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HEINEKEN CUP: Wasps subdue Munster

Harlequin's Tani Fuga, left, runs with the ball during a Heineken Cup rugby match against Stade Francais in Paris on Saturday. PHOTO: AP

Wasps got their defense of their European Cup crown off to the perfect start on Saturday with a hard-fought 24-23 win over Munster, their predecessors as champions.

In a thrilling advertisement for European rugby, Wasps scored tries through Riki Flutey and George Skivington, with man-of-the-match Danny Cipriani adding four penalties and a conversion.

Rua Tipoki and Shaun Payne touched down for Munster, Ronan O'Gara hitting three penalties and two conversions in a game that went to the wire after five minutes of nerve-wracking extra-time were added on.

"There were two champions fighting it out," Wasps captain Lawrence Dallaglio said. "Munster threw everything at us and we were on the ropes at times."

"But we showed we can hold it together even when we go 10 points behind and we kept our discipline at the end there. If that is an omen for the rest of this group it is going to be very tough. It will be another ding-dong battle at Llanelli next week and every game is a mouth-watering prospect," he told BBC Sport.

In the day's other game worthy of a final billing, Leinster scored an impressive 22-9 win over Leicester, last season's beaten finalists.

Leinster's outside-half Felipe Contepomi, who impressed at the World Cup with Argentina, kicked five penalties, split by a Shane Horgan converted try -- his 23rd try in 60 European appearances -- to send the home side clear.

Leicester could only respond with three Andy Goode penalties.

"It's not a good beginning but I am confident we will improve," said new Leicester head coach Marcelo Loffreda, who coached Argentina to third place in the World Cup.

"We will have to work very hard next week. We have to get better and better, and next week we will work on the errors we made today," he said.

Stade Francais, undefeated at home during pool competition in the Cup, racked up an easy 37-17 win over Harlequins.

Although the Parisian club's squad was somewhat diminished by the absence of a number of returning World Cup stars, it could still call on some old heads to secure the win.

Stade scored four tries through Brian Liebenberg, Christophe Dominici, Julien Saubade and Mirco Bergamasco, with David Skrela scoring 13 points from the boot and Liebenberg two further conversions.

Stade's assistant coach Fabrice Landreau said the team were very happy with the result and especially the acquisition of a bonus point.

"It was very good. It was the type of game we were expecting, hard up front and very intense. We had to be physical, play as a unit in defense, communicate and move it around well, and we did all that," Landreau said.

"The bonus point is important when you think of the difficulty of the pool. We bagged the maximum points ahead of our difficult trip to Bristol," he said.

In a good night for the leading French clubs, former three-time champions Toulouse beat Edinburgh 19-15 at a woefully-attended match at Murrayfield which attracted just 3,393 spectators.

The Scots, with former England coach Andy Robinson at the helm, outscored the French club two tries to one but failed to outplay the powerful Toulouse pack.

Biarritz traveled to Italy for their tie, and came away with a 19-11 win over Viadana, but Bourgoin slipped up in Swansea, going down 22-15 to the Ospreys.

Treviso, the second Italian club in the competition, lost 42-9 away to London Irish.
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