up to speed in the news season.
“You get five points out of it and you're pretty happy, but there's definitely a bit of a sense of frustration.
“There’s a lot of new combinations, it’s my first game of the season and a few guys like Caelan haven't played for Leinster yet this season. We've not been together that much, so I think we're excited where we can take it. We just need to properly review that and then have a good rest as well,” he stressed.
Referring to the impressive late show by Leinster, he said:
“It felt like when we kind of tuned in, switched on and got on the same page, we felt like we were really breaking them.
“It was probably just a few small mental lapses and just holding on to the ball a little bit more would have really killed them off. We probably let them back in a few times, but I think we should go to a few positives - the scrum set pieces felt very dominant. There’s a good platform to work off there.
“There’s been a lot of disruption, we haven't had long periods together. We're not making excuses, but I think you'll see after this block of games that we'll improve each week,” he added.
Bath 40; Munster 14
Munster's impressive season start has come unstuck and Bath showed the southern province are some way off the pace in this opening Champions Cup match at the Recreation Ground.
The visitors, 28-0 down midway through the first half, will point to a number of pre-match injuries which saw the likes of Jack Crowley withdrawing due to an ankle injury with the well-travelled JJ Hanrahan taking over at no 10.
Edwin Edogbo came in at lock for Jean Kleyn while Jeremy Loughman was also called up from a bench role when Michael Milne pulled out.
The changes clearly upset the side who were 21-0 down within a dozen minutes. On top of that captain Tadhg Beirne was sent to the sin bin as Miles Reid, Tom de Glanville and Henry Arundell all dotted down. Scotland and Lions outhalf Finn Russell kicked the conversions.
Hooker Tom Dunn finished off a line-out catch and drive after 18 minutes with a trademark try, Russell adding the conversion.
Munster refused to give up the ghost and forced a succession of penalties in Bath territory before Edogbo got over with Hanrahan converting.
When Lions prop Will Stuart was shown a yellow card in the 28th minute, Munster had a chance to shave the lead further but despite camping in the hosts half, they came away with nothing and it was Beno Obano who muscled his way over for Bath’s fifth try while down to 14 men.
Craig Casey try in first-half injury time with Hanrahan’s conversion gave hope but little prospect of turning around.
However, despite plenty of heft, neither side managed to threaten much on the resumption until the 78th minute when Ted Hill finished off a move to get in for an unconverted try.
Ulster 67; Racing 92 7
This new-look Ulster side is beginning to make waves and were well worth the nine tries they ran in during their Challenge Cup rout of Racing 92 at Affidea Stadium.
All Racing’s luck came in one fell swoop on seven minutes when Antoine Gibert intercepted a James Hume pass and ran in before converting his own try.
Ulster were swift in their response with Jacob Stockdale and Rob Herring getting over to settle home nerves.
Leading 14-7 at the break following a series of head on collisions to see who would blink first, the second half showed it was the Red Hand who would wrestle control
Front row operator Tom O'Toole drove over to set the tone and then Tom Stewart got in for the bonus point.
Scott Wilson and Jake Flannery then got in on the scoring act and after it was party time as Zac Ward and Stockdale got their second dot downs of the afternoon to complete a 60-point walloping of the French opposition.
Osprey 24; Connacht 21
This was a game of two halves as Connacht ultimately managed to complete the dreaded old saying of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory against Ospreys in their opening joust of the Challenge Cup in Wales.
The Westerners led by 21-5 at half-time as their scrum dominated proceedings.
The first try arrived when, following approach work by Shane Jennings and Finn Treacy, Finlay Bealham drove over from close range. However, the Lions and Irish tighthead suffered a head knock in the move and was replaced for the rest of the game.
Connacht scored from the tapped penalty as No. 8 Sean Jansen burst over against a 14-man home side who were leaking penalties at that stage
The visitors went 21-0 after only 23 minutes when replacement Aungier squeezed over for Sean Naughton, to kick his third conversion.
That was as good as it got for the Irish side who allowed an Osprey try before the break and then fell asunder as the Welsh side found a new level, backed by the vociferous home following.
