Champions Cup roundup: Bath unravel as Connacht win 13-try thriller

Bath conceded 22 unanswered second-half points against Montpellier as all four English clubs in action lost on a bruising Saturday in the Champions Cup.

Saracens scored six tries and still left Galway empty-handed, beaten 45-36 by Connacht. Bristol conceded seven against Stormers, while Sale had already suffered the same fate against Glasgow.

Munster completed a successful day for the Irish provinces with a late win over Racing 92. In France, the Lions fulfilled their fixture against La Rochelle after choosing to play in memory of team-mate Hyron Andrews.

Champions Cup results: Saturday 17 October

Match	Result
Sale Sharks v Glasgow Warriors	27-47
Bulls v Stade Français	56-20
Clermont Auvergne v Leinster	23-48
Stormers v Bristol Bears	49-12
Connacht v Saracens	45-36
La Rochelle v Lions	31-14
Munster v Racing 92	33-25
Bath v Montpellier	14-32

Bath 14-32 Montpellier: a half-time lead disappears

Bath went into the interval four points ahead. They finished the evening 18 behind, having failed to score again.

Ollie Lawrence and Arthur Green crossed in the first half, with Finn Russell converting both tries. Montpellier’s response was decisive: Donovan Taofifenua scored twice and Alex Becognée also crossed, adding to Stuart Hogg’s earlier try. Adam Hastings supplied 12 points with the boot.

Bath also had tries ruled out for Max Ojomoh and Josh Bayliss, but the second-half scoreline leaves little room to treat this simply as a match decided by disallowed scores.

The attacking threat that established their lead produced no further points. Montpellier, last season’s Challenge Cup winners, took control and handed Bath an immediate setback at home.

Connacht 45-36 Saracens: seven tries, but no bonus point

Connacht recovered from 12-0 down to win a remarkable contest featuring 13 tries.

Ciarán Frawley and captain Cian Prendergast scored twice each, with Cathal Forde, Shamus Hurley-Langton and Caolin Blade completing the home side’s seven-try haul.

Saracens had struck first through Sione Va’enuku and Noah Caluori. Connacht responded to lead before Nick Tompkins’ try helped make it 19-19 at half-time.

The exchanges continued after the break, but tries from Blade and Frawley gave Connacht the separation they needed. Va’enuku finished with two tries for Saracens, whose other scorers included Rotimi Segun and Elliot Daly.

Yet seven tries brought Connacht only four competition points. Under EPCR’s revised bonus-point rules, teams must score at least three more tries than their opponents to earn the extra point. Their margin here was one.

Saracens’ return was harsher still. Owen Farrell’s missed conversion after Daly’s late try left them nine points behind, outside losing-bonus range. Six tries, 36 points and nothing for the pool table.

Stormers 49-12 Bristol: cards cannot stop seven-try win

Stormers collected the maximum five points despite a 20-minute red card for hooker JJ Kotze and a subsequent yellow for Leolin Zas.

Jonathan Roche and Zas scored twice each, while Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu converted all seven tries. Joe Owen and Sol Moody supplied Bristol’s tries.

Bristol described their selection as the youngest Champions Cup side in the club’s history, important context for a difficult assignment in Cape Town.

Even allowing for that inexperience, the final margin underlined how comprehensively Stormers finished the job. Their five-try advantage also comfortably met the new bonus-point requirement.

La Rochelle 31-14 Lions: visitors play in Andrews’ memory

The Lions’ result came against the backdrop of the death of Hyron Andrews and tributes from across rugby.

An official statement confirmed that the players and staff wanted the fixture to proceed in honour of their team-mate, with the agreement of La Rochelle and EPCR.

The visitors remained firmly in the contest during the first half. Henco van Wyk and Morne Brandon scored their tries, and the teams were level at 14-14 before Davit Niniashvili put La Rochelle ahead just before the interval.

The hosts eventually pulled clear through second-half tries from Tolu Latu and Avakuki Niusalelekitoga. Their five tries to the Lions’ two secured an attacking bonus point.

Munster 33-25 Racing 92: Casey settles a nervous finish

Craig Casey’s final-minute try made Munster’s victory safe after Racing threatened to overturn a substantial deficit.

Munster had led 21-6 early in the second half, but Racing fought back to leave only three points between the sides before Casey crossed.

Brian Gleeson, Shay McCarthy, Tadhg Beirne and Fineen Wycherley also scored for Munster on a night when the province paid tribute to Anthony Foley, ten years after his death.

Leinster, Glasgow and Bulls also make strong starts

Leinster’s 48-23 victory at Clermont featured two tries from Dan Sheehan and helped complete a clean sweep of Saturday wins for the three Irish provinces involved.

Glasgow recovered from an early 12-0 deficit to beat Sale 47-27, while Bulls defeated Stade Français 56-20 in Pretoria.

Those three winners all secured attacking bonus points. Connacht and Munster did not — an early demonstration that, under the revised rules, a high try count alone no longer guarantees the maximum return.