Investec Champions Cup: Saracens complete stirring comeback, Northampton and Harlequins also win

Saracens sealed their place in the Investec Champions Cup last 16 with a scintillating 39-24 win over Lyon.

Sarries were 12 points behind with 30 minutes remaining, but sealed a pivotal win that secured progress into the knockout stages.

Mario Itoje's brace alongside tries for Ivan van Zyl, Juan Martin Gonzalez and Lucio Cinti, and 12 points from Owen Farrell clinched a memorable win.

Van Zyl opened the scoring for Sarries to go into a 5-0 lead, before Davit Niniashvili crossed the line and Leo Berdeu added a conversion to put the French side in front.

Berdeu then increased Lyon's lead with a penalty, before Josiah Maraku increased the visitors' lead to 17-5 at half-time.

Itoje reduced the arrears after the break, before Farrell scored the extra points to cut the deficit back to five points, but Lyon struck again through Maruku.

Farrell then brought the scores back to 15-24 with 50 minutes played, before Itoje scored his second try and Farrell converted to leave the contest on a knife-edge.

Farrell put Sarries back in front from the tee, before converting a try from Juan Martin Gonzalez.

The former England captain then added another conversion from Cinti's try to round off a fantastic evening of action for Mark McCall's side.

Northampton Saints claimed a 26-23 win over Munster following a gutsy comeback with 14 men in their final Investec Champions Cup Pool 3 game at Thomond Park.

Saints drew first blood when Alex Mitchell scored a try before Fin Smith converted, but Munster hit back when Jack Crowley got them off the mark with a penalty, and turned the match on its head when Antoine Frisch finished following a tapped penalty.

Crowley successfully added the conversion before Peter O’Mahony went over the line to give the hosts a 15-7 lead.

Saints' Curtis Langdon was then sent off just before the interval, following on from a yellow card given to George Furbank.

Smith scored with a penalty three minutes into the second half, before Munster grabbed a third try when Gavin Coombes crossed the line.

Munster held a 20-10 lead at that point, but Smith’s penalty and a drop goal reduced the deficit to four points.

Crowley extended Munster’s lead to 23-16, but another penalty from Smith meant that gap was reduced to four points again.

Northampton provided the final telling contribution as Sam Graham scored and Smith converted to secure the win, as both sides headed into the last 16 of the competition.

Harlequins ended their Investec Champions Cup campaign in style with a 47-19 win over Ulster.

Quins scored seven tries, including two each for Louis Lynagh and Nick David, which enabled them to finish in the top three of Pool 2.

Andre Esterhuizen gave Quins the lead early on with a try, before Marcus Smith added the conversion to make it 7-0.

Ulster responded through David McCann, before John Cooney added the additional points to leave the scores level.

Lynagh showed a moment of individual brilliance to score a try for Quins, and then scored again when he reacted to an Ulster error, before Smith followed up with a conversion, giving the hosts a 21-7 lead at the break.

Danny Care netted Quins a bonus point seven minutes into the second half, before further tries came from Esterhuizen and David.

Following two late tries from Ulster, Will Evans rounded off the scoring after running from 40 metres to score.

Cardiff's European adventure came to an end after a 48-26 defeat to Racing 92 in Paris.

The Welsh outfit gave themselves a chance by only trailing by eight points at half-time thanks to tries from Rhys Carre and Tomos Williams.

However, the Parisians scored three tries in less than 10 minutes in the second half to move into an ultimately insurmountable lead.

Williams and Tinus De Beer still managed to cross the line twice for Cardiff to grab a try-scoring bonus-point.

Leicester Tigers were beaten 27-10 by Leinster at Welford Road.

Hanro Liebenberg got the Tigers off the mark after being teed up by Dan Kelly, before Handre Pollard added the conversion to give Leicester a 7-0 lead.

Pollard extended it to 10-0 with a penalty, but that was as good as it got for the hosts as Leinster began their comeback.

Harry Byrne got them off the mark before Joe McCarthy scored, and Byrne added the conversion to wipe out Leicester's lead at 10-10.

Jordan Larmour gave the Irish side a five-point lead at the break, and they scored their third try through Dan Sheehan, with Byrne converting.

Leinster then scored a fourth try in the closing stages to seal a memorable comeback win.

Elsewhere, in Pool 4 the Stormers claimed their place in the last 16 after a 24-20 win over Stade Francais.

Andy Timo struck first with an early try before Herschel Jantjies hit back for the visitors.

Joris Segonds put Stade Francais back in front, but the Stormers refused to lie down and scored a second try thanks to Ruben van Heerden.

Lester Etien ensured the hosts had a 15-10 lead at the break, before Mathieu Hirigoyen hammered home their advantage, and it looked like there was no way back for the Stormers.

However, Hendre Stassen got them back into the contest and they took advantage of Stade Francais losing two players to yellow cards.

Manie Libbok completed a memorable comeback late on to seal a place in the knockout stages.

The Bulls booked their place in the last 16 with a pulsating 46-40 win over Bordeaux-Begles.

Marcell Coetzee scored a first-half double for the hosts, and was joined on the scoresheet by Devon Williams, David Kriel, Willie Le Roux and Embrose Papier.

Johan Goosen added 10 points, while Jaco van der Walt scored two penalties late on.

Meanwhile, despite the defeat Bordeaux secured a bonus point with six tries that came thanks to Romain Buros, Adam Coleman, Madosh Tambwe, Paul Abadie, while Tevita Tatafu crossing the line twice.

Zack Holmes and Mateo Garcia added eight and two points each from penalties.

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