Heineken Champions Cup Saturday Review

Cardiff Blues 14-26 Saracens

Unbeaten Saracens continued their relentless push for a Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final place by beating Cardiff Blues 26-14 at the Arms Park.

But it was an often close-run contest as Saracens' 21-game run without defeat came under serious threat for large parts of the game.

England fly-half Owen Farrell's second-half penalty double and a Jamie George try edged them home as they strengthened their grip on Pool Three.

Wing Sean Maitland scored a first-half try, with Farrell kicking 16 points, while the Blues claimed touchdowns from centre Rey Lee-Lo and full-back Dan Fish.

Fly-half Gareth Anscombe kicked both conversions, yet the Blues are facing a pool-stage exit despite pushing Saracens hard just six days after suffering a 51-25 defeat against the same opponents at Allianz Park.

Saracens will secure their place in the last-eight if they beat struggling Lyon in France next month, with that game being followed by a home encounter against Glasgow.

Saracens now head to Gallagher Premiership title rivals Exeter next Saturday, taking with them an undefeated record that stretches back to April 1 when they lost a Champions Cup quarter-final to Leinster.

Glasgow Warriors 21-10 Lyon

Glasgow Warriors beat Lyon 21-10 in a game during which a strong bitter wind played a huge part but the home side maintained their hopes of qualification for the knockout stages of the Heineken Champions Cup.

Using the wind well Glasgow led 18-3 at the break thanks to a brace of tries from winger Niko Matawalu sandwiching a pair of penalties from Adam Hastings, who also converted the second try

Late pressure from Lyon produced a penalty from Jean-Marc Doussain, and with the wind they pulled back a try from Pierre-Louis Barassi which was converted by Doussain.

A penalty from Hastings, who was later subject to a straight arm to the head from lock Etienne Oosthuizen who was red carded by referee Ben Whitehouse, saw Glasgow home.

Toulouse 42-27 Wasps

Toulouse moved a step closer to the quarter-finals with a 42-27 bonus point victory over Wasps at the Stade Ernest-Wallon.

The four-time European champions retained top spot in Pool One with Wasps mathematically out of the equation.

Tries from Yoann Huget, Joe Tekori, Romain Ntamack and two from Antoine Dupont plus 17 points from the boot of Thomas Ramos were enough to secure the win.

Wasps scored three tries of their own courtesy of Josh Bassett, Willie Le Roux and Ross Neal with Billy Searle kicking 12 points.

Castres 13-12 Munster

Pool Two of the Champions Cup remains wide open after Castres avenged last weekend's defeat with a tense 13-12 win over Munster at Stade Pierre Fabre.

Benjamin Urdapilleta for Castres and Munster's Joey Carbery traded early penalties before the Top 14 champions' scored the only try of the game in the 23rd minute.

In truth, they could have been over two minutes earlier. Scrum-half Rory Kockott slipped his defender, offloaded to Scott Spedding, who passed out of the tackle to hooker Kevin Firmin with the line beckoning.

But superb Munster defence kept Castres out, until Firmin - after concerted and patient pressure - forced his way over from close range. That score gave the hosts' a 10-6 lead at the end of a niggly opening period in which there had been plenty of off-the-ball activity.

Kockott, who perhaps should have been off the pitch for an earlier, more serious, infringement, was sent to the bin on the stroke of half-time, after he slapped the ball out of opposite number Conor Murray's hand five metres from the hosts' line.

Munster maybe should have opted for three easy points to take the half-time score to 10-9 but they instead went for glory with Castres' defence holding firm.

The hosts survived all of the 10 minutes Kockott was in the bin without conceding a point, as Carberry missed a straightforward kick at goal and Munster failed to make their advantage tell. Shortly after Kockott returned however, Castres were penalised again, and Carbery made it 10-9.

Urdapilleta restored Castres' four-point cushion from the kicking tee after the visitors' hooker Niall Scannell was sent to the bin for one infringement too many at a maul - before Murray missed a chance to cut the deficit from halfway.

Carberry closed the gap to one point again as a tension and adrenaline-fuelled match entered its final quarter. A kick-and-chase touchdown from Andrew Conway with 10 minutes left on the clock seemed to have sealed the game for Munster - but replays showed he had knocked on.

The drama was far from over. Castres' replacement hooker Marc-Antoine Rallier was sin-binned for a dangerous tackle on Peter O'Mahony three minutes after coming on, leaving the hosts to finish the game with 14 players.

But Carbery missed the following penalty, and that would be Munster's final scoring chance as the 14 men of Castres again held firm.

Leinster 42-15 Bath

Leinster's bonus-point dismissal of Bath saw them keep pace with Heineken Champions Cup Pool One leaders Toulouse after they claimed a 42-15 win at Dublin's Aviva Stadium.

Toulouse are still two points clear but the defending champions will have a chance to pass them when they meet in a crunch January 12 clash at the nearby RDS.

Bath's resistance was broken by half-time, Adam Byrne bagging the bonus point at 28-10 to add to earlier tries from Jack Conan, Rory O'Loughlin and James Lowe.

Sam Underhill joined Francois Louw in crossing the whitewash, but the Bath back row duo were unable to influence the breakdown as they had done at the Rec last week.

The traditional December outing at Irish Rugby HQ continues to spark some of Leinster's best form and they book-ended the second half with tries from Dan Leavy and replacement Jamison Gibson-Park.

Bath boss Todd Blackadder promised the 'full metal jacket' in this return fixture and James Wilson's second-minute penalty - punishing Byrne for getting isolated at the breakdown - got them off the mark.

However, the first cracks appeared when Jamie Roberts' poor tackle was shrugged off by number eight Conan who powered over for his try, wide on the left.

Leinster were 14-3 ahead by the 13th minute, a trademark Jonathan Sexton loop move providing the platform to spring Jordan Larmour through and he passed for centre O'Loughlin to go over unopposed.

Sexton landed both conversions but Bath entered the second quarter just four points down, Wilson's neat break doing the initial damage before Louw crashed over from close range for a seven-pointer.

Leo Cullen's men regained control with Lowe proving unstoppable from a quick tap penalty in the 25th minute.

The bonus point came into view with Byrne threatening from a Sexton grubber and the same two players combined for the eventual try, two minutes from the break. Sexton hung up a beautiful cross-field kick which the athletic winger won above Darren Atkins to run in from the left corner.

James Ryan, the man-of-the-match from the round three game, made a big carry in advance of his forward colleague Leavy's try four minutes after the restart.

Sexton landed his fifth successful conversion of the night for a 35-10 advantage, but Underhill led Bath's swift response, showing impressive strength to get past two defenders and register his first European try.

Wilson was unable to convert from 39 metres out, and although Bath dug their heels in to deny the Leinster forwards from a subsequent penalty kicked to the corner, fresh legs from the bench kept the Irish province on the front foot.

Twelve minutes from time, good work from Andrew Porter and Lowe sent Gibson-Park over from the 22-metre line. Fellow replacement Ross Byrne swerved the conversion over in the difficult wind.