Munster bounced back from a disappointing defeat to Bath last week to beat Gloucester 31-3 in the Champions Cup at Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork. A week on from a display Clayton McMillan called “borderline embarrassing”, the hosts secured a bonus-point victory playing a Champions Cup match at the home of Cork GAA for the first time.
Munster scored five tries through centre Dan Kelly, full-back Mike Haley, back-row Ruadhan Quinn, replacement Tom Farrell and lock Tadhg Beirne. Fly-half Jack Crowley added three conversions in blustery conditions that affected both sides, while Gloucester managed only a solitary three points from full-back George Barton.
Sale finished strongly to give their campaign a lift with a 35-14 victory over Clermont at Stade Marcel-Michelin. Responding to their opening-night home defeat by Glasgow, Sale led 20-7 at half-time thanks to tries from Tom O’Flaherty, Marius Louw and Arron Reed. Clermont hit back when Lucas Zamoa crossed early in the second half and, at 23-14, the French side were pressing for more. Sale held firm, scrambled a try through Joe Bedlow and sealed the win when Alex Wills touched down in the 73rd minute.
In Durban, Saracens were edged 28-23 by the Sharks in a contest that saw Sharks scorers Siya Kolisi, Aphelele Fassi, Edwill van der Merwe and Grant Williams cross the line. Saracens replied through Theo Dan, Sam Spink and Tom Willis but, in wet conditions and trailing by five, they could not convert a final five-metre lineout when Andy Onyeama-Christie failed to gather James Hadfield’s throw. The Sharks head coach John Plumtree resigned earlier in the week.
Glasgow Warriors produced a remarkable comeback in Pool 1, overturning a 21-0 deficit to beat tournament favourites Toulouse 28-21 at Scotstoun. Tries from Antoine Dupont and Kalvin Gourgues had Toulouse seemingly in control, but Glasgow replied with four second-half tries from Josh McKay, Gregor Brown, Sione Tuipulotu and Gregor Hiddleston to earn a memorable bonus-point victory in dreadful weather.
Champions Cup holders Bordeaux-Bègles inflicted a heavy 50-21 defeat on Scarlets, scoring eight tries. Matthieu Jalibert crossed twice, while Jefferson Poirot, Gaëtan Barlot, Tiaan Jacobs, Pablo Uberti, Xan Mousques and Louis Bielle-Biarrey also scored. Scarlets managed three tries, two from Fletcher Anderson and one from Henry Thomas, but were outplayed.
Ronan O’Gara’s La Rochelle were beaten 42-21 by the Stormers in South Africa as the visitors ran in six tries. Wings Dylan Maart (two) and Leolin Zas, flanker André-Hugo Venter, full-back Warrick Gelant and back-row Marcel Theunissen scored, with fly-half Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu adding three conversions and two penalties. For La Rochelle, Quentin Lespiaucq, replacement Nika Sutidze and full-back Nathan Bollengier crossed in defeat.