Heineken Cup

Richard Wigglesworth tasted European success for the first time as Leicester head coach as his side defeated Clermont Auvergne 44-29 to guarantee a place in ...

The ball then came off the head of Charlie Atkinson and the knee of Reffell and into in-goal. the ball, but referee Murphy blew up for a knock-on. A Clermont raid up the left touchline seemed to have broken down when an inside pass to Alexandre Fischer went to ground. The tries kept on flowing with Scott bagging his second in a training ground move off a lineout on the home 22 and then giant lock Jedrasiak threw an outrageous dummy to cross to the delight of the home fans. Clermont, down in 10th place in the Top 14, hit back immediately with a try from replacement hooker Fourcade and Belleau's conversion was followed by a Pollard penalty from 46 metres to end the half on a high for the Premiership side, who led 27-14. Leicester Tigers were the first side to secure their place in the last 16 with a 44-29 victory over Clermont; It is the first European win for head coach Richard Wigglesworth

Leinster travel to Gloucester on Saturday afternoon, and we have all the info on how to watch Leinster plus team news for the game,

💪 Here is your Gloucester Rugby team to take on Leinster Rugby. Garry Ringrose captains a very strong looking Leinster side, and Hugo Keenan is set to win his 50th cap for the team. Gloucester are in the midst of decent season.

Following a 44-29 victory for Leicester over Clermont in their Champions Cup fixture, here's our five takeaways from the match at the Stade Marcel-Michelin.

Heyes, Chessum, Youngs Steward and Dan Kelly are absolute shoo-ins, but Harry Wells was a rock in the close exchanges and Charlie Atkinson’s versatility may well pay dividends in a limited squad. Jono Gibbes was brought to Clermont as a competitor to put steel in their team, but in this game the steel at set-piece and in the breakdown simply wasn’t there. Jauneau went well, as did Alivereti Raka and Cheikh Tiberghien, but winning in Europe is all about a platform to play off and Clermont are really struggling to put together that forward effort and teamwork that has historically defined their play for many years. However, when you rewatch the tape, once again the man who created the chance was Youngs, with a brilliantly timed delay pass into the breadbasket of Simmons, who finished with a flourish. His opposite number Baptiste Jauneau was spirited for Clermont, but considering the schooling Youngs gave him all evening (and the performances of Ollie Chessum and Heyes up front), to see the ‘Star of the Match’ go to the home player on the end of a 44-29 beating was beyond bizarre and made a complete farce of the award. For Leicester, Harry Simmons in and out step and dummy to fly over in the left corner on 29 minutes was beyond outrageous.

Leicester qualify for the Heineken Champions Cup last 16 with a game to spare as they return to winning ways at Clermont.

Leicester qualified for the Heineken Champions Cup last 16 with a game to spare as they returned to winning ways with a bonus-point victory at Clermont. Leicester Tigers: (27) 44 Clermont Auvergne: (14) 29

Leicester Tigers defeated Clermont 44-29 in France to put poor domestic form behind them and qualify for the Champions Cup last 16 with a game to spare.

Leicester held off an increasingly confident Clermont and prop James Cronin sealed the Tigers’ win with a try in the 78th minute. It was Clermont who looked brighter after the break as Anthony Belleau scrambled on to a loose ball to score after Charlie Atkinson’s last-ditch defence failed. After a couple of rocky weeks in the Premiership, Tigers made themselves comfortable early with Scott’s interception score, but Clermont hit back through Bautista Delguy after Handré Pollard’s penalty.

Tigers win a nine-try thriller but Richard Wigglesworth confirmed that Anthony Watson is not available for England selection on Monday.

