Wasps and Toulouse are into the Champions Cup quarter-finals after wins against Zebre and Connacht in their final round of pool fixtures on Sunday.
Toulouse 19-10 Connacht: Brave underdogs fall agonisingly short
Toulouse have made it into the Champions Cup Quarter-finals after a narrow 19-10 win over Connacht at Stade Ernest Wallon.
FULL TIME: @StadeToulousain hold on for victory at the Stade Ernest Wallon and book their place in the knockout stage #ChampionsCup pic.twitter.com/zdJPqdGuMf
— Champions Cup (@ChampionsCup) January 22, 2017
A dominant first-half performance from the home side saw Gael Fickou cross in the corner for the opening try after five minutes before Yoann Huget slipped in winger Arthur Bonneval to add try number two.
Reliable as ever, Jean-Marc Doussain added both conversions for Toulouse but Craig Ronaldson landed a penalty to keep the away side in the game heading into half-time, 14-3,
Joe Tekori’s try after the restart helped the visitors build a commanding 19-3 lead.
But Connacht fought back with John Muldoon’s converted try leaving the visitors just short of a losing bonus-point which would have also taken them through.
Toulouse
Tries: Fickou (5), Bonneval (17), Tekori (46)
Conversions: Doussain (5,17)
Connacht
Tries: Muldoon (53)
Conversions: Ronaldson (53)
Penalties: Ronaldson (33)
Toulouse: 15 Yoann Huget, 14 Arthur Bonneval, 13 Yann David , 12 Gael Fickou, 11 Paul Perez, 10 Jean-Marc Doussain, 9 Sébastien Bézy, 1 Cyril Baille, 2 Christopher Tolofua, 3 Census Johnston, 4 Richie Gray, 5 Yoann Maestri, 6 Joe Tekori, 7 Thierry Dusautoir, 8 Francois Cro.
Replacements: 16 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 17 Vasil Kakovin, 18 Gurthro Steenkamp, 19 Talalelei Gray, 20 Piula Faasalele, 21 Gillian Galan, 22 Toby Flood, 23 Alexis Palisson.
Connacht: 15 Tiernan O’Halloran, 14 Niyi Adeolokun, 13 Peter Robb, 12 Craig Ronaldson, 11 Matt Healy, 10 Jack Carty, 9 Kieran Marmion, 1 Denis Buckley, 2 Tom McCartney, 3 Finlay Bealham, 4 Quinn Roux, 5 James Cannon, 6 Nepia Fox-Matamua, 7 Jake Heenan, 8 John Muldoon (c).
Replacements: 16 Dave Heffernan, 17 JP Cooney, 18 John Andress, 19 Sean O’Brien, 20 Naulia Dawai, 21 John Cooney, 22 Tom Farrell, 23 Danie Poolman.
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Zebre 20-41 Wasps: Dai Young’s men score six to secure quarter-final place
Wasps scored six tries to beat Zebre 41-27 at Stadio Lanfranchi and secure their place in the Champions Cup quarter-finals on Sunday.
Wasps are through to the #ChampionsCup quarter-finals with victory in Italy over Zebre. pic.twitter.com/GtSQuI5Auw
— BT Sport Rugby (@btsportrugby) January 22, 2017
The hosts unexpectedly opened the try-scoring when Mattia Bellini sold a dummy before diving over. Italian international
Italian international Carlo Canna, who opened the scoring with a penalty early on, added the conversion to give Zebre a 10-0 lead with 15 minutes gone.
Danny Cipriani narrowed the gap from the tee but Marcello Violi restored the Italians seven-point lead with a kick of his own, 13-3.
To the delight and relief of the Wasps fans, Ashley Johnson crashed over from close range after half an hour before Cipriani and Elliot Daly added further five-pointers.
Cipriani missed the first conversion but landed the next two to give the visitors a healthy 22-13 lead at the break.
Dallaglio suggests that Italian rugby needs restructuring for them to be competitive in the #ChampionsCup. https://t.co/WE8BtrOYBu
— BT Sport Rugby (@btsportrugby) January 22, 2017
Wasps secured the crucial try-scoring bonus-point after the restart as Johnson dotted down his second of the day off the back of a rolling maul with Cipriani converting yet again, 13-29.
Christian Wade and Nathan Hughes added gloss to the scoreline before Kurt Baker and Federico Ruzza clawed back respectability for Zebre late on.