European Champions Cup rugby: Results, stats & review as Saracens crush Northampton

European Champions Cup: Results (October 13-15)

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Friday October 13

• Ulster 19-9 Wasps

Saturday October 14

• Leinster 24-17 Montpellier
• Racing 92 22-18 Leicester Tigers
• Bath 23- 0 Benetton Rugby
• Harlequins 27-34 La Rochelle
• Exeter 24-15 Glasgow Warriors

Sunday October 15

• Castres 17-17 Munster
• Toulon 21-20 Scarlets
• Northampton 13-57 Saracens
• Ospreys 21-26 Clermont Auvergne

Sunday scores, stats & round-up

Northampton 13-57 Saracens

Northampton tries: Haywood (76)
Conversions: Mallinder (77)
Penalties: Myler (9,34)

Saracens tries: Tries: Williams (11,29), Barritt (21), Clark (40), Koch (42), Vunipola (65), Lozowski (68), Spencer (79)
Conversions: Farrell (11,21,40,43,65,68,79)
Penalties: Farrell (16)

Northampton collapsed to another harrowing rout by Saracens after being overwhelmed 57-13 in a record defeat at Franklin's Gardens.

Saints opened their season with a 55-24 defeat by the European champions at Twickenham after trailing 41-3 at half-time, and the parallels with this Champions Cup Pool Two clash were clear as they entered the interval 29-6 down before crumbling to an even heavier loss.

Saracens had wrapped up the bonus point by the 40th minute, Liam Williams running in two of their tries, in a superb performance that delivered a statement of intent in their quest to emulate Toulon by claiming a hat-trick of Champions Cup titles.

To add to Northampton's misery, George North limped off in the first half after crumbling beneath a knee injury that was initially incurred when tackled by Barritt, his efforts to run off the knock taking a significant toll.

Ospreys 21-26 Clermont Auvergne

Ospreys tries: Webb, Evans (x2)
Conversions: Biggar (x3)

Clermont tries: Raka, Spedding
Conversions: Parra (x2)
Penalties: Para (x3), Spedding

French heavyweights Clermont Auvergne were given a major fright by the Ospreys before claiming a 26-21 European Champions Cup victory at the Liberty Stadium.

The Welsh side, beaten five times already this season in Guinness PRO14 action, looked down and out following early Clermont tries for wing Alivereti Raka and full-back Scott Spedding.

Scrum-half Morgan Parra converted both touchdowns and kicked two penalties to secure a comfortable half-time advantage, then completed his penalty hat-trick early in the second period.

Parra's opposite number Rhys Webb claimed an 18th-minute try for the Ospreys that his half-back partner Dan Biggar converted, but the home side dominated a second period that saw full-back Dan Evans collect two touchdowns and Biggar add further conversions.

Ultimately, the Ospreys had to settle for a losing bonus point, but it was a valiant effort that did not look like materialising when they trailed by 14 points after 10 minutes.

Toulon 21-20 Scarlets

Toulon tries: Escande (5), Guirado (11)
Conversions: Belleau (5)
Penalties: Belleau (9,22), Trinh-Duc (64)

Scarlets tries: McNicholl (42), Halfpenny (49)
Conversions: Halfpenny (42,49)
Penalties: Halfpenny (32,60)

Scarlets gave three-time Champions Cup winners Toulon an almighty fright before finally being edged out 21-20 in their Pool Five encounter in France.

The Welsh side bounced back from letting the home side take an 18 point lead as they forced their noses in front in the second half before finally coming up just short.

Toulon scored at a point a minute in the opening quarter of an hour as they punished the reigning Guinness PRO 12 champions. They scored two tries and looked in complete control of their opening game of the tournament.

Scrum half Eric Escande intercepted a pass from opposite number Aled Davies from a line-out near halfway to scamper 40 metres to the line and then skipper Guilhem Guirado rounded off a thrilling break out from the 22 with a corner try.

Outside half Anthony Belleau converted Escande's try and also kicked two penalties to leave the Scarlets trailing by 18 points.

Tries from Johnny McNicholl and Leigh Halfpenny brought Scarlets right back in it before the latter's second penalty of the match edged the visitors ahead only for Francois Tillous-Borde' 30-metre penalty four minutes later proved decisive.

Castres 17-17 Munster

Castres tries: Ebersohn (13), Dumora (33)
Conversions: Urdapilleta (13,33)
Penalties: Urdapilleta (51)

Munster tries: Zebo (31), Kilcoyne (47)
Conversions: Bleyendaal (31,47)
Penalties: Bleyendaal (39)

Munster survived a second-half Castres onslaught to escape from Stade Pierre-Fabre with a hard-fought 17-17 draw in their Champions Cup Pool Four opener.

A frenetic first half saw tries from Robert Ebersohn and Julien Dumora for Castres and a Simon Zebo effort for Munster, with the French side 14-10 ahead at the break.

A Dave Kilcoyne try for Munster in the second half looked to have put them on course for a precious away victory, but the accuracy of the Irish province left a lot to be desired, as they failed to make use of the territory they gained.

Castres fly-half Benjamin Urdapilleta levelled things up with a penalty at 17-17, but missed a late penalty and drop-goal attempt at the death to win it for the hosts.

Saturday's scores, stats & round-up

Bath 23-0 Benetton Rugby

Bath tries: Mercer (39), Brew (71)
Conversions: Lewis (39, 71)
Penalties: Lewis (3, 6 ,47)

Bath made a winning return to the European top flight after a season's absence with a 23-0 victory over Italian side Benetton Treviso in Pool 5 of the Champions Cup.

