AMLIN CHALLENGE CUP ROUND UP

There were three Amlin Challenge Cup matches on Thursday evening and three wins for the home sides, Bourgoin, Saracens and London Wasps.

It ain’t over until its over and Pool 3 in the Amlin Challenge Cup will go right down to the wire next week with both Saracens and Toulon capable of taking the top spot. Saracens avenged their defeat in France in round 2 with an emphatic victory at Vicarage Road and scored on try into t bargain. But Justin Melck’s 53rd minute touchdown could prove crucial in the final analysis as it tied the two teams on three tries over their two fixtures That means the English Premiership side will co out on top if t two sides tie at the top of the Pool with the same number of points because they have a better points aggregate over their two meetings. The challenge to Saracens is to go to Rovigo next week and pick up a full house of five points to keep the pressure on Toulon. If thy can do that then Toulon will have to beat Castres Olympique at home with a try bonus themselves. At stake for both teams is a probable home draw in the quarter-finals, with the Amlin winners booking a ticket into next season’s Heineken Cup. The first-half was a cat and mouse affair wit the boots of outside half rivals Derrick Hougaard and Jonny Wilkinson keeping the scoreboard ticking over. It was the England No 10, being watched ahead of the RBS 6 Nations by team manager Martin Johnson and kicking coach Jon Callard in his first club game back in England since moving to France, who got the ball rolling with a second minute drop goal off his right foot. After that he landed two out of three long range penalties with his trusty left. That early drop shot was quickly matched by home scrum half Justin Marshall and then Hougaard went to work. He hit the mark with four penalties as the French side began to fall foul of Scottish referee Neil Paterson. That gave Saracens a 15-9 interval advantage which soon grew to 21-9 lead within four minutes of the re-start as Toulon hit the self-destruct button. As if giving Hougaard two more shots at goal wasn’t bad enough, the visitors lost back row men Cedric Beal and Olivier Missoup to the sin-bin for silly offences within a minute of each other. With a 12 point lead, and a two man advantage, Steve Borthwick urged his team to throw caution to the wind and while Toulon were down to 13 men the home pack drove flanker Melck over for a try at the posts after a close range line-out. Hougaard added the conversion, to take his match tally to 20 points, and the final 27 minutes was spent trying to get a few more tries. They didn’t come, but there is still all to play for Borthwick and co next week. London Wasps are on the verge of automatic qualification for the quarter-finals of the Amlin Challenge Cup with a convincing 50-16 bonus-point Pool Four victory over Rugby Roma. Wasps head coach Tony Hanks watched on as his men put one foot in the last eight after cruising home in a eight-try romp at Adams Park. The crushing result means that the Guinness Premiership only require one point in their clash with Racing Metro next Thursday, providing the French side pick up maximum points this weekend. England discard Danny Cipriani bounced back from his Six Nations omission with five conversions in a ten point-tally. But Wasps breezed to victory after wings Paul Sackey and Tom Varndell cashed in with comfortable scores while Bob Baker, Dan Leo and George Skivington also crossed as the hosts grabbed maximum points inside 28 minutes. Varndell, who scored a double as well as lock Leo, opened the scoring in the eighth minute before Roma hit back instantly through centre Juan Gauthier’s try. But Wasps regained the initiative when prop Baker and flanker Skivington added further tries before Sackey pounced for the bonus-point before the interval. Varndell and Leo added personal doubles after the break before replacement Dominic Waldouck rounded off the scoring in the dying minutes. Bourgoin kept up the pressure on Leeds Carnegie in Pool One following a thumping 33-15 bonus-point home win over Bucuresti Oaks. Hooker Jean-Philippe Genevois was the hero for the French outfit with a brace of touchdowns after seven and 54 minutes respectively.