The Japan Times - Bath and Edinburgh close in on Champions Cup last 16

The English champions scored six tries in this third round of pool games to go top of Pool 2. They have 11 points, one more than Edinburgh who staged a superb second half recovery to edge Gloucester 26-24.

French side Toulon, who won the three successive titles from 2013 to 2015, meet four-time champions Munster on Sunday in the other Pool 2 match of the round.

Castres made the early running at the Stade Pierre Fabre with hooker Teddy Durand going over after just four minutes.

Bath hit back through Cam Redpath before Nathanael Hulleu restored the French side's lead.

But two tries in the space of three minutes from Ted Hill and Tom Dunn ensured Bath would go in with a 21-17 lead at the break.

The English side dominated the second half, adding a fourth try and claiming their bonus points when prop Beno Obano muscled over six minutes after the restart.

Wing Will Muir and replacement scrum-half Tom Carr-Smith added further tries to seal Bath's victory.

"This is a big competition and every point is crucial so to get a bonus point here, that extra point is huge," Bath No. 8 Alfie Barbeary told Premier Sports after the match. "If you look at the group there is some fierce competition there."

On an icy night at the Hive Stadium in Edinburgh, the home side were all over the place in the first half as tries from wing Josh Hathaway and fly-half Charlie Atkinson took Gloucester into an 18-5 halftime lead.

Edinburgh roared back in the second half with tries from Ewan Ashman and Liam McConnell adding to the first half effort from Ben Vellacott. They went ahead after 67 minutes when Gloucester gave away a penalty try that secured Edinburgh's bonus point.

With time running out Gloucester chose to kick a late penalty to ensure that they too went away with a bonus point and a chance of qualifying for the last 16.

H.Takahashi--JT