Perfect Saracens cruise into European Cup quarter-finals
Two-time champions Saracens reached the European Cup quarter-finals on Sunday with a bonus-point, four-try 28-10 win over Lyon, extending their record to a perfect five wins in five in the competition. Saracens, the 2016 and 2017 winners, join defending champions and four-time winners Leinster as the second side to make the last eight of this year's competition. Centre Nick Tompkins grabbed two of Saracens' tries with scrum-half Ben Spencer and back-row forward Jackson Wray also getting on the scoresheet as the English side claimed a fifth win in five matches. They will face Pool 3 rivals Glasgow, who beat Cardiff 33-24, in the final round of group games next weekend looking to wrap up a home quarter-final. "We're thrilled to get three great away victories in the competition and today was tough place to go. They were going to fight for everything and we had to work hard for the four tries," Saracens coach Mark McCall told BT Sport. "It was important to get the win for this competition and with 23 points we still have not won the group. We look forward to a big game against Glasgow next week." Lyon remain rock bottom of the group after a fifth defeat in five games and are the only side in the tournament not to have registered a point. Glasgow are four points behind Saracens but they had to battle to defeat Cardiff -- and grab a late bonus point -- with George Horne crossing in the 78th minute for a crucial score. Grant Stewart, Scott Cummings, Chris Fusaro and Oli Kebble also crossed for the Scottish side with Owen Lane (two), Harri Millard and Josh Navidi touching down for the Blues. Glasgow's current 19-point tally is the best of all the five second-placed teams with only the three best runners-up qualifying for the quarter-finals. Exeter revived their bid to qualify for the quarter-finals from Pool 2 with a 34-12 win over 14-man Castres at Sandy Park. The Chiefs needed to win their final two group fixtures, against Castres and two-time European champions Munster, to have a chance of reaching the knockout phase. - 'Emotional energy' - Exeter, without a win in the first three rounds of this season's Champions Cup, went halfway to that task by running in five tries in a bonus-point home win over the French Top 14 champions ahead of a trip to Munster's Thomond Park ground. The southwest side can travel to Limerick knowing they still have a chance after tries by fullback Jack Nowell, fly-half Joe Simmonds, lock Jonny Hill, wing Tom O'Flaherty, centre Henry Slade and replacement hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie, allied to two Simmonds conversions, eliminated Castres. The visitors' defeat was made worse when replacement prop Tudor Stroe was sent off on the hour mark for swinging an arm into the head of Exeter centre Ollie Devoto. "We've done the most important thing, we've given ourselves a reason to go to Munster and play what is close to a knockout game," said Exeter boss Rob Baxter. "The huge thing when you play against Munster is they get a huge amount of emotional energy into these games. We'll have to try and match that and overcome it."
