Leinster to face Bath in Dublin quarter-final

Matt O’Connor’s side would face another trip to Toulon or Wasps replay in last four

Montpellier’s centre Lucas Dupont breaks clear for one of his two tries in the Champions Cup clash against Toulouse  at the Altrad stadium in Montpellier. Photograph: Pascal Guyot/AFP
Montpellier’s centre Lucas Dupont breaks clear for one of his two tries in the Champions Cup clash against Toulouse at the Altrad stadium in Montpellier. Photograph: Pascal Guyot/AFP

Leinster will meet Bath in Dublin in the Champions Cup quarter-finals on the first weekend in April, with the game set to take place at the Aviva Stadium.

And if they can see off the English side they would face either an away semi-final to double defending champions Toulon, where they lost at the quarter-final stage last season, or a return match against Wasps after the draw was made in France following the conclusion of the pool games.

Matt O’Connor’s side looked like they had lost their chance at a home quarter-final after letting Wasps back into the game to claim a draw in the final Pool Two game at the Ricoh Arena on Saturday.

But the closing games Pool Four saw Toulouse come a cropper away to Montpellier and Bath take the honours after a tight home win over Glasgow at The Rec.

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Toulouse needed to win on the road and claim a bonus-point to edge ahead of Leinster, but Montpellier saw them off in a thriller at the Altrad stadium, winning 27-26.

A Toby Flood try just after half-time, their second of the match, put the four-time champions 20-9 ahead and on course to achieve their goal, but two tries from Montpellier winger Lucas Dupont in the space of three minutes turned the game on its head as the home side took a 21-20 lead.

Flood put Toulouse ahead, only for scrumhalf Benoit Paillaugue to reply for Montpellier three minutes later.

Flood made it 26-24 with 15 minutes to go with his second penalty of the game but Montpellier outhalf Ben Lucas again replied soon after for a lead that they held on to the close.

The result in France meant that Pool Four became a winner-takes -all battle in the couple of minutes left at The Recreation Ground.

Bath were leading 20-15 thanks to two penalty tries awarded by Irish referee John Lacey, but Glasgow attacked late on only for Sean Maitland to be held up just short of the line by some brilliant home defence.

Champions Cup quarter-final line-up: Racing Metro v Saracens; Toulon v Wasps; Clermont v Northampton; Leinster v Bath. Ties to be played April 3rd/4th/5th.

Semi-final draw: Toulon/Wasps v Leinster/Bath; Clermont/Northampton v Racing Metro/Saracens. Ties to be played on April 17th/18th/19th.

Challenge Cup quarter-final draw: Gloucester v Connacht; Exeter v Newcastle; London Irish v Edinburgh; Newport Gwent Dragons v Cardiff Blues. Ties to be played April 2nd/3rd/4th/5th.

Semi-finals: Gloucester/Connacht v Exeter/Newcastle; London Irish/Edinburgh v Newport Gwent Dragons/Cardiff Blues. Ties to be played on April 17th/18th/19th.