The scoreline did not do justice to the Italians who monopolised possession for long periods but lacked a cutting edge behind their powerful forwards.

Flanker Zach Mercer scored a timely try that gave Bath a 13-0 lead at the break and Aled Brew added a second late on but they never looked like getting a bonus point. Having prop Nick Auterac and hooker Tom Dunn sin-binned did not help their cause.

Exeter 24-15 Glasgow

Exeter tries: Williams (18), Hill (27), Simmonds (78)
Conversions: Steenson (18, 27, 78)
Penalties: Steenson (43)

Glasgow tries: Seymour (10), Jones (44)
Conversions: Russell (10)
Penalties: Russell (7)

Exeter ended Glasgow's unbeaten start to the season after they fought back to win a gripping cup tie 24-15 at Sandy Park.

The Aviva Premiership champions had lost three of their previous four opening games in Europe, and they made a terrible start as Glasgow surged 10 points clear through a Tommy Seymour try, plus a Finn Russell conversion and penalty.

But the Chiefs, unbeaten at home in all competitions since last December, wiped out the deficit when prop Harry Williams and lock Jonny Hill claimed tries during a dominant nine-minute spell, with fly-half Gareth Steenson converting both scores.

And Glasgow, who lost Scotland international hooker Fraser Brown to injury early in the action, were ultimately defeated despite wing Lee Jones' 44th-minute touchdown.

A Steenson penalty and number eight Sam Simmonds' late converted touchdown saw Exeter home.

Racing 22-18 Leicester

Racing tries: Nakarawa (18), Le Roux (24), Thomas (29)
Conversions: Iribaren (18, 24)
Penalties: Machenaud (58)

Leicester tries: Hamilton (4), May (35)
Conversions: Ford (4)
Penalties: Ford (22,77)

Leicester Tigers started their campaign with a 22-18 defeat to French giants Racing 92 in Pool Four.

The result in Paris meant the Tigers secured a losing bonus point as first-half tries from Luke Hamilton and Jonny May meant they took something back to England.

Fly-half George Ford ended the game with eight points and his late penalty ensured Racing had to play until the final whistle. Leone Nakarawa, Bernard Le Roux and Teddy Thomas were the home side's scorers as Teddy Iribaren kicked two conversions and Maxime Machenaud added a penalty.

Harlequins 27-34 La Rochelle

Harlequins tries: Matthews (15), Marchant (33), Collier (62)
Conversions: Smith (15, 33, 62)
Penalties: Smith (10, 80)

La Rochelle tries: Forbes (3), Doumayrou (25, 45), Priso (30)
Conversions: Lamb (3, 25, 30, 45)
Penalties: Lamb (13, 53)

England's prodigal son Ryan Lamb outfoxed rising star Marcus Smith as La Rochelle edged past Harlequins 34-27 at The Stoop.

Former Gloucester fly-half Lamb booted 14 points and just about bested Quins teenager Smith as La Rochelle registered a bonus-point win on their Champions Cup debut.

Lamb did everything but win a senior cap amid frustrating flirtations with England during a five-year Gloucester career that ran from 2004 to 2009.

Quins sensation Smith, meanwhile, has already been earmarked for Test stardom by England boss Eddie Jones, though the 18-year-old will not be rushed into frontline international action.

But in west London it was the itinerant playmaker Lamb, not the new-school outside-half Smith, who won the day.

Geoffrey Doumayrou's brace and further scores from Hikairo Forbes and Dany Priso sealed La Rochelle's victory, with Quins replying through tries from Charlie Matthews, Joe Marchant and Will Collier, along with 12 points from Smith.

Leinster 24-17 Montpellier

Leinster tries: Carbery (18), van der Flier (26), Henshaw (44), Daly (67)
Conversions: Nacewa (26), Byrne (44)

Montpellier tries: Nadolo (38, 62)
Conversions: Pienaar (38, 62)
Penalties: Pienaar (71)

Leinster survived a nail-biting finish to claim a 24-17 bonus-point win over Montpellier at the RDS.

Man of the match Robbie Henshaw and European debutant Barry Daly went over after the interval to add to first-half tries from Joey Carbery and Josh van der Flier to give Leinster a winning position.

Montpellier, who trailed 12-7 after playing with a first-half wind advantage, hung in there thanks to Nemani Nadolo's brace of tries before Ruan Pienaar's 70th-minute penalty cut the gap back to seven points.

However, 14-man Leinster, despite losing Adam Byrne to the sin-bin in the closing stages, stood firm to go straight to the top of Pool Three.

Friday's scores, stats and round-up

Ulster 19-9 Wasps

Ulster tries: Stockdale, McCloskey
Penalties: Cooney, Lealiifano (2)

Wasps penalties: Daly, Gopperth (2)

Ulster had been trailing 9-3 early in the second half but took ownership of the game in the 54th minute when former Wasps player Charles Piutau created Stockdale's score which was his fifth in five games.

Two minutes later Piutau and Stockdale combined again before McCloskey barged over.

Christian Lealiifano then closed the game out for Les Kiss's men with two late penalties to deny a lacklustre Wasps a losing bonus point as Dai Young's off-form side fell to a fifth straight defeat.

Ulster's other points came from a John Cooney penalty in the first half while Wasps managed two penalties from Jimmy Gopperth and one from Elliot Daly.

Wasps had led 6-3 at half-time after a first half of poor quality with Cooney's penalty for Ulster being sandwiched between successful efforts from the visitors through Daly and, right on the stroke of the break, Gopperth.

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