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Sunday, 16 January, 2000, 17:45 GMT
Clubs prepare for final fling
The final Heineken Cup qualifiers were confirmed on Sunday as Montferrand and Cardiff both booked places in the latter stages of rugby union's premier European tournament. In a repeat of last season's French Championship final, Montferrand face Toulouse, while Cardiff booked themselves an all-Welsh clash against Llanelli. Northampton and Wasps find themselves in a similar all-English clash at the Memorial Ground and Munster, despite losing their unbeaten record at Pontypridd, have landed a priceless home draw against Group One winners Stade Francais. Harlequins 26-30 Cardiff Click here for full match report
Montferrand 41-7 Treviso A comfortable win for the home side over their Italian visitors meant Montferrand qualified for the last eight. The French side finished second to Cardiff in their pool but both teams go through.
Grenoble 21-19 Edinburgh The Scots' quarter-final hopes were dashed in the closing stages with a missed conversion. Reivers were hoping to qualify for the last eight by grabbing one of the two best second-place positions. After going 21-14 down with seven minutes to go all had looked lost. But Edinburgh scored a try in the closing seconds, only for Duncan Hodge to miss the kick to tie the game. Stuart Lang scored two tries for Reivers with Cameron Murray also going over. Hodge landed two conversions. Grenoble, who secured second place in the group with the win, were also eliminated with Northampton already assured of qualification as group winners.
Saracens 52-15 Colomiers Saracens ended their poor Heineken Cup run with a hollow victory over French visitors Colomiers. Saracens' all-star team should be enjoying an extended run on the bright lights of the European stage but three previous group match defeats ensured pride was the only prize at Vicarage Road. They blitzed their rivals from the whistle, notching up three tries in 10 minutes, thanks to strong running from Rob Thirlby and quick thinking from Tony Diprose. Biboulet made amends with Colomiers' opening try while fly-half Mickael Carre grabbed the visitors' second to put the Saracens lead under pressure. However the home side increased their advantage on the stroke of half-time when Ryan Constable cruised over and scrum-half Matt Powell helped himself to the hosts' fifth try after the break. Moments later, Johnston crossed for another five points, before Constable's second and Darren O'Mahony's break from 30 yards pushed the hosts through the 50-point barrier.
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Links to other Rugby Union stories are at the foot of the page.
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