Champions Cup round-up: Unbeaten Glasgow impress in big win over Sale; Bristol suffer heavy loss against Stormers in Cape Town

La Rochelle 31 Lions 14

Several of the players from South ‌Africa’s Lions side could not hold back tears as they paid an ‌emotional tribute to team-mate Hyron Andrews ahead of their Champions Cup fixture ​against French side La Rochelle on Saturday.

Andrews, 31, was found unresponsive at the team’s hotel on the Ile de Re on Friday and ​could not be resuscitated. No cause of death has yet been determined.

A ⁠statement from South Africa Rugby said he “died after falling ‌at ‌the ​team hotel”.

The Lions decided to play the fixture in honour of Andrews and put in ⁠a spirited display ​but went down 31-14 to ​Ronan O’Gara’s side.

La Rochelle fans had formed a ‌guard of honour to welcome ​the visitors at the stadium.

Andrews’s number five jersey was ⁠laid out in front ⁠of his ​team-mates as an impeccably observed moment of silence was held at the Stade Marcel-Deflandre.

Ruan Delport, selected to play in the secondrow, instead wore the number 24, leaving Andrews’s number free.

South Africans on the La Rochelle side, Dillyn Leyds and Salmaan Moerat, ‌presented a special number ⁠five jersey to Lions coach Ivan Van Rooyen, while the ground erupted into applause in the ‌fifth minute of the match.

Sale 27 Glasgow Warriors 47

Glasgow Warriors extended their unbeaten start to the new season by pulling away to claim an impressive 47-27 win at Sale.

Glasgow’s winning score might have looked convincing but they only secured victory in the final 20 minutes after Rekeiti Ma’asi-White had temporarily reduced Sale’s deficit to four.

The hosts had made all the running in the early stages and were 12 points up inside the first 10 minutes helped by tries from Ben Curry and Arron Reed.

The visitors hit back through a penalty try and further efforts from Kyle Steyn and Jamie Dobie to carve out a hard-earned 21-15 lead at the interval.

The game looked in the balance until late tries from Rory Darge, Ollie Smith and debutant Otavio Tuipulotu helped Glasgow pull away and wrap up a precious bonus-point win.

Glasgow host Pau in their next Champions Cup encounter while Sale travel to Leinster for a tricky test in mid-December.

Stormers 49 Bristol Bears 12

The Stormers ran in seven tries in a 49-12 thumping of Bristol Bears. The home side were on top from the start in Cape Town, with Seabelo Senatla scoring their first try in the seventh minute before Leolin Zas added a second eight minutes later.

Joe Owens broke away down the wing for a solo try for Bristol in the 22nd minute but Jonny Roche restored Stormers’ advantage before the half-hour mark.

JJ Kotze was shown a 20-minute red card for head-to-head contact before the break, while a yellow card for Zas – resulting in a disallowed try – gave the Bears a significant numerical advantage that they took advantage of through a first try for the club from Sol Moody.

However, Roche then scored his second and the final 10 minutes was a horror show for Bristol as they conceded three more tries.

First, Warrick Gelant crossed, then Andre-Hugo Venter got in on the act before Vas ended an eventful game with his second – with all seven tries converted by Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.

Other result: Bulls 56 Stade Francais 20