Bohemians up to third

A useful outing for UL Bohemians against City of Derry moves the Limerick team to third in the table as the top three sides in Division Two were without games this weekend.

Carlow, Old Belvedere and UCD did not play, allowing Bohemians' 30-13 rout of Derry to move them into third place at the expense of the students. Carlow and Belvedere, however, still top the table.

Bohemians were 14-10 up by the interval in Thomond Park. The first half was tight enough, with Robert Desmond grabbing a try and landing two penalties, while Ian Costello added a drop goal.

But it was the second period when the home side began to put points on the board, with Anthony Hartigan adding a try to three penalties and a conversion from Costello for a convincing Bohemians finish.

At Lansdowne Road, Wanderers missed three penalties and two conversions to allow Sunday's Well leave Dublin with a 13-10 win. The Cork side went 13-0 ahead through two penalties from Conor Burke and a try from Flanker Declan Coppinger. Wanderers responded with two tries from Peter Devcich and Kieran Finane.

Portadown continued the misery of struggling Old Wesley with a 21-8 win at Donnybrook. Winger Graeme McCluskey and back row Bruce Logan each scored tries for the Ulster winners and Barry Gribben kicked 11 points.

In Towns Park, a Cork derby ended with Midleton again becoming unstuck as the students from UCC left with the points. Conrad O'Sullivan and Colin Healy each grabbed tries with Conor Quaid kicking a brace of penalties in the 16-3 win.

Newcastle director of rugby Rob Andrew admitted the early dismissal of forward Philippe Alaqui helped his side to a comfortable victory over Mont de Marsan in yesterday's European Shield quarter-final. Alaqui was sent off 18 minutes into the match for punching Falcons scrumhalf Gary Armstrong. The French side were already trailing 8-0 and went on to concede another seven tries in a 61-23 defeat.