Australian scrum-half Luke Burgess got his European Cup experience off to a winning start when he helped Toulouse to a thrilling 21-17 victory over Gloucester on Sunday.
Burgess, stepping straight off the plane into the large shoes left by former All Black Byron Kelleher, was almost on the losing side on his French debut after Henry Trinder touched down for a converted try for the English side in the 70th minute.
However, four-time former champions Toulouse again showed their never-say-die spirit when it comes to European competition and hit back immediately.
Photo: AFP
Some slick handling down the short side set fullback Clement Poitrenaud in for a try converted by Lionel Beauxis.
Glasgow continued the rash of last second escapes in the opening weekend of the European Cup as they beat former winners Bath 26-21 thanks to a converted Richie Gray try.
Gray’s try — converted by man of the match Duncan Weir — saw them go top of Pool 3, which also includes champions Leinster and Montpellier. Leinster grabbed a last second draw with the French outfit on Saturday.
Leinster’s fellow two-time European champions Munster also got out of jail on Saturday with Ronan O’Gara’s 84th minute drop goal seeing them edge last year’s finalists Northampton.
Glasgow and Bath — who had All Black World Cup winning fly-half Stephen Donald on the bench — fought out a scrappy first-half that saw the English side unfortunate not to score a try, as a sterling Scottish defense held them off.
The hosts held a 9-6 advantage at the break thanks to three penalties by Weir to two from Bath counterpart and Academy graduate Tom Heathcote.
Weir missed the chance to extend the hosts’ lead two minutes into the second-half as he dragged a penalty wide of the posts.
Heatcote, though, showed no sign of nerves, even with future No 1 choice Donald looking on, as the 19-year-old slotted over his third penalty of the game shortly afterward to restore parity.
The youngster added another penalty to give the visitors the lead at 12-9.
However, against the run of play, Glasgow scored the first try of the match as fullback Stuart Hogg went over on the hour mark and Weir converted for 16-12.
The metronomic Heathcote -reduced the deficit to just one point with his fifth penalty two minutes later and sent Bath into the lead again in the 68th minute with his sixth successive penalty.
The teenager was promptly taken off and Donald came on for his debut.
However, it was Weir who struck next after he added a penalty following a good break by him that resulted in the Bath infringement to restore the Scottish side’s one point lead.
In a topsy-turvy encounter Donald then sent Bath back into the lead with three minutes remaining as he landed a penalty, leaving the hosts an uphill task to win the game.
However, having set Weir up for the drop-goal attempt the fly-half made a lame attempt, but the bounce of the ball fooled the Bath defense and fell kindly to Gray, who went over under the posts to touch down. Weir added the conversion to complete a remarkable end to the match.
Sunday’s other result:
‧ Saracens 42, Treviso 17
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