European Champions Cup Round Two Review

Round 2 Notes

• Many thousands of words have been spoken and written in recent days in honour of the late Anthony Foley, but suffice to say that everything that happened on and off the hallowed Thomond Park turf last Saturday, and the respect that was shown at stadiums across Europe during the weekend, merged into a magnificent and a fitting tribute to a Munster and Irish rugby legend. Munster have lost an inspirational coach and captain, but his legacy lives on.

• Peter Stringer’s personal tribute to the memory of his former teammate and “protector” on the pitch was just one of many during a highly-charged weekend. Stringer attended Anthony Foley’s funeral in Killaloe last Friday, made his 101st European Cup appearance (Munster 90, Bath 6, Saracens 4, Sale 1) when he started for Sale Sharks against RC Toulon later the same evening and was then among the full house at Thomond Park the following day to witness Munster’s storming win over Glasgow Warriors.

• ASM Clermont Auvergne are the only club with a maximum 10 points after two rounds following their high-scoring 49-33 home win over Bordeaux-Bègles. The visitors had some compensation after conceding the most points in their tournament history by scoring five tries for a losing bonus point with full-back, Jean-Marcellin Buttin, grabbing two against his old club.

• After seeing off the Scarlets, Champions Cup holders, Saracens, have equalled the 11 consecutive competition wins of Toulouse and Leicester Tigers and are now closing in on Munster’s record of 13 straight victories between 2005 and ’07.

• There were one or two other landmarks at Allianz Park where Scarlets’ Johnny Barclay made his 50th European Cup appearance and where the prolific Owen Farrell kicked 19 points to bring his personal tournament total to 505 – sixth on the all-time list.

• With wing David Smith crossing for two tries, Castres Olympique hit peak form on their way to an impressive victory over Northampton Saints in Pool 4. The 41-7 setback for Saints at Stade Pierre Antoine was their biggest margin of defeat in the tournament surpassing previous 33-point deficits against Montferrand in 2001/02 and Leinster in 2013/14.

• Montpellier’s powerhouse wing, Nemani Nadolo, might have intermittently terrorised the Leinster defence at Altrad Stadium with his two tries in the home side’s 22-16 win, but the Irish province had the last word with a last-gasp try and conversion by the ice-cool Isa Nacewa which earned them a precious bonus point and top spot in Pool 4. The try was Nacewa’s 10th in the tournament.

• Wasps’ fans were no doubt thinking back to last season’s quarter-final at the Ricoh Stadium when the nerveless Jimmy Gopperth stepped up to convert Nathan Hughes’ try at the death to earn the visitors a 20-20 draw with Toulouse at Stade Ernest Wallon in Pool 2. Toulouse have now failed to register a win in their last five Champions Cup games.

• Connacht’s impressive form continues and they currently head Pool 2 after a comprehensive win over Zebre in Parma. Their 52 points and their eight tries were tournament records for the club, and new recruit Stacey Ili’s hat-trick was also a first

• On the statistics front, Glasgow Warriors’, Jonny Gray, has made the most tackles with 31 (and none missed) after two rounds, while Connacht’s emerging talent, Cian Kelleher, leads the way in the Carries, Metres Made and Defenders Beaten categories.

• Leicester Tigers made up in some small way for last season’s semi-final defeat at the hands of Racing 92 with a valuable home victory against the TOP 14 champions in Pool 1. Freddie Burns was the embodiment of the term ‘impact sub’ with 16 points off the bench during the second half.

• A total of 109 tries were scored in the opening two rounds of the competition at an average of 5.7 per game, with 945 points scored at an average of almost 50.

Tables

Round 3 & 4 fixtures

Round 3

Round 4

Pool 2: Zebre Rugby 7-52 Connacht Rugby

Match Summary

Sunday, 23 October 2016

Kick-off: 16:15

Stadio Lanfranchi

Referee: Mathieu Raynal (Fra), Assistant ref: Tual Trainini (Fra), Assistant ref: Thomas Dejean (Fra), TMO: Eric Gauzins (Fra), Citing Commissioner: Richard McGhee (Sco)

ZEBRE: Edoardo Padovani; Gabriele Di Giulio, Giulio Bisegni, Tommaso Castello, Giovanbattista Venditti; Carlo Canna, Marcello Violi; Andrea Lovotti, Oliviero Fabiani, Pietro Ceccarelli, Quintin Geldenhuys, George Biagi, Maxime Mbanda, Johan Meyer, Dries van Schalkwyk

