MUNSTER’S HEINEKEN CUP campaign got an unexpected boost today as Edinburgh shocked pool rivals Gloucester.
The Premiership side lost 16-10, their second defeat of the season leaving them five points behind Munster at the top of Pool 6.
In difficult conditions at Kingsholm, Jack Cuthbert kicked three penalties to send the visitors in 9-7 up at the break.
And they wrapped up the win when Ben Atiga ran in the decisive try midway through the second half.
In the day’s other game, a converted try in the final minute by Fijian Nike Goneva saw Leicester Tigers grab a 15-14 win over Montpellier and make them slight favourites to top Pool 5.
The two-time champions trail Ulster by three points with two matches remaining, which sees them play pointless Treviso away and rounding off at home to Ulster at Welford Road, a venue where few away teams have won in years past.
The Tigers looked down and out after Lucas Dupont had gone over for Montpellier’s second try of the second-half, which was converted by Eric Escande for a 14-5 lead with just 17 minutes remaining.
However, Leicester, who had broken the deadlock with a Tom Youngs try after the first-half had ended 0-0 for only the fourth time in the competition’s history, struck back through a penalty by replacement fly-half Ryan Lamb.
However, entering the final minute they still trailed 14-8 until a fine passing movement saw the ball come out to Goneva and he crossed the line before crucially setting up a far easier conversion attempt for Lamb closer to the posts by sidestepping a couple of Montpellier players in the try area.
Lamb converted leaving the Leicester squad dancing with joy while for Montpellier — whose coach Fabien Galthie had sent out a starting XV featuring 14 different players from last weekend’s defeat in Leicester — it was a bitter pill to swallow.
Earlier Harlequins stayed in the hunt for a place in the quarter-finals while effectively knocking big-spending French side Racing Metro out of contention with a clinical 17-3 victory in London.
– Additional reporting AFP
