Munster and Ulster booked their place in the quarter-final of the Champions Cup with sterling victories to ensure that every Irish Guinness PRO14 side advanced through to the knockout stage. Meanwhile, Glasgow Warriors progressed into the last eight despite a defeat after compatriots Edinburgh Rugby did them a favour with victory on Friday night. It’s the first time that both Scottish sides have appeared in the quarters. Elsewhere, Cardiff Blues capped off their Champions Cup campaign with a high-scoring victory over Lyon as Scarlets were downed 46-33 in Paris. Ulster had to bide their time to clinch the spoils at Welford Road as a late try from Robert Baloucoune completed a comeback 14-13 victory against Leicester Tigers to put Ulster into the quarter-finals for the first time since 2014. Munster held off the challenge of Premiership leaders Exeter Chiefs to record an impressive 9-7 win to top Pool 2 as three penalties from Joey Carbery proved to be enough. Glasgow Warriors progressed to a quarter-final berth despite suffering a 38-19 defeat to two-time winners Saracens as Ben Spencer notched up 14 points for the hosts. The Scots had already secured a spot in the next round, but were boosted by Tommy Seymour, Ali Price and Ryan Wilson all crossing the whitewash inside the first 20 minutes. Cardiff Blues couldn’t progress going into Round 6, but they certainly showed their mettle by beating French Top 14 outfit Lyon by 33-13 as Aled Summerhill scored a brace. Scarlets saw out their 2018⁄19 Champions Cup campaign with defeat to Racing 92 despite a second-half double from Johnny McNicholl. What they said: Munster’s Niall Scannell said: “It’s great to have something to look forward to over the next few weeks as the squad breaks up for internationals. “I think there’s an overwhelming sense of relief because we left it all out there against an unbelievable Exeter side and it could have really gone either way. “It’s probably test match level rugby, it was nip and tuck and the big break in the first half came when we gave away that penalty and Exeter punished us. “It was cup final stuff, we both had the same mentality that we had to win.” Ulster’s Rob Baloucoune said: “The last couple of weeks have been totally unexpected and have been unbelievable for me.” Glasgow Warriors head coach Dave Rennie said: “It is nice to know we are still alive. “If it is here we are coming back to, we will give it a lick. “We played pretty well the first 60 minutes and we put them under a bit of heat. “We put them under a lot of pressure for a big chunk of time but we have got to turn pressure into points and we didn’t do that.” Cardiff Blues’ Nick Williams said: “I said to the boys we have to play with smiles on your faces and I thought the boys did it justice. We are very proud of all the lads. “For me I want to take it every day as it comes but I was blessed to have captaincy for this week. “We spoke at half-time that this is the big boys league, with young boys floating round the squad and if they want to play top level rugby this is the standard that’s needed. “We have got seven or eight Guinness PRO14 games left and I think we have to win 75 per cent of them, so it’s a tough ask, but it’s been done before.” Scarlets head coach Wayne Pivac said: “It was the performance that we were after and we wanted to finish the competition on a reasonably high note. “We put in by and large a pretty good performance tonight, but there were times in that second-half where we just let them score. “Good teams take their opportunities and they did that. For me personally, it was good to see the boys get that confidence back, move the ball and score a few nice tries.”
