**Ireland's four challengers made a blistering start to the Heineken Champions Cup by completing an impressive clean sweep of victories.** **Ulster** led the way by defeating Clermont Auvergne 29-23 in France. It was their first win at the Stade Marcel-Michelin, with Stuart McCloskey and Nick Timoney scoring their tries and scrum-half John Cooney kicking 19 points. **Munster** were missing 34 squad personnel because of quarantine following their recent United Rugby Championship trip to South Africa. That meant naming five debutants in the starting XV and another seven on the bench for the trip to Wasps but they triumphed 35-14 in Coventry. A rollercoaster first-half ended with Wasps trailing just 13-7 but the writing was already on the wall after Brad Shields had been sent off for a dangerous tackle on Dave Kilcoyne. With hooker Dan Frost sin-binned on the stroke of half-time, their 13 men were on the ropes and Munster reacted by engineering tries for Patrick Campbell and Andrew Conway. Keith Earls and Scott Buckley also touched down, with Joey Carbery kicking 15 points. **Leinster** proved too strong for English opponents Bath at the Aviva Stadium, running in seven tries in posting a 45-20 success.
