THREE ENGLISH teams all got off to winning starts at the Champions Cup today with leaders Saracens holding off a fierce Edinburgh onslaught to win 30-26, second-placed Sale thrashing Ulster 39-0 earlier and Leicester edging Ospreys 23-17.
Saracens, who won the last of their three European titles in 2019, had an early shock as South African prop Luan de Bruin barged through Owen Farrell to open the scoring in their Pool B game.
Argentina fly-half Emiliano Boffelli converted and was to prove a thorn in Saracens’ side with 16 points in total.
Saracens hit back with tries through Elliot Daly and Ben Earl but still trailed 16-12 at half-time.
Six minutes into the second half, Daly put a grubber kick in behind the Scottish defence, giving Alex Lewington a straightforward collect and score to put Sarries ahead.
Farrell and Boffelli traded kicks before replacement hooker Tom Woolstencroft crashed over from close range to put Saracens 30-19 up.
Edinburgh kept going, in spite of two late yellows, and Wes Goosen’s late try meant they returned to Scotland with at least a defensive bonus point.
“Credit to Edinburgh,” said player of the match Daly. “We can be very happy with today, four tries and a win — that’s all you can ask.
“Everyone put an absolute shift in, we go forward to next week looking for another win.”
Welsh side Ospreys led Leicester 10-6 at half-time but the English side turned it around in the second half to take the points.
Morgan Morris and Nicky Smith scored Ospreys’ two tries, Leicester replying through Harry Potter and a brilliant solo effort from Anthony Watson.
The 24 teams are divided into two pools of 12 but each team only plays two others, home and away, with the top eight in each pool progressing to the last 16.
The format of the competition has changed this year with the inclusion for the first time of South African franchises alongside Europe’s finest.
