Win puts Quins at the top of the table
HARLEQUINS moved to the top of European Challenge Cup Pool Five with a 20-9 victory over Benetton Rugby.
First-half tries from Lewis Boyce and Joe Marchant were enough to see them pick up a second win and move a point clear of their visitors as all four teams in the pool have identical records with two wins and two losses.
James Lange added both conversions and a penalty, with Marcus Smith tagging on another three-pointer. All of Benetton’s points came from the boot of Ian Mckinley Worcester sit at the top of Pool Two on 13 points after they beat Pau 23-7.
Josh Adams and Alafoti Faosiliva scored first-half tries after Ben Mowen had gone over early for Pau. Duncan Weir made sure of the victory with both conversions and three penalties.
Sale suffered their first defeat in the competition when they went down to a 17-14 pool Three defeat to Bordeaux-begles.
Luke James went over for a 12th-minute try for the Sharks but the visitors responded through a pair of Florian Dufour tries and held a 17-7 lead with half an hour remaining.
Rob Webber went over for Sale in the 56th minute and Jean-luc Du Preez converted but they came up just short although they remain top of the pool, three points clear of Connacht.
Clermont Auvergne maintained their domination of Pool One with a 49-24 win over Dragons.
Judicael Cancoriet and Apisai Naqalevu each went over for a pair of tries and Peter Betham, Fritz Lee and Charlie Cassange also breached the Welsh side’s defence as they made it four wins from four. Scotland scrum-half Greig Laidlaw converted all seven scores.
Northampton’s clash with Timisoara Saracens was postponed due to poor weather.
In Pool Four, Carlo Canna scored tries and added five conversions and a penalty for a personal haul of 23 points to lead Zebre to a 58-14 win over Enisei-stm.