However, the game burst into life in the 57th minute, courtesy of a tidy finish from Burke. After being played into the box by Jeong Woo-yeong, Burke cut inside past Castello Lukeba and curled his effort into the top-left corner to give Union the lead. Leipzig head coach Ole Werner responded by immediately subbing on Gomis, and the decision paid dividends on the hour mark.
Full time - Bath 40 Munster 14 - destructive opening 20 minutes as Bath blow Munster away Tadhg Beirne's yellow card and the opening penalty try was key as four tries in the opening 25 minutes left Munster with too much to do at the Rec.
Vincent Kompany made a few changes to the starting line-up from the previous Bundesliga game, with Nicolas Jackson, Dayot Upamecano, and Leon Goretzka returning. Jackson nearly gave the visitors an early lead inside three minutes, as he snatched the ball from Ameen Al-Dakhil and raced on to the goal, but he could not test the keeper. Maximilian Mittelstadt came inches close to providing an equaliser inside ten minutes for Stuttgart, but it went narrowly wide of the target.
Lowly Gloucester secured their first league win of the season, with an impressive 26-15 Prem win over a misfiring Harlequins at Kingsholm. Following a scrappy start riddled with handling errors, the away team took the lead through Cadan Murley before Gloucester responded through Ben Redshaw's tremendous solo effort. Alex Dombrandt restored Quins' lead from close range, before a moment of madness from Rodrigo Isgro gifted Lewis Ludlow a try on his 250th appearance for the Cherry and Whites. Redshaw then claimed a deserved second after the break before Ollie Thorley put a gloss on the victory as Quins buckled in the closing stages.
As the first half of the season draws to a close, the Zephyr looked to snap a three-game skid without its star forward Ally Cook - who leads the team in goals scored (four) - in a road match against Brooklyn FC at Maimonides Park Saturday - a team that lost 11 straight games, but has clinched all three of its wins at home.
Wales produced a scintillating performance on home soil as they ran out 7-1 winners over North Macedonia in Cardiff on Tuesday. Harry Wilson scored a hat-trick, including two penalties, while David Brooks, Brennan Johnson, Dan James and Nathan Broadhead also found the net as Craig Bellamy's side clinched second spot in Group J. Bellamy's men had already secured their place in the World Cup qualifying play-offs prior to kick-off, but the Dragons were well and truly roaring on a memorable evening in the Welsh capital.
Les Bleus fell behind to an early Renat Dadashov strike but Jean-Philippe Mateta and Maghnes Akliouche were on target before an own goal made it a comfortable victory. The French, runners-up in 2022, had already booked their spot at next year's finals by beating Ukraine 4-0 on Thursday. Kylian Mbappé, who scored twice that night to take his career tally to 400 goals, was missing from the squad due to an ankle problem, so Crystal Palace striker Mateta got a chance from the start.
Nick Woltemade scored twice as Germany overcame an unconvincing performance against Luxembourg to close in on automatic qualification for the 2026 World Cup. Newcastle striker Woltemade prodded in Leroy Sane's cross in the 49th minute and finished from Ridle Baku's pass as part of a counter-attack 20 minutes later, ensuring Die Mannschaft will advance to the finals if they avoid defeat at home to Slovakia on Monday.
Chelsea breezed past Austrian outfit St Polten to seal their second Women's Champions League victory of the campaign. Two goals from Catarina Macario, a finish from Wieke Kaptein, a double for Sam Kerr on her return to the starting lineup and an unfortunate Lisa Ebert own goal moved them up to second at the halfway stage of the league phase.
"We really needed that moment of brilliance from Lucho", a relieved Kompany said (as captured by Twitter account @iMiaSanMia). "Of course he could've scored another goal afterwards, but the quality we have in this team is what we need to achieve our goals during the season. 3 goals he's scored this week, that was good for him."
I thought for 20, 30 minutes I would be disappointed if I go home with a point, annd at the end I was pleased we got a point. We missed a good chance to make it 2-0, then we sat back and that gave Sunderland a bit of confidence. We didn't manage the last 15 minutes of the first half very well and we didn't manage the second half well. We did all the things we hoped we would, it was a case of would we score.