Champions Cup rugby results: Farrell helps Saracens set up home quarter final with win against Ulster
After , there were a number of other British and Irish sides in action in the European Cup as well as Oyonnax, who beat fellow French side Toulouse 32-14.
Munster 26-13 Stade Francais
Munster salvaged some pride from their disappointing Champions Cup campaign with a 26-13 bonus point win over Stade Francais at Thomond Park.
The Irish province avoided their worst ever European run of four successive defeats, with try-scoring captain and Ireland hopeful CJ Stander producing yet another man-of-the-match display.
Tries from Mike Sherry and Keith Earls had Munster leading 12-6 at half-time in greasy conditions, with Morne Steyn kicking two penalties for Stade in response.
Earls' brilliant solo effort, which had the watching Ireland coach Joe Schmidt smiling, was followed immediately after half-time by Simon Zebo's 41st score for the province, drawing him level with Munster's record try scorer Anthony Horgan.
Although Anthony Foley's men survived Ronan O'Mahony's yellow card for taking Hugo Bonneval out in the air, a converted try from South African flanker Jonathan Ross brought Stade back into contention.
There was no denying fired-up Munster, though, as number eight Stander fittingly secured the bonus point from a close-in ruck 13 minutes from time, with the home side subsequently holding on to claim their second win from five Pool 4 matches.
Bordeaux-Begles 34-27 Exeter
Exeter pushed Bordeaux-Begles close in France but a 34-27 defeat has left the Chiefs with a mountain to climb to progress in the European Champions Cup.
Dave Lewis, Byron McGuigan and Max Bodily all scored tries as a second-string Exeter rattled their French hosts.
But they fell agonisingly short in the end as Bordeaux claimed maximum points with a five-try performance.
Marco Tauleigne scored the winning try nine minutes from time after Adam Ashley-Cooper, Blair Connor, Louis-Benoit Madaule and Benat Auzqui had crossed earlier.
The result leaves Exeter with 11 points from five matches in Pool 2, five points adrift of leaders Ospreys, three behind Clermont Auvergne and level with Bordeaux.
Saracens 33-17 Ulster
Saracens bounced back from their first defeat of the season against Harlequins last weekend with a bonus-point demolition of their closest rivals in Pool One to underline their status as Europe's top performers.
Owen Farrell provided the creativity as the English champions stormed into the quarter finals of the Champions Cup with a 33-17 victory against Ulster that guarantees home advantage in the next round.
Farrell was uncharacteristically poor from the kicking tee, completing just five of his nine shots at goal, but he conjured the critical try for Duncan Taylor that swept Saracens out of sight.
With England head coach Eddie Jones watching from the stands, man of the match Farrell showed his vision by gliding through the Ulster midfield before feeding Taylor a pinpoint pass in the standout moment of afternoon.
The 24-year-old is expected to start the Six Nations opener against Scotland at inside centre and his performance will have reassured Jones ahead of the Murrayfield showdown on 6 February.
Billy Vunipola, Taylor, Maro Itoje and Schalk Brits helped themselves to tries to place Mark McCall's men 11 points clear at the summit of their group with one game to play, in Toulouse on Saturday.
Leinster 25-11 Bath
Leinster knocked Bath out of contention for the European Champions Cup quarter-finals with a very encouraging 25-11 victory at the RDS.
Ian Madigan finished with a 20-point haul, but it was Leo Cullen's young guns who got the best out of the province with eight of their starting line-up aged between 20 and 24.
Madigan landed four penalties from five attempts to give Leinster a 12-3 interval lead, with James Tracy, Josh van der Flier and Mike McCarthy starring up front.
Despite Leroy Houston's 59th-minute try giving them renewed hope, Bath were out of sorts and very much second best on the night. Leinster lifted their game again in the Dublin rain, an opportunist try from Sean Cronin and a sixth successful Madigan penalty sealing their first pool win of the season.
Leicester 47-7 Treviso
Leicester qualified for the European Champions Cup quarter-finals after thrashing Italian minnows Benetton Treviso 47-7 at home.
The Tigers' fifth successive win means they will top Pool Four and they will also be desperate to finish the pool stage in style next Sunday by winning at Stade Francais to boost their chances of a home quarter-final.
The bonus point win puts them on 23 points and the only other time they have started a campaign with five straight victories was in 2001-02 when they won the cup for a second successive season.
Leicester scored seven tries in front of a crowd of 19,076 through Mike Fitzgerald, a penalty try, Vereniki Goneva, Adam Thompstone, Ben Youngs, Freddie Burns, who kicked five conversions, and Laurence Pearce.
Treviso replied through Andrea Pratichetti, while Simone Ferrari was yellow carded.
Leicester, who fielded a strong side for the return match, had the game virtually sewn up by half-time against an Italian side who are bottom of the Guinness PRO12 and without a win in 16 matches in all competitions.
The Tigers, who had beaten Treviso in all their previous nine encounters, rattled up four converted tries and conceded one in a one-sided half to lead 28-7.