Two quickfire tries at the start of the second half – the first for Belleau after a fortunate bounce, the second for lock Paul Jedrasiak after a gorgeous dummy – put the hosts back in contention. Interspersed with those two scores, the Tigers scored a handsome try of their own to keep their noses in front: straight off the training ground, Pollard put Freddie Steward through a hole, before the wing drew Newsome to give Scott his second. The wing, out of nothing, left Pollard for dead and was stopped only by a phenomenal cover tackle from Charlie Atkinson. Belleau delayed a wonderful pass to full-back Alex Newsome, before the softest of pick-ups from Irae Simone put Bautista Delguy in at the corner. With nine tries, this was a flawed classic, and Belleau's late penalty set up a five-point, grandstand finish. Youngs's time-splitting pass to Harry Simmons put the Clermont defensive line in the headlights, but the wing still had plenty to do. Leicester, grappling with a torrid injury crisis, without the likes of Jasper Wiese and Julián Montoya, have struggled of late for gain-line muscle. The scrum-half did not depart for a Head Injury Assessment after the independent match doctor waved play on. The cachet of this once grand tournament had taken a bit of a battering in recent weeks, but here in the Massif Central was a spoon-fed opportunity for it to recapture some of the glitz. No team in this competition or its previous guises had ever put more than 40 points on Clermont at their Stade Marcel-Michelin fortress, but Leicester did, defeating their French foes for the fourth time in nine months – and the second at home. Even if the alluring fortress was 5,000 short of capacity. At times on Friday night, when they wanted to be, their fluidity was otherworldly; the problem, however, was that too often they were shambolic.

It's an incredibly busy Friday and Saturday in the Heineken Champions Cup, with nine fixtures over the next two days as the teams tee up their charges into ...

The day begins with a bang as Gloucester host Leinster and Sale welcome Toulouse (both 1pm). Clermont vs Leicester (8pm) Having crushed them at home and taken a strong squad to South Africa, they will be hoping they can earn another big European success as the competition becomes their primary focus.

The Kildare native is named at inside centre for his maiden Champions Cup start at Gloucester.

In comparison to their 57-0 demolition of the same opposition in the RDS just over four weeks ago, Leinster are anticipating a much tougher task from Gloucester on this occasion. “Going away for the St Stephen's Day game [against Munster] he put in a really big performance that day, which is great to see. Ireland international Robbie Henshaw has been sidelined with a wrist injury for several weeks and Charlie Ngatai is also ruled out courtesy of a hamstring issue that led to him being withdrawn at half-time in last weekend’s URC victory over Ospreys. Lock Joe McCarthy (ankle) is also sidelined, though Cullen expects him to be available for next weekend’s showdown with Racing 92 at the Aviva Stadium. It is the latter he finds himself for what will be his maiden European start, following a previous bench appearance against Racing 92 in Le Havre. He’s one for the future, definitely.

The Champions Cup returns this weekend with the third round of the 2022/23 season once again seeing 12 matches scheduled, including Sale Sharks v Toulouse.

Assistant Referees: Pierre-Baptiste Nuchy (France), Stéphane Crapoix (France) Assistant Referees: Alex Thomas (England), Charlie Gayther (England) Assistant Referees: Thomas Charabas (France), Jonathan Gasnier (France) Assistant Referees: Adrien Descottes (France), Christophe Bultet (France) The teams: Assistant Referees: Christophe Ridley (England), Jamie Leahy (England)

Out-of-form Ulster are away to European champions La Rochelle this evening in the Heineken Champions Cup.Staying in Pool B, and Munster welcome Northampton ...

It would be fitting if this latest brush with Northampton Saints were to mark another staging post in the current team's development.

We have ground to make up, and have a lot of big games to win. With a testing trip to Toulouse next week for the final Pool B fixture looming large they would do well to complete their mission ahead of schedule on home soil. I thought it was interesting, and that was always in the back of my mind over the last couple of months. “It's a massive part of our game, how we can rob a little bit from teams when they come at us, and take a bit off them, or demoralise them. Leamy has seen them ride the storm of early-season setbacks, learn the lessons from a challenging reboot under first-season head coach Graham Rowntree and now appear to have come out the other side of the ordeal with genuine cause for optimism. Despite failing to kick on from a 17-6 half-time lead as well as conceding 18 penalties and three yellow cards as Saints hammered away at the visitors’ tryline for almost the entire second half at Franklin’s Gardens, Munster emerged victorious, keeping the normally free-scoring Premiership side tryless for the first time on home soil in 11 months.

Hugo Keenan, Jordan Larmour, Jimmy O'Brien start in a back three. Gary Ringrose starts as captain at 12, while Jamie Osborne starts beside him.

Front row: 1. The second row of Ross Molony, and James Ryan provide the engine. Ross Byrne Scrum half 9. Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan, and Michael Ala’alatoa start in the front row. The side is completed by Ryan Baird, Josh van der Flier, and Caelan Doris. Ross Byrne starts at 10, Jamison Gibson-Park start at 9.