Eurosport - Sun, 12 Oct 19:37:00 2008
Bath coach Steve Meehan rues the last minute mistake by his side that allowed Toulouse to snatch a two point home victory in the opening round of the Heineken Cup.
Toulouse 18-16 Bath - Pool Two
Bath coach Steve Meehan: "I'm disappointed for the players because we came here to play good rugby and they delievered that, scoring two tries and keeping Toulouse from crossing our line. But it's never over until it's over, and mistakes like the one we made in the last seconds of a contest as close as that one cost a lot in a game where the margins are so tight."
Wasps 25-11 Castres - Pool Two
Wasps boss Ian McGeechan: "I thought we started well and we were back to a lot of the things we do well. I thought it was a good defensive performance and offensively I thought we were very slick today. The experienced players had to take a lead and show up for real. I thought all of them did today. They delivered big time."
Leicester Tigers 12-6 Ospreys - Pool Three
Leicester boss Heyneke Meyer: "I thought Toby [Flood] was brilliant. I wanted him to step up to the next level, and I felt he was outstanding."
Ospreys coach Sean Holley: "We are very pleased with the losing bonus point. We are right in this Pool, fighting. When you come to Welford Road, Leicester have got a 16th man - the crowd - and you expect an early onslaught. Teams coming here expect a tough game and Leicester deserved their win."
PLAYED ON SATURDAY
Clermont 15-32 Sale Sharks - Pool One
Sale coach Philippe Saint-Andre: "When we had the ball we tried to attack and be adventurous and I'm very proud of my team after seeing them put on their best performance in Europe and the best I've seen since we won the Premiership final. If you come here and you're not bold, you lose by 40 points."
Edinburgh 16-27 Leinster - Pool Two
Edinburgh boss Andy Robinson: "There first-half performance for a professional rugby side is unacceptable. Let's not hide away from it. To concede four tries as we did and in the manner they were conceded is unacceptable - and I've explained that to the players."
Leinster coach Michael Cheika: "There were parts of the game where we performed very well and there were parts of the game when we didn't perform very well. We were able to take the opportunities at times when we were going really well, which pretty much made the difference because they were right in it until the end."
Llanelli Scarlets 22-29 Harlequins - Pool Four
Scarlets boss Nigel Davies: "We are all bitterly disappointed, there is a lot of emotion in the dressing room at the moment. We felt we should have had the game won at half-time, we could have scored another three or four tries in that first half. We can play rugby, there is no doubt about that, but when it comes to the big games we have got to learn how to win them."
Harlequins boss Dean Richards: "We knew at half-time we could get back into it. They could never play with the pace they did in that first half for 80 minutes, while we couldn't play any worse than we did in that first half. We kept the scoreboard ticking over and we took our tries well. We controlled the game in the second half and played some great rugby. The boys deserve a lot of credit for that."
Ulster 10-26 Stade Francais - Pool Four
Ulster boss Matt Williams: "I'm very proud of the guys, you can only ask players to give everything and they didn't turn it off for a second. We kept fighting and fighting but they are a great side and took their opportunities really well. I thought we were still in it at half-time even though we were trailing 16-0, but they came out and took it away from us and their defence was first rate."
Stade Francais coach Ewen McKenzie: "We came here with history against us and it was always going to be a challenge to turn that around. Ulster put pressure on us and they kept coming at us. They put pressure on our quality of defence and it really held up at key moments. We could have played with more width today but we decided to play it more directly at them and though we did well I felt we left a couple of tries out there."
Newport Gwent Dragons 32-22 Glasgow - Pool Five
Dragons coach Paul Turner: "We started off like a house on fire. We could not finish off at the start and all of a sudden we were 10-0 down - and you have to build your innings again. The theme of the week was accuracy. We did that. But I'm a little disappointed where, at two scores ahead, we did things where we lost the ball in possession and gave them a sniff."
Glasgow coach Sean Lineen: "That was, individually, an appalling performance from each and every one of [the players] - and I think they have to take a long, hard look at themselves this week. We were never there. That is the top and bottom of it. We took our foot off the gas when we were up 10-0 away from home. Kelly Brown has got to hold his hands up, because it is not good enough. We always get a yellow card down here."
Cammi Calvisano 20-56 Cardiff Blues - Pool Six
Calvisano boss Marc Delpoux: "Cardiff were bigger, stronger, have better organisation, players, structure and more money so what we saw here was the picture of that difference. I was happy with the level of effort in the first half but then we collapsed because we are still not ready to compete at this level for 80 minutes."
Cardiff Blues boss Dai Young: "I couldn't really have asked for more and I would certainly have settled for that before coming out here. It was a game we had to win and we also targeted a bonus point so I'm delighted that we've done both. We knew it wasn't going to be easy. Calvisano were always going to be tough. But I was always confident that we had the quality to control the pace of the game and score tries."
Gloucester 22-10 Biarritz - Pool Six
Biarritz coach John Isaac: "I thought we deserved at least a point from the game. It [the refereeing] was very one-sided. There were things that were blown against us that weren't blown against them. Having said that, our discipline was very poor - and there are a few things we need to look at. What's the point [in making an official complaint]? I don't think it is something we will be looking to do. It was a bit of a mystery for us coming here tonight, not knowing how the game was going to be refereed. I don't think there was a lot of explanation on the field tonight."
Gloucester boss Dean Ryan: "I am really pleased with the result - it was a big step for us. It is an even bigger game for us now against Cardiff next week."
PLAYED ON FRIDAY
Munster 19-17 Montauban - Pool One
Munster boss Tony McGahan: "The scoreline certainly suggests we were lucky to get away with a in. We were lucky to get a penalty in the 78th minute. They just kept handing in and feeding off our mistakes and in the end it was a great escape. There was no surprise in anything that occurred out there this evening from them
Montauban joint-coach Laurent Travers: It's the 'nearly won' idea that upsets me - we could have won this. We are disappointed. We knew it would be difficult for us, but there was never any question that we were throwing this game. We knew we have a sound collective spirit."
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