Heineken Cup Round 2 Recap

Pool 1: The Saracens and Racing Metro headed to Brussels to decide who would lead Pool 1 after two rounds. It was Racing Metro that struck first via a Olly Barkley penalty in the 1st minute, but from then on it was all Saracens. Charlie Hodgson hit a penalty of his own before Chris Wyles, who was making this 100th appearance for Saracens, picked up the games first try in the 21st minute. Steve Borthwick then added another six minutes later. At the half the score was Saracens 20, Racing Metro 3. Racing Metro came out better in the second half and scored a try through Juan Imhoff, but Will Fraser's try for the Saracens in the 76th minute iced the match. Final score: Saracens 30-13 Racing Metro. The win now means that Saracens lead Pool 1 with nine points.

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The other match in the pool saw Edinburgh travel to Munster. Edinburgh went into the match trying to rebound from their nilling at the hands of the Saracens last week. Well, it didn't go much better this week as they were held scoreless for the second week in a row, losing 33-0 to Munster. Munster led on 6-0 at the half before they exploded for four tries in the second half courtesy of Conor Murray, Peter O'Mahony, Sean Dougall and Damien Varley. Munster are now second in the pool with four points. Racing Metro have three with Edinburgh have zero.

Pool 2: Leicester rebounded from their defeat last week to Toulouse by beating the Ospreys 39-22 at home. The match started firmly in the Ospreys favor when Ryan Jones crossed over for a try in the 1st minute. However, aided by Toby Flood's boot and a try by Manu Tuilagi in the 31st minute, Leicester took firm control of the match. Tuilagi would add another try while Flood added to his five penalties with a try of his own. Ben Youngs added another. The win brings the Tigers level with the Ospreys on points with five.

Toulouse continue to roll and are a top the pool with 8 points after defeating Benetton Treviso 33-21 in Italy on Saturday. It was a penalty kick fest in the first half with Kris Burton hitting six in for Benetton while Luke McAlister added one for Toulouse. However, in the second half, Toulouse began to pour on the pressure and were rewarded with three tries to seal the match. They picked up a penalty try in the 53rd minute before Louis Picamoles and Vincent Clerc scored one a piece. The match spiced up a bit in the 76th minute when Christopher Tolofua was sent off.

Pool 3: The Harlequins stay a top Pool 3 with a 30-22 victory over Connacht in Ireland on Saturday. Danny Care was the hero for the Quins with tries in the 30th and 37th minute. The match didn't start out well for the Londoners as they Connacht struck first through David McSharry in the 6th minute. Dan Parks then hit four penalties to give his team a 19-9 lead. However, Connacht only managed three points the rest of the match while the Harlequins scored 21.

With their 38-17 win over Zebre, Biarritz are now second in Pool 3, one point ahead of Connacht. In wet conditions, Biarritz struck early and often against the Italians. Fabien Barcella, Taku Ngwenya, Pelu Taele-Pavihi, Arnaud Heguy all scored a try a piece while Yann Lesgourgues added two. Dries van Schalkwyk scored the Zebres only try of the match but it came in the 76th minute.

Pool 4: Ulster's visit to Glasgow last Friday got the action started for the week. Unlike many of the other games this week, this match only saw two tries, one for each team. Penalties ruled the action Ulster's Patrick Jackson coming out on top with four to Peter Horne's one. Ulster won the match 19-8. The win keeps them on top of the pool while it keeps Glasgow last with no points.

While the Ulster-Glasgow match wasn't the most exciting in the world, the clash between Northampton and Castres offered plenty of action. Castres got the match off started in strong fashion when Paul Bonnefond scored a try in the 7th minute.  Romain Teulet added the conversion before adding a penalty in the 14th minute. Stephen Myler added penalties of his own in the 16th and 24th minute before Antoine Classen's try in the 51st minute extended Castres to a 18-6 lead. However, George Pisi's try only eight minutes later kept things close for the rest of the match. It wasn't enough though as Castres won 21-16. Despite the results, Northampton are still in second place over Castres and behind Ulster.

Pool 5: Leinster and Scarlets took to the field on Saturday both desperate for points to keep up with Clermont. Leinster made their intentions known early with a Isa Nacewa try in the 10th minute. Jonathan Sexton and Rhys Priestland then traded goals for most the match before Gareth Maule was able to touch down for the Scarlets in the 53rd minute. However, it wasn't enough as Leinster came away with a 20-13 win.

For their part, Clermont stormed to another win, this time a thorough 46-12 defeat of Exeter. Napolioni Nalago and Wesley Fofana had two tries a piece while Julien Bonnaire and Sitiveni Sivivatu had one a piece. Exeter only managed four penalty kicks from Gareth Steenson. Clermont are the only team in the competition to pick up the maximum 10 points and lead Pool 5. Leinster are second in the group with eight points while Scarlets and Exeter have one a piece.

Pool 6: Toulon's mission for European glory progressed this week as they defeated Cardiff 22-14 in Wales on Sunday. Cardiff got on the board first though, when Leigh Halfpenny scored in the 1st minute. He also added a penalty in the first half to Jonny Wilkinson's two. However, in the second half, Steffon Armitage followed up on a Wilkinson penalty with a try to to permanently give Toulon the lead. The win firmly puts Toulon in first place in the group with 9 points.

The other match in the group saw Sale travel to Montpellier. The Sharks got on the board early with a Mark Cueto in the 3rd minute, but that would be all they would get try-wise until the 73rd minute. By then, Montpellier had run in three tries and kicked four penalties to firmly take control of the fixture. Final: Montpellier 33-18 Sale. Both teams now have four points and are second in the pool.