Heineken Cup round-up:Heineken Cup debutant Matthew Morgan salvaged a 26-26 draw for the Ospreys against Treviso with a dramatic last-minute penalty at the Stadio di Monigo. Trailing 26-23 in the dying moments, the Welsh region looked set to suffer one of the greatest European upsets of all time.
However, with just seconds remaining, 19-year-old Morgan cracked over a stunning penalty from 40 metres to break Italian hearts and earn Sean Holley’s men a draw which they scarcely deserved.
Kris Burton opened the scoring for Treviso with a penalty after four minutes and their New Zealand-born winger Brendan Williams was set for a long range try shortly after but play was brought back for a knock-on.
The Ospreys had their opportunities too, but looked slightly off the pace as they squandered the chances that came their way. Justin Tipuric knocked on with the line at his mercy, while Dan Biggar missed two kickable penalties either side of a failed drop-goal attempt from former Wales captain Ryan Jones.
They finally awoke from their slumber midway through the half, however, when Tommy Bowe burst through a number of tackles to dot down for the opening try, which Biggar converted.
Treviso threatened occasionally from broken play, but it was left to the kickers to keep the scoreboard ticking over, Burton twice converting either side of a penalty from Biggar to leave Treviso trailing 10-9 at the interval.
If the Ospreys needed a wake-up call, they got it immediately after the break when Treviso loosehead prop Michele Rizzo stormed his way over the line for a converted try.
Biggar hit back with a penalty but it was Treviso who were now calling the shots, a fact borne out by a superb 47th-minute try by Benjamin de Jager, who weaved through and outfoxed Shane Williams close to the line.
The home side were still looking the more focused, and when Tommaso Benvenuti got outside the Ospreys covering defence, scrum-half Tobias Botes was on hand to score try number three for the hosts.
Benvenuti was then lucky to stay on the pitch after dumping Williams in the tackle. He received a yellow for the incident, with Biggar reducing the deficit to three points with the resulting penalty.
The Ospreys looked a spent force but had just enough energy to force one last penalty and Morgan belied his tender years to split the posts majestically and garner two hard-fought pool points for his side.
Gloucester 9 Harlequins 28:Harlequins maintained their unbeaten start to the season with a 12th successive victory in all competitions that left Gloucester's hopes hanging by a thread.
While Quins march on towards potentially pivotal Pool Six home and away encounters against four-time European champions Toulouse next month, Gloucester face making an early exit following two defeats in a row.
First-half tries by full-back Mike Brown and centre Matt Hopper put Quins in charge, but once again it was goalkicker Nick Evans who underpinned victory as he booted three penalties and two conversions.
Quins’ England number eight Nick Easter completed an emphatic away success when he touched down eight minutes from time, inflicting a heaviest Heineken home defeat on Gloucester since Stade Francais demolished them 27-0 at Kingsholm six years ago.
Gloucester created their fair share of opportunities in attack — Mike Tindall delivered another strong display following his RFU fine and being axed from the national squad — yet only had three Freddie Burns penalties to show for it.
And they are now left on the edge of pool stage elimination for a fifth time in their last six European campaigns. But Quins, with Aviva Premiership bottom club Newcastle their next opponents at the Twickenham Stoop tomorrow week, have gone almost seven months since they last lost.
Biarritz 15 Saracens 10:Saracens salvaged a losing-bonus point at the death as Biarritz edged out the English champions in a ferocious encounter.
An attritional first half ended scoreless after Owen Farrell and Marcelo Bosch squandered several shots at goal. Biarritz came to life in the second half and scored through Imanol Harinordoquy and Takudzwa Ngwenya to seal the victory.
But to the delight of the Saracens coaching staff, Alex Goode squeezed into the corner with the last play of the match to earn a bonus point.
Saracens took the lead on 51 minutes with an Owen Farrell penalty. But that brought the hosts to life and they quickly responded with a brilliant try.
Balshaw launched a daring counter-attack from his own line and following good interplay from the Biarritz pack down the left flank, Dane Haylett-Petty fired a perfectly weighted kick to the corner for man of the match Harinordoquy to score.
Biarritz quickly extended their lead with a Julien Peyrelongue penalty and went a step closer to victory after scoring a second scintillating try on 65 minutes. From another counter-attack, USA wing Ngwenya sliced through the Saracens defence from within his own half to score under the posts.
Peyrelongue knocked over the conversion to hand his side a 15-3 lead, but Saracens came fighting back. Short appeared to have given them a glimmer of hope on 68 minutes but television match official Peter Ferguson adjudged the ball to be held up.
But after battling away for the remaining 10 minutes, Saracens got their reward when quick hands released Goode to score in the corner to secure the bonus point. Farrell added the extras to bring the scores to 15-10.
