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Weekend Round-up: Catch up on the best games from Dublin to Johannesburg
By RugbyPass
A quality weekend of rugby as the Champions Cup quarterfinals lived up to their billing and two South African sides played out a Super Rugby classic.
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Champions Cup: Leinster vs Wasps
Full Game | Condensed
It was billed as the match of the Champions Cup quarterfinal weekend, and Wasps were listed as the away team most likely to head home with a win. In front of more than 50,000 passionate fans, however, Leinster had other ideas. What unfolded in the first half was an object lesson in ruthless, clinical rugby, as the visitors were completely out-thought and comprehensively outplayed. Dai Jones’ words at halftime, however, galvanised the Wasps into action – the question was, had they left it too late?
Super Rugby: Lions vs Sharks
Full Game | Condensed
Come for 19-year-old Sharks flyhalf Curwin Bosch’s 62-metre penalty kick, stay for one of the games of the Super Rugby season. The Sharks came to Ellis Park to play on Saturday night and they certainly rattled the Lions’ cage early, racing to a 13-3 first half lead. But a yellow card to Ettienne Oosthuizen left the door open for the home side, and it wasn’t long until Malcolm Marx bulldozed his way over the line to restore parity. The game see-sawed on a knife-edge the rest of the way and was ultimately decided by a spectacular late try. These South African teams are good to watch this season.
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Champions Cup: Munster vs Toulouse
Full Game | Condensed
Toulouse fans are on such a downer with the one-time undisputed rulers of French rugby that only 1,200 of them bothered to buy tickets for this last-eight match against one of their historic European rivals in Limerick. It’s fair to say the four-time European champions are not the force they once were, but they still took a powerful side with a mighty pack to Thomond Park. But their immovable object met an unstoppable force in a passionate and determined Munster side.
Champions Cup: Saracens vs Glasgow Warriors
Full Game | Condensed
Glasgow headed to Allianz Park full of confidence, talking up the possibility of beating the defending champions at their own game and on their own 4G turf. It was the bravado of the underdog. Saracens did their talking on the pitch. To their credit, Glasgow weathered a first-half Sarries storm and were far from out of it as the game entered the closing 20 – but, in truth, it was just a matter of time before the hosts ran away with it.
Champions Cup: Clermont vs Toulon
Full Game | Condensed
The all-French quarter-final was the quintessential game of two halves. The opening period in a Puy-de-Dôme downpour was a tense, nip-tuck affair jointly ruled by the opposing boots of Morgan Parra and Leigh Halfpenny. The second half, however, was one-way traffic, as the hosts sliced the three-time champions open time and again. If the first 40 failed to have semi-final opponents Leinster quaking in their cleats, the closing 20 minutes was fair warning of what Clermont can do when the mood takes them.
