Ulster lose gives Saracens lifeline

Munster romp

PARIS, Jan 21, (AFP): Holders Saracens are through to the European Champions Cup quarter-finals after Wasps thrashed Ulster 26-7 on Sunday.

Munster and French pair La Rochelle and Racing 92 also progressed with wins against Castres, Harlequins and Leicester respectively.

Ulster came into the weekend as one of three Irish sides topping their groups but their crushing defeat at free-scoring Wasps meant they dropped to third in pool 1 and out of contention.

La Rochelle beat Harlequins 16-7 to top that stanza and despite moving up to second, Wasps missed out on the quarters.

Saracens had been in desperate waters following back-to-back pool 2 defeats to Clermont and a draw at Ospreys but they hammered Northampton 62-14 on Saturday and that was enough to see them squeak into the knock-out stages, where they will face a trip to dominant Leinster.

The Irish outfit completed a perfect pool stage campaign with a 23-14 victory at Montpellier on Saturday, but despite finishing with the best record they won’t be relishing the prospect of a last-eight clash with the champions.

Ulster looked set to make it a perfect pool stage for the Irish but ran into an inspired Wasps, who claimed a bonus point thanks to tries from Guy Thompson, Tom Cruise, South African full-back Willie Le Roux and Jake Cooper-Woolley, Danny Cipriani going three from four with the conversions.

Ulster’s reply from Sean Reidy was scant consolation.