Northampton claim Champions Cup pool top spot with Munster thriller / Photo: © AFP/File
Northampton claim Champions Cup pool top spot with Munster thriller
English winger Tom Seabrook scored a hat-trick as Northampton held on to beat Munster 34-32 on Saturday to secure a top seed spot from Pool 3 into the last 16 of the Champions Cup.
Seabrook, 25, crossed in a 54-minute window in a rousing encounter as 2000 winners Saints secured their place as one of four group winners to guarantee potential homes tie in the competition until the semi-finals.
The two-time champions from Ireland, who brought themselves within two of the hosts with 80 seconds to play, had booked their place in the next round before kick-off, after the Bulls hammered Stade Francais 48-7 earlier in the day.
The Bulls' win, another lop-sided result including a South African team this season, also sent Castres into the knockouts of the top-tier competition for the first time since 2002.
Seven clubs including last season's finalists Toulouse and Leinster, as well as Northampton, had already qualified for the next round before the last set of the pool-stage matches started on Friday with Ulster easing past Exeter 52-24.
Elsewhere on Saturday, replacement lock Thomas Ceyte crashed over for an 86th-minute try as Clermont overcame Bristol 33-26.
The French side will have to wait to learn their fate in Pool 2 as four-time champions Leinster host Bath and Treviso play La Rochelle, winners in 2022 and 2023 later in the day.
Three-time runners-up Racing 92 welcome the Stormers and Glasgow, already through to the next round, head to Harlequins to finish off the day's action.
On Sunday, holders Toulouse play Leicester two days after the French club's captain Antoine Dupont questioned the competition's format and knock-out seeding system.
Record six-time winners Toulouse are unlikely to finish above Bordeaux-Begles in Pool 1 and would have to play away from home in the quarter-finals if they are second in the group.
R.Evans--TNT
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