ULSTER 13 - BIARRITZ 9

Ulster came out on top of this tight Pool 6 match, beating French champions Biarritz 13-9 at Ravenhill.

David Humphreys redeemed his two first half penalty misses with a pair of penalty-goals in the second period to give the home side the victory they deserved.

Ulster dominated the early exchanges, but handling errors under the pressure of the european occasion disturbed the flow of the game.

The first score came after 17 minutes against the run of play. Ulster found themselves penalised, and Biarritz scrum half Dimitri Yachvili stepped up to score a penalty goal from 35 metres.

And the visitors doubled their advantage after 19 minutes, outside half Julian Peyrelongue successfully landing a dropped-goal.

But Ulster got the break they deserved after 24 minutes. A long flat pass from the Biarritz No. 10 was intercepted by James Topping, and the pacy wing raced 50 metres unopposed to touch down under the posts.

A second penalty from Yachvili late in the first half saw the visitors leading 9-7 at the break.

The second half saw Ulster take control of the match, largely thanks to the precise positional kicking of Humpheys.

When spirited Biarritz play came to nothing, the Ulster defence held firm, and Biarritz were able only to kick to gain territory.

But in full-back Bryn Cunningham, Ulster have a potential star of the future, his sure hands and cool nerve won him many fans inside a packed Ravenhill stadium.

It finished 13-9, and sets up intriguing return match next week at the the parc des Sports Aquilera.

MUNSTER 64 - VIADANA 0

Viadana found it impossible to live with Heineken Cup experts Munster as they lost heavily at Musgrave Park.

The home side started with authority, and broke the Italians defence after just five minutes, Ireland No.8 Anthony Foley crashing over. The sure boot of Ronan O'Gara made the score 7-0.

Even at this early stage it was apparent that Munster had too much for the visitors, and O'Gara took the score into double figures with a tenth minute penalty goal.

Prop Marcus Horgan scored the second try after 15 minutes, and fellow Ireland front row Frankie Sheahan crossed seven minutes later. Both scores were improved by O'Gara. And when the Munsterman converted lock Paul O'Connell's 27th minute score the home side had a 29-0 advantage.

The Italian champions were simply outclassed, their lack of organisation in defence was exposed in a second half in which Munster ran riot.

A penalty try was quickly followed by further scores from O'Gara, and Jason Holland, with O'Gara converting all three to give Munster the two points and the others in the Pool a warning.

SALE 19 - LLANELLI 30

At Heywood Road, Llanelli beat Sale Sharks 30-19 in a seven-try thriller, Llanelli tries coming from Robin McBryde, Martyn Madden, Garan Evans, and Scott Quinnell.

The Sharks' tries came from Vaughan Going, Jim Thorp, and Mark Cueto, but it was Wales outside half Stephen Jones who made the difference, his two penalty goals and two conversions helped the Scarlets to an 11 point victory, and with that keeping their quarter-final qualifying hopes alive in the process.