Connacht Rugby 27 Gloucester Rugby 24

Connacht pulled off a dramatic win over Gloucester, with Robin Copeland scoring a late try to snatch victory for the hosts in Galway in December.

Connacht grabbed the first score as Caolin Blade burrowed his way over for the first try after plenty of pressure on the Gloucester line.

Gloucester responded well to going behind, with the pick-and-go working well as they edged left and with the overlap, Gerbrandt Grobler walked in for the try.

A brace of tries from Gloucester’s Mark Atkinson and one from Lewis Ludlow put the visitors 24-13 ahead before a remarkable comeback.

Shane Delahunt powered over on 77 minutes and then, from the kick-off, Connacht went the length of the field, with Bundee Aki making a huge carry before a few phases later, a lovely offload allowed Copeland to escape his man for the match-winner.

Leinster Rugby 50 Northampton Saints 21

Leinster Rugby were at their blistering best as they scored seven tries in a 50-21 Heineken Champions Cup Pool 1 win over Northampton Saints at the Aviva Stadium, securing a last eight spot in the process.

Garry Ringrose gave Leinster the perfect start as he scored two tries in the first seven minutes but Northampton would respond with a try of their own.

It was Andy Symons with a terrific driving run who popped the ball up to Dan Biggar and he dotted down in front of the posts before converting his own score.

Leinster added a third try soon after with a driving maul that was simply too powerful for Northampton as Tadhg Furlong was driven over the line and they got a fourth – bringing up the bonus point – on 37 minutes after Dave Kearney worked the overlap to score.

Northampton did launch a response just before the break after some excellent work from Lewis Ludlam who intercepted and sprinted all the way into the Leinster 22. The ball then reached Ahsee Tuala and he found a gap in the line before giving to Ollie Speights who scored at the posts.

The second half continued in the same vein for the Irish province as Leinster bagged tries through James Lowe, Caelan Doris and Ringrose who grabbed a Heineken Champions Cup hat-trick while Northampton got a score of their own through Tuala.

Saracens 15 Munster Rugby 6

Tries from Mako Vunipola and Sean Maitland were enough to give the 2019 winners a 15-6 victory over Munster Rugby in what was a bruising contest throughout at Allianz Park.

The defending champions had all the territory and possession in the opening 10 minutes and they took advantage as Owen Farrell popped over a three-pointer to give the defending champions the early lead.

It took 17 minutes for the next points and they came to the visitors as Munster piled pressure on the Saracens line but to their credit, they would not let Munster over and held them up. However, the Irish province possessed penalty advantage and opted for the three points as JJ Hanrahan popped over the equalising kick.

Three minutes into the second period, Ben Earl gave away a penalty on Keith Earls and that allowed JJ Hanrahan to sweep over a second penalty kick and give the visitors the lead.

But as Munster look the lead, Saracens clicked into gear and got their reward with less than 15 minutes to play.

Saracens put the Munster scrum under pressure and Billy Vunipola took advantage by picking up and playing a lovely offload to Sean Maitland who dived over in the corner for a vital try, although Farrell couldn’t add the extras.

Five minutes later, the defending champions secured the win after some lovely interchanging passes got Saracens into the Munster 22. From there, Saracens unleashed a string of powerful phases and at the posts, it was Mako Vunipola who was able to burrow a way over to secure a crucial Pool 4 win.

Our next set of classic matches from this season’s Heineken Champions Cup pool stages see us cast an eye on Round 4, when Leinster Rugby became the first side ever to clinch a quarter-final berth with two matches still to play.