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The Heineken Champions Cup quarter-finals - who plays who and where
By Harry West
Sean Cronin scored a try in each half as Leinster secured top spot in Pool 1 and a home Champions Cup quarter-final tie with Ulster thanks to Sunday's 37-19 win at Wasps.
The holders knew defeat at the Ricoh Arena would open the door for Toulouse to snatch first place in the group and a more favourable last-eight meeting.
But those fears were essentially calmed by half-time as Leinster took a 20-0 lead into the interval thanks to tries from Garry Ringrose, who powered across the line underneath the posts, and hooker Cronin, who benefitted from his pack's stellar work at a rolling maul.
Nathan Hughes, whom it was announced earlier this week would leave Wasps for Bristol Bears at the end of the season, got the hosts on the board in the second period but another driving maul saw Cronin double his tally.
Dan Robson pulled Wasps back to within two scores shortly after the hour but Leinster showed their class and a fine move through the hands released Noel Reid to secure the bonus point - Marcus Watson's late score for the home side proving immaterial.
Victory sees Leinster qualify as the third seed while Toulouse, who won 20-17 at home to Bath, advance as the seventh-ranked side and face a trip to Top 14 rivals Racing 92.
Toulouse were in command at the break, leading 17-3 courtesy of scores from Joe Tekori and Antoine Dupont.
Although Bath hit back in the second period through Semesa Rokoduguni and Zach Mercer, Toulouse held on and can look forward to a last-eight trip to last year's losing finalists in late March.
Champions Cup quarter-finals:
The qualifiers for the 2018/19 Heineken Champions Cup quarter-finals and their rankings at the conclusion of the pool stage are as follows:
1 Saracens (winner Pool 3 – 28 points)
2 Racing 92 (winner Pool 4 – 26 points)
3 Leinster Rugby (winner Pool 1 – 25 points)
4 Edinburgh Rugby (winner Pool 5 – 23 points)
5 Munster Rugby (winner Pool 2 – 21 points)
6 Ulster Rugby (best pool runner-up – 22 points)
7 Toulouse (second best pool runner-up – 21 points)
8 Glasgow Warriors (third best pool runner-up – 19 points)
The quarter-final matches to be played on 29/30/31 March are as follows:
QF 1: Saracens v Glasgow Warriors, Allianz Park
QF 2: Edinburgh Rugby v Munster Rugby, BT Murrayfield
QF 3: Leinster Rugby v Ulster Rugby, Aviva Stadium
QF 4: Racing 92 v Toulouse, Paris La Défense Arena
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Latest Comments
That's really stupidly pedantic. Let's say the gods had smiled on us, and we were playing Ireland in Belfast on this trip. Then you'd be happy to accept it as a tour of the UK. But they're not going to Australia, or Peru, or the Philippines, they're going to the UK. If they had a match in Paris it would be fair to call it the "end-of-year European tour". I think your issue has less to do with the definition of the United Kingdom, and is more about what is meant by the word "tour". By your definition of the word, a road trip starting in Marseilles, tootling through the Massif Central and cruising down to pop in at La Rochelle, then heading north to Cherbourg, moving along the coast to imagine what it was like on the beach at Dunkirk, cutting east to Strasbourg and ending in Lyon cannot be called a "tour of France" because there's no visit to St. Tropez, or the Louvre, or Martinique in the Caribbean.
Go to commentsJust thought for a moment you might have gathered some commonsense from a southerner or a NZer and shut up. But no, idiots aren't smart enough to realise they are idiots.
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