Manuel Loffreda may have swapped Pumas for Tigers but he still came back to haunt former England coach Andy Robinson on Saturday as the Argentinian coach saw his Leicester Tigers wallop Edinburgh 39-0 in their European Cup clash.
Just over a year ago, Loffreda and Argentina's first ever victory at Twickenham over England heralded the end of Robinson's turbulent term as coach of the then World champions. While Robinson's current job is probably safe, this defeat in all likelihood ends Edinburgh's hopes of further progress in the competition.
With Irish giants Leinster and three-time champions Toulouse -- who were to tackle each other yesterday -- also in their pool, the Scottish side can expect little mercy.
Chief destroyer for the Tigers was former England flyhalf Andy Goode. Bearing a mutton chop moustache of Victorian proportions, Goode contributed 19 points -- including a try -- to become the Tigers' all-time leading scorer in all competitions.
The Scottish side hardly did themselves any favors as they had two players sinbinned within minutes of each other. Lock Craig Hamilton went off first, only to be followed by experienced prop Allan Jacobsen. It was hardly the way Jacobsen would have wanted to mark his club-record 43rd appearance in the competition.
There was a more positive landmark for inspirational Irish fullback Geordan Murphy, who cast aside his bizarre World Cup -- in which he was treated like a yo-yo by Eddie O'Sullivan, being considered not good enough to make the 22 for the France match but then thrown into the starting line-up for the final clash with Argentina.
Murphy was at his wizardlike best for the Tigers and scored one of their tries to equal Leon Lloyd's club-record 19 tries in the European Cup.
Elsewhere there were narrow wins for two French sides as Perpignan labored to a 29-17 win over Italian outfit Treviso in Italy and Biarritz squeaked past Saracens 22-21 in France.
Despite Perpignan's unimpresssive display they still secured what could be an invaluable bonus point as replacement hooker Mickael Ladhuie touched down in the third minute of time added on. But they will have to perform much better when they travel to take on London Irish -- who trounced Newport-Gwent 45-17 with veteran Mike Catt grabbing one of their six tries -- on Dec. 9.
Biarritz were outscored three tries to one but 17 points from the boot of Dmitri Yachvili, including the winning penalty two minutes into stoppage time, decided the match.
Saracens' fellow English side Harlequins looked to be cruising to victory over Cardiff with England flanker Nick Easter scoring a try late in the first half to give them a 10-3 lead at the break.
However, Cardiff came back superbly to force a 13-13 draw and even led briefly thanks to Jason Spice's try early in the second half.
It was a rare moment of joy for the Welsh, which ended when title-holders Wasps beat Llanelli 33-17 in Wales with Daniel Cipriani contributing 13 points, including a try.
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