Best of the weekend: Saracens storm Paris to buck home trend

Home sides dominate in Champions Cup quarters as only Sarries can buck trend

True to form in Europe, the quarter-finals highlighted the importance of getting yourself a home fixture for the knock out stages as Leinster, Clermont and Toulon all triumphed, with only Saracens squeaking past Racing Metro 11 – 12 thanks to a last-gasp monster penalty from Marcelo Bosch. In what was the tightest – and least attractive – game of the weekend, a Maxime Machenaud try had given the advantage to the hosts with a sharply taken score, but Charlie Hodgson added two penalties to give Sarries a half time lead. Two Machenaud penalties in the second period, to one from Alex Goode, looked to have done the business for Racing but Nigel Owens – refereeing a game that was strikingly different than the try-fest at Twickenham a fortnight ago – pinged Racing for going off their feet as they attempted to see the game out in the closing stages. Bosch did the rest.

In Clermont, however, it was a resoundingly different story as the French giants butchered the Saints in spectacular and merciless fashion, with – ironically – an Englishman as the star of the show. Nick Abendanon may have been perennially on the periphery of the England squad whilst he was with Bath, but here he was centre stage, single handedly tearing the visitors apart, whether it was from ghosting through to set up Wesley Fofana for a score, ripping the ball from George Pisi to score from 70 metres out or even burying the much-larger Christian Day in a crunching tackle late on. Saints did score one late consolation try through Alex Waller but, in all honesty, they were lucky not to have that chalked off as the prop celebrated by forearming a Clermont player in the face. It summed up the frustration of a talented side that expected to compete but had been completely out played for 80 minutes and were on the end of a deserved a 37 – 5 hiding.

There was a much tighter affair, however, in Dublin earlier on Saturday, as Bath pushed Leinster all the way in a pulsating match which saw stand-out displays from Ian Madigan and the electric George Ford. Leinster dominated the first half for large swathes and Madigan was proving irresistible off the tee – something you don’t say too often – and banged over five penalties in the first 40 minutes, helped by the fact that Anthony Watson found himself on the naughty boy stool for 10 minutes of that. Ford responded with a superb show-and-go score, but his side were comfortably second best – something they turned around in the second period. Ford once again was the architect for the comeback as his break set up Stuart Hooper for a try and, with Madigan adding one more penalty, it meant Bath had to lay siege to the Leinster line with the clock in the red and the score at 18 – 12. In the end the hosts, so dominant in the first 40, were grateful for a very generous call by Jerome Garces, who seemed to miss several more obvious Leinster infringements to penalise Bath and decide the game in the Dubliners’ favour. Leinster are back in the big time.

And the big time is where Toulon are used to being, although they too will be grateful in part to some incredibly generous/incompetent refereeing. Toulon dominated the opening exchanges – and the first half in general – leading 22 – 6 thanks to five Michelak penalties and a Bastareaud try, but it was in the second half when things really got interesting. With the pace of Joe Simpson and Elliot Daly causing havoc and substitute Andy Goode pulling the strings with typical precision, the visitors fought their way right back into contention, with two tries from Will Helu (compared to just one further Michelak penalty) pulling the English side to within seven points with 10 minutes remaining. What the officials failed to spot, however, was one of the most blatant pull-backs off the ball by Ali Williams in the build up to Helu’s second try (it stopped a try being scored from that phase of play) and then, in typical fashion, the big Kiwi popped up late on to score the game-sealing try for the reigning Champions. They may have bucket loads of quality in Toulon, but they still had to rely on a cheeky bit of skullduggery to climb out of that hole.

Champions Cup Star Man: Nick Abendanon.

Dragons win thriller, Exeter hammer Newcastle

The game of the weekend in the Challenge Cup was undoubtedly the Dragons 25 – 21 win over the Blues at Rodney Parade, as the hosts came back from 14 – 3 down in the first half to win the game. Tries from Lloyd Williams and Gareth Anscombe handed the advantage to the visitors but a penalty try and scores from Hallam Amos and Nic Cudd hauled the hosts back into control. Josh Navidi crashed over with five minutes to go to make the score 25 – 21 and set up a pant-wettingly tense conclusion, but the Dragons held on for a famous win over their rivals.

Elsewhere, the Chiefs comfortably dispatched Newcastle at Sandy Park, scoring six tries to one as they finished 48 – 13 victors, whilst London Irish lost a hard-fought game at home to Edinburgh, with the Scottish side returning north with a 23 – 18 win under their belts. Gloucester also made it through after a tough 14 – 7 win on the Friday night over Connacht, despite being held scoreless in the second 40 minutes.

Challenge Cup Star Man: Henry Slade

Crusaders sink the Sharks

The Crusaders may have had a wobbly start to the season but there is no doubting their intentions now as they destroyed the Sharks in an almost unprecedented win away in Durban. The hosts weren’t helped by a Jean Deysel red card on the stroke of half time but, in truth, they were already well beaten, with the New Zealanders 28 – 3 up at the break…despite being reduced twelve men at the time. However, Kieran Read, Israel Dagg, Colin Slade and company conjured up some magical rugby to run in eight tries on their way to a 52 – 10 victory over a supposedly strong Sharks side.

There was also a sending off in the Reds’ defeat to rivals the Rebels, with James Horwill seeing red for a supposed swinging arm tackle after just 20 minutes. The hosts took full advantage to claim another scalp this season, running out 23 – 15 winners in the local derby. Elsewhere, there was more magic – and grit – from the Hurricanes as they held on to top spot with a pulsating win over the Stormers in Wellington. The Stormers lost 25 – 20 but scored 17 unanswered points in the second period to make it a one score game but ultimately came up just short, a reward for the first half brilliance by the Canes which saw the hosts score one for the tries of the season through Beauden Barrett.

Super Rugby Star Man: Matt Todd.

Try of the Week: No question. Take a look at Beauden Barrett’s effort for the Hurricanes against the Stormers, an absolute ‘worldy’, as they say in football.

Hero of the Week: It could have gone to Marcelo Bosch for his plumbs of steel, but instead I’m going to go for Ian Madigan. His kicking is often criticised but here, on the biggest club stage, he was imperious.

Villain of the Week: Ali Williams takes the pantomime award for his tug back on Elliot Daly when it looked certain Wasps were in for a try – and the ex All-Black then had the nerve to score himself five minutes later after he had escaped punishment.

By Mike Cooper (@RuckedOver)

Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images