After some interesting results from Round 3 of the Heineken Cup, including Treviso upsetting Biarritz, Toulouse ending Harlequins’ unbeaten run and Northampton being defeated for a third consecutive time in the Heineken Cup, it’s time to take a look back at the weekend of rugby, writes Rugby World reader Sam Durham.
Harlequins’ Director of Rugby Conor O’Shea admitted that his side would have to learn from their 21-10 loss against Toulouse, he said “We will learn lessons, it’s the only way. You have to play at the top to learn and until you’re there you don’t understand the level you have to get to.”
He added “The right side won. They came with their game heads on. They gave us the respect that we deserve. The guys have to get used to playing at this level.”
Luke Burgess stood out for Toulouse. The Australian scrum-half combined well with fellow half-back, Luke McAlister and was at the centre of every Toulouse attack.
Burgess was well aware of the threat posed by Harlequins and said “They are a very physical side with good ball carriers like Nick Easter and they will be tough when we see them again. We won’t get ahead of ourselves and we look forward to the next match.”
Despite a 14-17 loss against Munster, the Llanelli Scarlets deserved victory. However, basic mistakes caused the loss even with possession statistics in their favour. The Scarlets were denied by a single penalty from Ronan O’Gara and head coach Nigel Davies said “We had opportunities to win but we weren’t accurate enough. The boys are frustrated and just want to get back out there”
In other results, Saracens beat Ospreys 31-26 at Wembley, London Irish held off Racing Metro with a 34-14 victory and Gloucester narrowly beat Connacht 14-10. Glasgow beat Montpellier 20-15 whilst Bath were defeated 18-13 against Leinster. To round off the weekend, Clermont beat Leicester 30-12 at the Stade Marcel Michelin.