Dispagne starts deluge

Round-up

Toulouse, the inaugural Heineken Cup winners in 1996, took a huge step towards this season's quarter-finals with a 39-17 win at Padova ­ their third successive victory in Pool Two.

Toulouse, the inaugural Heineken Cup winners in 1996, took a huge step towards this season's quarter-finals with a 39-17 win at Padova ­ their third successive victory in Pool Two.

Five tries in the opening 40 minutes put the visitors 34-0 ahead at the interval before the Italians battled back to outscore their French opponents in the second half. The Toulouse No 8 Sylvain Dispagne opened the floodgates with a try in only the second minute and further touchdowns swiftly followed from Stephan Ougier, Lee Stensness, Cedric Desbrosse and Pierre Boudouy. Padova did not open their account until the 56th minute when Filippo Rampazzo burst through. The flanker Mauro Bergamasco and wing Brendan Williams also went over to give Padova hope but Toulouse had the last word when the scrum-half Jerome Fillol scored their sixth try with eight minutes remaining.

The Pool Four leaders Munster also made it three wins from three matches when they came from behind to claim an impressive 31-15 success in Colomiers. A try by Jason Holland in the 10th minute set them on their way but Colomiers took the lead through tries by the former France full-back Jean-Luc Sadourney and the centre Jerome Sieurac. But two penalties by Ronan O'Gara restored Munster's advantage and after the interval touchdowns by the Ireland and Lions hooker Keith Wood, Holland and Anthony Horan sealed victory.

The boot of England's fly-half Jonny Wilkinson supplied 25 points as Newcastle romped to a 45-26 win at Dunvant which put them clear at the top of Pool Six in the European Shield.

Sale completed an English double over Welsh opposition by thrashing Caerphilly 51-14 in Pool Three with one of their seven tries coming from the England wing Steve Hanley in his first game back following a double shoulder operation.

Connacht got the better of Toulon 27-13 in Pool Four while the Wales full-back Shane Howarth contributed 19 points to Newport's 26-10 success over Rovigo in Pool Two. Castres comfortably head that group after their 10-try, 60-25 triumph at Bedford which featured a hat-trick from Francois Plisson.

Leeds are the new leaders of Allied Dunbar Premiership Two after a 54-0 demolition of Waterloo in which Scott Benton and Matthew Oliver each claimed two tries. Worcester are now second after slipping up 16-10 at Exeter and Rotherham joined them on the same number of points with a nine-try, 56-6 hammering of Rugby. The bottom side West Hartlepool collected their first win after 12 attempts by upsetting Orrell 23-15.

The champions Heriot's FP remain in charge of the BT Scottish Premiership following their 28-8 success over Jed-Forest and South Africa qualified for a semi-final meeting with New Zealand in the IRB World Sevens after beating Canada 17-7 in Stellenbosch.