Beating the Dragons 21-10 in their second EDF Energy Cup, Wasps still had some work to do in order to take the win against Newport Gwent Dragons on Sunday which could have gone either way.

Newcastele had to beat leaders Glaucester for Wasps to go through to the semi finals and finally did after an 11-10 victory.

Only 2 minutes into the game a penalty on the touchline was offered to Walder though with Connor levelling in the twelth minute, saw Walder take another 3 points from a penalty.

The majority of the running attacks came from Wasps by Staunton and Voyce though the Dragons did make some convincing attacks just to turn the ball back to Wasps.

Pressure cam from the Dragons when havong to hold their own line at times though accurate throwing from the captain managed to clear the lines.

In ten scrums Wasps put in every time through the Dragons managed to stay back on their own wall.

In the last 6 minutes of the match, some life was back in the game with Wasps conceding a scrum though Reddan flew threw a gap to turn pressure back on the opposition.

Toward the end of the match, Lewsey managed to secure a second try for his side to open the gap.

The scorers:

For Wasps:
Tries: Varley, Lewsey
Con: Walder
Pens: Walder 3

For Dragons:
Try: Smith
Con: Connor
Pen: Connor

The UK tour for the Springboks that will begin next week sees the South African Coach, Peter de Villiers afraid that Wales will be the most challenging side for the visitors.

With Martin Johnson appointed the new coach for England, de Villiers is still relatively wary of the English though not as much as the dragon particularly with it being the first opponent of the thjree sides.

Many of the players will be playing with the Lions next year and it will be interesting to have an early look at the team particularly with such an outstanding coach as Warren Gatland.

In 22 matches, Wales have only beaten the Springboks once however realise that they cannot rely on the history books particularly after the last 6 nations.

Finally, the top teams standards are within a similar margin and competition will be even more fierce.

Martin Johnson has been praised by his World Cup winning team mate Neil Back choosing Second Row Steve Borthwick for the England Captaincy.

Whilst coaching the demoted first devision side Leeds, is celebrating his role in the highly sought after, prestigious position for the national side.

Borthwick however, has been keeping an eye on his England team mates, particularly at Leicester keeping a close eye especially with Martin Johnson indentifying the key leaders in the squad.

It will be interesting to see who will be picked for the starting fifteen particularly when England play the ferocious Pacific Islanders next month.

A 33-19 victory for the Saracens on Sunday sees them through to the next round of the EDF Energy Cup.

23 of the points came from Gordon Ross from six penalties, a drop goal and a conversion whilst Myler, his opposite number scored 3 penalties.

Tries were scored on both sides with Rauluni and England left wing Cato scoring for the Saracens and Foden and Wilson for the Saints.

In the 20th minute, Cato was sin binned where Myler scored two penalties for Northampton and after the second, took out Matt Lord to receive the yellow card.

The lead was increased to 15-6 when the ball was snatched by Rauluni running between the posts leaving an easy conversion for Ross.
But they were denied a losing bonus point when Ross kicked two more penalties in the 61st and 68th minutes.

Dylan Hartley, England’s favourite Hooler was released from the bench  to salvage the game alongside Spencer and Gray though narrowly escaped a high tackle on Rauluni.

The final stages were near and the Saracens held back the oppositions attacks thoguh with one more penalty, the game was over.

The scorers:

For Saracens:
Tries: Cato, Rauluni
Con: Ross
Pens: Ross 6
Drop: Ross

For Northampton Saints:
Tries: Foden, Lewitt
Pens: Myler 3

A victory for Wasps has kept them in the running for the EDF Energy Cup beating Newcastle 26-13 in a nail biting match on Friday.

After scoring 4 tries and receiving a bonus point, Edwards now has more faith after taking a beating from Leinster in recent weeks.

Unfortunately for England though, Noon was stretchered off in the first half ruling him out for the next few matches.

Missing 2 easy kicks early on in the first half, Cipriani had to make amends and did so setting up Voyce for a try in the second half.

Just 2 minutes into the game Clegg was offered a penalty after a messy scrum and only minutes later, a long delay came with Noons injury and having to be replaced by Dillon.

With 8 minutes left, Clegg put Newcastle back in the running with a converted try taking the scores to 19-13 though Simpson charged through with a bonus point try which Cipriani converted just 2 minutes before full time.

The scorers:

For Newcastle:
Tries: Vickers
Con: Clegg
Pen: Clegg 2

For Wasps:
Tries: Sackey, Rees, Voyce, Simpson
Con: Cipriani 3

Worcester Warriors were beaten 37-22 against the Ospreys on Sunday at the Liberty Stadium.

