What a breathtaking start to this year’s Heineken Cup competition! In case you missed it, here are the results from last weekends Round 1 opener.

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Pool 1

Castres Olympique 19-13 Northampton Saints
Ospreys 9-19 Leinster Rugby

Pool 2

Exeter Chiefs 44-29 Cardiff Blues
Toulon 51-28 Glasgow Warriors

Pool 3

Connacht 17-23 Saracens
Toulouse 38-5 Zebre

Pool 4

Harlequins 26-33 Scarlets
Racing Metro 13-9 Clermont Auvergne

Pool 5

Ulster Rugby 22-16 Leicester Tigers
Benetton Treviso 10-27 Montpellier

Pool 6

Edinburgh Rugby 29-23 Munster Rugby
Gloucester Rugby 27-22 Perpignan

Pool 1

After Irish heavyweights Leinster got off to a winning by defeating Welsh side Ospreys, Matt O’Connor’s men face French side, Castres who will be looking to cause another upset following a surprise victory against Northampton Saints on the opening weekend.

Leinster have a strong record against French opposition in the Heineken cup, winning 12 of their last 13 home games against them, including a 33-3 victory over Castres in 2008.

Castres will take comfort, however, in the knowledge that they turned Leinster over in the only other fixture between the sides at the Stade Pierre Antoine.

Elsewhere in the group, Northampton will look to avenge their shock defeat to Castres in round 1 as they welcome Ospreys to Franklin Gardens on Sunday.

It’s the first time these two sides have met in the competition, but Saints will be looking to make it six wins from seven against Welsh opposition in the Heineken Cup.

Alternatively, Ospreys will be hoping to overcome the form-book, having won just two of their last 18 away games in the competition.

Pool 2

In the opening weekend Pool 2 proved that they are here to score tries, with all four sides collecting at least a try-scoring bonus point.

Defending champions Toulon issued a statement to the rest of Europe with their first half performance, putting 34 unanswered points past Glasgow Warriors.

This weekend they travel to Cardiff to take on the Blues in round 2. The sides were pitched against each other in the same group in last season’s competition, with the French side winning both ties.

With their current form they will be strong favourites heading into the clash.

Cardiff however, may yet prove to be a difficult opposition. The Welsh side were stunned by Exeter’s first half display last weekend and conceded five tries in less than 40 minutes.

The Blues will be keen to tend to their wounded egos and  cause an upset against the French giants.

In the other fixture, RaboDirect PRO12 leaders, Glasgow Warriors host to Exeter Chiefs at Scotstoun Stadium on Sunday.

This is the first time the two sides have met in the Heineken Cup and Glasgow will be hoping to continue their run of four consecutive home wins against English sides, and relive their pre-season success against the Engishmen.

Exeter though, have been a revelation in their first few seasons in European rugby, and last weeks 44-29 victory against Cardiff pushed their overall average to 20 points per game in the tournament.

Pool 3

English Premiership league leaders Saracens were almost embarrassed on the opening weekend when they were made to sweat against Connacht, but this weekend they face four-time champions Toulouse.

Sarries have lost just two of their last nine home games in the Heineken Cup, but both of those losses have come against French opposition.

The sides have played each other twice before in the competition with Saracens winning both games, but with the most recent of these coming in 2001, the significance of these results is now surely outdated.

Toulouse will be full of confidence entering round 2 having comprehensively beaten Zebre in the opening weekend.

In Pool 3’s other game, Connacht travel to Parma to play Zebre as they attempt to build on their strong showing against Saracens last weekend.

The Irish provincial side were one of just two clubs (Clermont the other) to maintain 100% success rates at both the line-out and scrum in Round 1, and if they carry that on, will be well placed to take the spoils in Italy.

Zebre on the other hand are searching for their first win in a second year of Heineken Cup rugby.

The only two occasions Zebre have come within 10 points of a victory in this tournament was against Connacht last season, and they will be hoping to run the Irish side close once more.

Pool 4

Pool 4 produced one of the biggest shocks of the opening round, as Welsh side Scarlets stormed to an away win against Harlequins.

Inspired by the impeccable kicking of Rhys Priestland, and three try scorers, all by the name of ‘Williams’, the side from Llanelli, got off to a fantastic start and will attempt to continue their fine form in front of their own fans, against Racing Metro.

Metro however, will also be full of confidence having made an impressive start to the competition, beating last year’s finalist’s Clermont Auvergne.

Scarlets have won five of their last seven home matches against French opposition in the Heineken Cup, but Metro have shown they don’t need to be given more than a sniff to walk away with a win, having only had nine minutes of possession against Clermont in Round 1.

The other tie in Pool 4 sees English side Harlequins travel to Clermont. Both sides suffered opening weekend losses and will be keen to get their first win of the campaign.

A shining light for Quins against Scarlet was the performance of full-back Mike Brown, who crossed for two tries and made a first round high of 148 metres with the ball in hand.

Clermont were largely frustrated in their first round match against Metro.

Despite backs Lee Byrne and Sitiveni Sivivatu making more carries (20) than any other player on the opening weekend, neither managed to cross for a try.

The French side have lost just one of their last 17 home games in the Heineken Cup and will be keen for more of the same in front of their passionate fans.

Pool 5

In the tournament opener, Ulster got their campaign off to a winning start against English heavyweights Leicester in a captivating 80 minutes.

This weekend Ulster travel to Montpellier to try and rectify their away form, having lost 13 of their last 14 games on the road in France in the Heineken Cup.

However, not only did Montpellier record a confident victory away to Treviso in the opening weekend, the Stade Yves-du-Manoir has become somewhat of a fortress, where they are undefeated in the competition.

Elsewhere in the group, Leicester will be looking to bounce back from their opening defeat to Ulster, with a victory against Treviso.

The English side have won all 18 of their Heineken Cup meetings with Italian clubs, including six wins from six in all previous fixtures against opponents Treviso.

The Italian side have lost their last 16 away games in this tournament, conceding an average of 41 points per game.

To make matter worse, Leicester are currently on 23-match unbeaten run at home in the Heineken Cup.

Pool 6

In the opening weekend of Pool 6, Edinburgh Rugby defeated Irish giants, Munster in a thrilling encounter at Murrayfield.

Alan Solomons’ side travel to France this weekend to take on Perpignan at the Staide Aime Giral and will be hoping to record their first victory away from home in all competitions this season.

As a team Edinburgh missed just four from 129 attempted tackles in beating Munster last Saturday, the best success rate of any club in Round 1.

The two sides have met twice before in the competition, with both teams recording a home victory.

Perpignan fly-half James Hook scored all 22 points in their opening defeat at Kingsholm and (should he recover from his current calf strain) will be up against an equally accurate marksman in Edinburgh Rugby captain Greig Laidlaw, who scored 19 points in round 1.

Elsewhere in Pool 6, Munster play host to Gloucester at their Limerick fortress Thomond Park.

Despite losing their last two Heineken Cup fixtures, the Irish side have not lost three in a row since 2007, and will be keen to keep up this record.

Munster will take comfort in the fact that they are back playing on home turf, having lost only one of their last 14 matches in the Heineken Cup at Thomond Park.

Gloucester however will have gained confidence from their opening round victory against Perpignan, with England centre Billy Twelvetrees showing impressive versatility, filling in for Freddie Burns at fly-half.

The English side have won five of their last six Heineken Cup games against Irish clubs but are at a slight disadvantage against Munster, winning just two from five in their head to heads.