BOURGOIN, France, Oct 4 (Reuter) - French side Bourgoin revived their hopes of reaching the European Cup quarter-finals when they beat Ireland's Munster 21-6 on Saturday.
Bourgoin, who won the European Conference trophy last season, badly needed a victory after three succesive defeats, including two against group leaders Harlequins. They were beaten 17-15 in Munster two weeks ago.
Bourgoin's New Zealand fly-half Nigel Geany opened the scoring with a penalty in the fourth minute.
But Munster took advantage of Bourgoin's numerous defensive mistakes and centre Ellison converted two penalties to put his side 6-3 ahead after 18 minutes.
Bourgoin flanker Alexandre Mazalet scored a try 10 minutes before the interval to put the French team in front again.
The second half was all Bourgoin, number eight Pierre Raschi and centre Laurent Leflamand scoring a try apiece to put the issue beyond doubt.
Bourgoin could have won by a bigger margin but jittery Ellison missed three penalties in less than 10 minutes.
Munster conceded their fourth defeat in five games and are out of contention for the quarter-finals.
``The most important thing was to win and that's what we did today,'' Bourgoin's international centre Stephane Glas said.
``At least we have restored hope after facing lots of troubles in the competition,'' Bourgoin coach Michel Couturas said. ``Now we must look foward to winning at Cardiff next week and taking part in the play-offs.''
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