With a determined solo try for Henson, the Wales coach watched closely as the favourites moved closer to the finals. After a 2 match ban for skipping training, he carved through the defence close to the half way mark to prove his importance.

Tries for the Osprey’s also came from Wingers Williams and Walker and centre Bowe.

Hook scored 17 points though, ironically his opposite number, Matthew Jones scored 5 penalties converting Tuitupou’s try.

The next game will be against London Irish and the Ospreys to secure a semi final slot and with much of the Welsh Test squad were in the starting lie up for the Ospreys including both Biggar and Jones, a victory is in the clear.

With Hook scoring a 4th penalty there was no chance the Warriors would be letting go early though with Bowe scoring in the last few seconds, no chance of victory.

The scorers:

For the Ospreys:
Tries: Walker, Henson, S Williams, Bowe
Cons: Hook
Pens: Hook 5

For Worcester Warriors:
Tries: Tuitupou
Cons: M Jones
Pens: M Jones

The Air New Zealand Cup will come to a close on Saturday with Wellington and Caterbury battling out for the prestigious trophy.

Both teams did not meet in the latter stages of the tournament but most agree the two top teams have reached the final.

Auckland, who are the reigning champions left the tournament early thus we will see a new team crowned; though with Wellington who have lost 4 times in the last 5 finals they will want to make this match count in front of their home fans.

Wellington have a strong team with many of the All Black squad within though often in recent history turn out second best to Canterbury and Auckland.

There is much promise with Jane, Gear and Nonu on the back line all expecting to be picked for the New Zealand end of season tour.

The prediction for the final will be Canterbury winning by a small margin of no less than 8 points after some poor early performances for Wellington and though they had outstanding individual performances , unfortunately that will not win the final against such a strong contender.

Munster bounce back beating the Sharks 24-16 at Edgely Park on Sunday in the Heineken Cup.

With a crowd of over ten thousand, the European Champions were unable to deliver in the final quarter. Early on, the visitors conceded a penalty which unfortunately swerved off to the right of the posts.

Only a minute later, another penalty was laid out for the All Black McAllister who proved his substance scoring and making amends for the previous.
Earls and Dowling both realised that running was the only option feeding the ball to Mafi to prove his strength.

Munster, once again on the attack and with Warwick on the attack scored the first try of the game with a converted try from O’Gara.

The locals soon had to defend from a heavy attack though a decent pass from Mafi made room for Wallace to score an unconverted try.

The Sharks were left high and dry with a drop goal from O’gara after the the visitors showed their real strength of mind and lost the game.

The scorers:

For Sale Sharks:
Try: Schofield
Con: McAlister
Pens: McAlister 3

For Munster:
Tries: Warwick, Wallace
Cons: O’Gara
Pens: O’Gara 2
Drops: Warwick, O’Gara

The next Air New Zealand Cup Final will see Wellington vs Canterbury with Canterbury beating Hawke’s Bay 31-21 in the semi finals.

At half time the scores were level on 14-14 until the magpies threw in everything they had in the second half to claim victory. 

A couple of powerful tries for Canterbury in the last quarter finished any chances Hawke’s Bay had left.

Being the hot favourites, Canterbury stepped up the tempo where the visitors could not respond in time to save their title chances.

Unfortunately for the Hawke’s Bay backs, they were unable to produce any of the magical footing that was present in their last meeting and instead had Canterbury run all over them.

Berquist finished the game with a 100 per cent kicking record and now have Canterbury a chance to win their first piece of silverware for 4 years.

For Canterbury:
Tries: Ellis, Slade, Paterson, Read
Cons: Slade 4
Pen: Slade

For Hawke’s Bay:
Tries: Lowe 2, Evans
Cons: Berquist 3

Ryan Lamb, the Fly-Half for Gloucester is backing Glaucester to beat Cardiff at the Millenium Stadium on the weekend.

Lamb, who has played both excellently and abysmally this season is confident that the sixth pool will be a pivotal moment in the competition.

Kicking off the campaign, Gloucester were victorious over Biarritz, however realise they will need another strong display for the game this weekend.

Biarritz seem to have a stronger defece than Cardiff and with Gloucester’s styrength of play, Lamb believes they can break down the Cardiff defence.

The game will prove crucial and will determine the outcome of the group.

Both teams have a high level of players who are confident and creative and mostly Internationals themselves.

With a 30,000 crowd expected at the Millenium Stadium, Gloucester believe their will be a fair share of supporters.