Lyon 24 Northampton Saints 36

Northampton Saints secured a dramatic 36-24 bonus-point win on the road over Lyon in Heineken Champions Cup Pool 1.

The visitors took the lead early in Lyon as the driving maul proved too strong from Northampton with Mike Haywood under a pile of players for the first score on 20 minutes.

Lyon wouldn’t roll over as Sam Hidalgo-Clyne picked a hole in the Northampton line before popping the pass inside to Felix Lambey who dived to grab the ball and dot down at the posts.

On 34 minutes, Lyon extended the lead through Liam Gill as he tapped quickly and burrowed over the line and a late penalty put them 17-5 up at the interval.

Northampton improved after the break and scored twice before the 65-minute mark.

The first came after another driving maul and two phases later Tiemana Harrison was able to power over.

The second came from a wonderful kick from Dan Biggar after a turnover in play and his half-back partner Cobus Reinach could kick forward, pick up and score to put the Saints ahead.

Northampton would not be stopped and dealt the telling blow on 74 minutes. It was Reinach again with a nice pass inside to Biggar and his pass released George Furback who cleared away from the final Lyon man and scored a pivotal try.

James Fish then crossed the whitewash for a fifth score with two minutes to play, putting further gloss on the score.

Saracens 27 Racing 92 24

Saracens came out 27-24 victors over Racing 92 in an epic Heineken Champions Cup Pool 4 clash at Allianz Park.

The defending champions opened up with a try on three minutes after a driving maul gave Maro Itoje the platform to power over the line and they extended the lead soon after.

Very similar to the first try, it was George Kruis with the take from the line-out and Mako Vunipola was bundled over the line, putting the hosts 14-0 ahead.

It didn’t take Racing long to respond as a Finn Russell kick caused some confusion and Virimi Vakatawa collected the loose ball before driving forward, seeing off Duncan Taylor and scoring.

Owen Farrell would slot over a three-pointer on 19 minutes but as just before the half-hour mark, Louis Dupichot pulled off a lovely intercept from a Farrell pass and he cleared away to cut the gap again.

And the stunning first-half turnaround was complete on 31 minutes as Teddy Iribaren, Russell and Vakatawa combined with the latter picking a gap and powering over for a third try.

Iribaren slotted over a penalty to put Racing seven ahead at the start of the second half before Saracens levelled the scores on 50 minutes.

It was Brad Barritt who kicked wide with penalty advantage, finding Duncan Taylor who offloaded to Ben Earl and his pass inside to Maro Itoje was perfect, allowing the lock to stroll over the try line, with Farrell’s conversion making it 24-24.

As Saracens piled on the pressure, they thought they had a fourth try on 75 minutes but TMO proved inconclusive, so Farrell instead stepped up and slotted over the three points that proved to be the final winning points.

Toulouse 35 Gloucester Rugby 14

Toulouse rounded off the Heineken Champions Cup pool stages with a commanding 35-14 win over Gloucester Rugby.

It was the in-form Louis Rees-Zammit who gave Gloucester the early lead on four minutes. From the attacking line-out, they worked left and then back right with a kick wide to the young wing and he scooped up before diving over for the opening points.

It took Toulouse a bit of time to get into the game but they got their first try after 15 minutes. It came from a powerful driving maul and as it splintered, Joe Tekori took off and dived over the line.

Toulouse soon clicked into gear with fly-half Romain Ntamack bagging a brace before the break. The first came after some lovely inter-changing passing and after the initial break from Antoine Dupont, play found Ntamack who sprinted clear to score at the posts.

And the second came after another delightful Dupont break and a few phases later, Ntamack bobbed and weaved past three Gloucester defenders for the try.

Just before the interval, Jason Woodward showed some resolve from the visitors as he was able to scoot round the Toulouse line and score at the posts, making it 21-14 at the break.

But the hosts dominated in the second half, grabbing a bonus point try when Maxime Medard released Cheslin Kolbe down the left wing and after play was bundled to the ground, they found Julien Marchand who dotted down with ease.

A fifth try soon followed for Toulouse and it was Cyril Baille who delivered the telling blow after the powerful scrum forced penalty advantage once again.

Our final set of classic matches from this season’s Heineken Champions Cup pool stages takes us to Round 6 and three dramatic games including Toulouse, Saracens and Northampton Saints.