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George Hendy’s late try ensured a winning start for last season’s beaten Champions Cup finalists, as Northampton saw off Pau 35-27 at the Stade du Hameau.
With the score locked at 27-27 with two minutes remaining, wing Hendy raced in at the corner to edge Saints ahead before Fin Smith’s penalty in the dying moments sealed his side’s thrilling win in their opening pool game.
Pau played their part in a see-saw battle, while Northampton crucially overcame the loss of the Australian wing James Ramm, who scored two of Saints’ five tries before receiving a red card early in the second half.
Northampton trailed 14-12 at half-time after twice responding to tries from the Pau skipper, Facundo Isa, and the wing Gregoire Arfeuil with scores of their own through Ramm and the centre Fraser Dingwall.
After Ramm went over for his second score, Axel Desperes’ penalty for Pau levelled it at 17-17 and, after Ramm’s sending-off for tackle a man in the air, Arfeuil went over for his second try, which was converted, to put Pau 24-17 ahead.
Champions Cup Saturday roundup: Leicester and Harlequins lose on the road
ShowLeinster opened their Champions Cup campaign with a 45-28 victory over Harlequins at the Aviva Stadium. The London club trailed only 24-21 after an hour, but Leinster dominated the final quarter to break clear and eventually scored seven tries.
Leinster led 24-7 at the break as Garry Ringrose and Ciaran Frawley added to a Jordan Larmour double. Luke Northmore and Cassius Cleaves went over for Harlequins and a penalty try after the interval cut the deficit to three points.
Both sides were reduced 14 players in the second half, but it was Leinster who grew stronger with tries from Tommy O’Brien, Jack Conan and Jimmy O’Brien.
Harlequins had the final word as Oscar Beard sprinted almost the length of the pitch to secure the consolation of a four-try bonus point for the visitors.
Leicester delivered a plucky display but a side featuring several Champions Cup debutants went down to a 39-20 defeat at La Rochelle.
Grégory Alldritt had a try disallowed before putting the hosts ahead the second time he touched down and La Rochelle led 10-0 after the first quarter when Jules Favre dotted down. Billy Searle’s penalty and Joaquin Moro’s converted try evened things up at 10-10 after half an hour, but Oscar Jégou crossed just before the interval, with Ihaia West adding the extras for the first time. Searle’s penalty meant La Rochelle led 17-13 at half-time, but Jégou’s converted try gave them some breathing room before West’s penalty stretched their advantage.
La Rochelle used all their experience in the second half to boss a young Leicester side and quickfire tries from UJ Seuteni and Nathan Bollengier sealed a bonus-point win for the 2022 and 2023 champions.
Leicester did at least have the final say as Will Wand bagged a converted try in the dying moments, but they start their pool three campaign on a losing note and sit bottom after one round.
Bristol edged out Scarlets 17-16 as Louis Rees-Zammit scored a match-winning try on his return to Wales. Two tries from Fijian number eight Viliame Mata put the Bears in command at Parc y Scarlets before Sam Costelow reduced the gap to 12-3 with a penalty.
Mata's yellow card for catching Johnny Williams' head with his shoulder opened the door for the Scarlets. Scrum-half Gareth Davies sniped over to make it a one-score game and the Scarlets had a try disallowed for a Costelow forward pass. Costelow kicked Scarlets in front after the break, but Wales winger Rees-Zammit just about crossed in the corner as he stumbled over the line. A third Costelow penalty took the Scarlets to within a point and they had to settle for a losing bonus point on their return to Europe's top competition. PA Media
Alex Mitchell’s converted score levelled it up at 24-24 and, after Smith and Desperes had traded penalties, Hendy went over for the decisive try before Smith’s second penalty in the dying moments sealed a hard-fought win.
Gloucester put in a late kick to ease to a 34-14 victory over Castres in their opener at Kingsholm. The match had been level at 14-14 with 20 minutes to go before the home side streaked to the win, thanks largely to two late tries from the replacement Charlie Atkinson, the second of which with almost the final play ensuring they picked up a winning bonus point.
Castres had taken the early initiative and gone in front through a converted try in the ninth minute from Vuate Karawalevu. Freddie Thomas went over for Gloucester’s first score before the visitors regained the lead through Loris Zarantonello’s converted try.
Will Trenholm crossed over to level things once more before fly-half Ross Byrne kicked two penalties to edge Gloucester into a lead they would not relinquish. That set things up for Atkinson to seal victory late on and move his side second behind Bath in Pool 2.
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