Eventful debut for Beale in Wasps victory
AUSTRALIAN star Kurtley Beale scored a try and was sin-binned on his debut as Wasps toppled Connacht 32-17 to go top of their European Champions Cup pool.
Beale, thought to be the Aviva Premiership’s highest-paid player, took just seven minutes to open his account as he returned to rugby following more than six months out after suffering a knee injury.
An eventful afternoon at the Ricoh Arena also saw him receive a yellow card for a high tackle.
Wasps, though, kept their collective composure as number eight Nathan Hughes, skipper Joe Launchbury and wing Josh Bassett followed Beale’s try-scoring example, while fly-half Jimmy Gopperth kicked two penalties and three conversions.
On Saturday, Munster handed Leicester Tigers their heaviest ever Champions Cup defeat with a fantastic four-try performance in a 38-0 win at Thomond Park.
Building on their unforgettable round two victory over Glasgow Warriors, Rassie Erasmus’ in-form side bagged the maximum again with man-of-the-match CJ Stander leading by example.
Simon Zebo struck for the first half’s only try while Leicester lock Ed Slater was in the sin-bin, adding to Tyler Bleyendaal’s quartet of penalties for a 19-0 half-time lead.
A brace of tries from short-term signing Jaco Taute after 49 and 56 minutes effectively sealed Tigers’ fate. They suffered two more sin-binnings, the second of them coming as George Worth coughed up a 71st minute penalty try which clinched Munster’s bonus point.
Glasgow gave their Champions Cup qualification hopes a huge boost with victory over Racing 92 in Paris.
An early converted try from Juan Imhoff put the hosts in front but two Finn Russell penalties cut the gap to one.
The Warriors repelled several Racing line-out drives and a patient attack saw Alex Dunbar put through to score.
Ali Price touched down from close in on the resumption, Russell’s conversion and a third penalty taking Glasgow 23-7 clear before Dan Carter’s late try.
But the All Blacks great could not muster a late turnaround for last year’s beaten finalists and French champions Racing, who are pointless after two games.
Jamie George scored a try in front of England head coach Eddie Jones as Saracens overwhelmed Sale 50-3 in a Champions Cup mismatch at Allianz Park.
Marcelo Bosch, Sean Maitland (two), George, Chris Wyles and Richard Barrington all touched down for the rampant Saracens while Owen Farrell added 13 points with the boot before Alex Lozowski took over kicking duties.
A sole Alan MacGinty penalty accounted for all of Sale’s points in the heavy defeat by the reigning champions.