Replacements: Tommaso d’Apice, Bruno Postiglioni, Guillermo Roan, Josh Furno, Federico Ruzza, Guglielmo Palazzani, Tommaso Boni, Giovannin D’Onofrio

Tries: Tommaso d’Apice (60)

Conversions: Edoardo Padovani (62)

Penalty Goals:

Drop Goals:

Yellow Cards: Tommaso Castello (48)

Red Cards: Oliviero Fabiani (29)

Replacements: Tommaso d’Apice for Maxime Mbanda (32), Giovannin D’Onofrio for Gabriele Di Giulio (42), Josh Furno for George Biagi (51), Guillermo Roan for Pietro Ceccarelli (53), Guglielmo Palazzani for Marcello Violi (57), Tommaso Boni for Tommaso Castello (58), Federico Ruzza for Dries van Schalkwyk (62), Bruno Postiglioni for Andrea Lovotti (65)

CONNACHT RUGBY: Cian Kelleher; Niyi Adeolokun, Peter Robb, Craig Ronaldson, Stacey Ili; Jack Carty, Kieran Marmion; JP Cooney, Shane Delahunt, Finlay Bealham, Quinn Roux, Andrew Browne, Sean O’Brien, Jake Heenan, John Muldoon

Replacements: Dave Heffernan, Danie Poolman, Conor Carey, Ultan Dillane, Eoin McKeon, Caolin Blade, Shane O’Leary, Bundee Aki

Tries: Stacey Ili (9, 40, 78), Jack Carty (12), Penalty Try (50), Cian Kelleher (52, 73), Conor Carey (54)

Conversions: Craig Ronaldson (10, 13, 42, 51, 53), Shane O’Leary (79)

Penalty Goals:

Drop Goals:

Yellow Cards: Sean O’Brien (28)

Red Cards:

Replacements: Conor Carey for JP Cooney (48), Dave Heffernan for Shane Delahunt (51), Danie Poolman for Niyi Adeolokun (54), Caolin Blade for Kieran Marmion (56), Shane O’Leary for Craig Ronaldson (56), Eoin McKeon for John Muldoon (57), Ultan Dillane for Andrew Browne (58), JP Cooney for Finlay Bealham (71)

Attendance: 3,000

Heineken Man of the Match: Jack Carty (Connacht Rugby)

2016/17 Champions Cup – Leading Scorers

Points

Tries

2016/17 Champions Cup – Top Performers

Carries

Metres

Clean Breaks

Defenders Beaten

Offloads

Tackles

Lineouts

Try Assists

Disciplinary Update

Yellow Cards

ASM Clermont Auvergne

• Flip van der Merwe (52) v Exeter Chiefs Rd 1

Bordeaux-Bègles

• Jacobus Van Wyk (26) v ASM Clermont Auvergne Rd 2
• Tom Palmer (54) v ASM Clermont Auvergne Rd 2

Castres Olympique

• Thibault Lassalle (60) v Leinster Rugby Rd 1
• Rory Kockott (22) v Northampton Saints Rd 2

Connacht Rugby

• Sean O’Brien (28) v Zebre Rugby Rd 2

Glasgow Warriors

• Ryan Wilson (18) v Leicester Tigers Rd 1

Leicester Tigers

• Matt Toomua (12) v Glasgow Warriors Rd 1
• Logovi’i Mulipola (58) v Glasgow Warriors Rd 1

Leinster Rugby

• Luke McGrath (39) v Castres Olympique Rd 1
• Rob Kearney (56) v Montpellier Rd 2

RC Toulon

• Ma’a Nonu (45) v Saracens Rd 1
• Duane Vermeulen (22) v Sale Sharks Rd 2

Sale Sharks

• Ross Harrison (47) v Scarlets Rd 1
• Andrei Ostrikov (62) v Scarlets Rd 1
• Magnus Lund (4) v Toulon Rd 2

Saracens

• Maro Itoje (53) v RC Toulon Rd 1
• Schalk Burger (71) v RC Toulon Rd 1
• Ben Spencer (68) v Scarlets Rd 2

Ulster Rugby

• Sean Reidy (75) v Bordeaux-Bègles Rd 1

Zebre Rugby

• Dries van Schalkwyk (11) v Wasps Rd 1
• Carlo Festuccia (47) v Wasps Rd 1
• Tommaso Castello (48) v Connacht Rugby Rd 2

Red Cards

Munster Rugby

• Keith Earls (18) v Glasgow Warriors Rd 2

Zebre Rugby

• Oliviero Fabiani (29) v Connacht Rugby Rd 2