Rugby digest

Today's other stories in brief

Saracens announce first sell-out

Saracens have become the third team to announce their Heineken European Cup quarter-final this weekend is a sell-out - the first time the English club have reported a capacity crowd for any match. The last of the 18,214 tickets for their Vicarage Road tie with the Ospreys on Sunday was snapped up yesterday as they joined Toulouse and Gloucester in selling out well ahead of match day.

The tie between Toulouse and Cardiff Blues at Le Stadium will have a capacity 35,009 crowd and all 16,500 Kingsholm tickets have long since gone for Gloucester's home clash with Munster.

London Irish, who play Perpignan at the Madejski Stadium in the first of the quarter-finals on Saturday afternoon, have sold 14,000 tickets and anticipate a considerable walk-up on the day.

Saracens are appearing in the knock-out stages for the first time and the sell-out smashes their previous tournament home crowd record by around 7,000 fans.

"This is the first official sell-out in the history of the club and that's a fantastic achievement for the whole organisation," said Saracens' chief executive, Mark Sinderberry.

Rabeni banned for 14 weeks

Leicester's Fijian back Seru Rabeni will miss the remainder of the English season after being banned for 14 weeks for eye gouging. Rabeni was found guilty late on Monday of "making illegal contact with the eyes" of the Saracens hooker Andy Kyriacou during last weekend's English Premiership match.

The Rugby Football Union said his ban would run until July 7th.

The powerful centre will be sorely missed by Leicester, who face the Ospreys in the Anglo-Welsh Cup final on April 12th and are still very much in the hunt for the Premiership title. It also rules him out of Fiji's planned Test against Tonga on July 5th.

Wasps backrower Lawrence Dallaglio was also handed a back-dated one-week ban for punching Leicester prop Julian White during the teams' Anglo-Welsh Cup semi-final on March 22nd. But since the former England captain had already served a one-match ban issued by his club he is free to play.

Cagney seals narrow victory for Ireland as Italy show resolve

Ireland eventually found what they were looking for with a 17-15 win over Italy on the last day of the Under-18 Six Nations Festival at Cork Institute of Technology yesterday. It wasn't the romp they would have wanted as Pres Cork prop Brian Cagney stole over deep into the final quarter for the game-breaking try.

Initially, the visitors' offloading game was hard for the Irish to handle. Still, it was the Irish who forced the breakthrough when David O'Callaghan took a lineout and centre Luke Marshall scythed through for the opening try.

On the resumption, Italy hooker Andrea Manici quickly took a direct route to the line before Ireland wing Craig O'Hanlon finished a move around the outside of the cover from another take from O'Callaghan at a lineout. Outhalf James McKinney's converted for 12-5 in the 46th minute.

Then, centre Tommaso Benvenuti's brilliance shone through in a break that split the defence for a try beneath the posts, converted by Benvenuti, who knocked over a penalty on the hour for a three-point lead. It was tetchy stuff as the Irish forwards mauled the ball slowly forward for Cagney to use his bulk to make the line.

IRELAND UNDER-18: G Nugent (PBC Cork); D McCarthy (Castletroy), M Allen (Methodist), L Marshall (Ballymena Academy), C O'Hanlon (St Munchin's); J McKinney (Campbell), J Bloomfield (Coleraine AI); B Cagney (PBC Cork), R Byrne (Terenure), M Moore (Castleknock), B Hayes (CBC Cork), D O'Callaghan (Middleton, capt), D Ryan (Gonzaga), P Pritchard (Ballymena Academy), R Bent (St Mary). Replacements: J O'Connell (Clongowes Wood for Moore 46 mins; B Marshall (St Andrew's) for Hayes 52 mins; B O'Hara (PBC Cork) for Ryan 55 mins; N Annett (Methodist) for Byrne 57 mins; J Cooney (Gonzaga) for Bloomfield 65 mins; D Buckley (Blackrock) for Cagney 70 mins; P Butler (Rockwell) for Pritchard 72 mins.

ITALY UNDER-18: E Michelini; F Lenzi, C Ricciardi, T Benvenuti, G Venditti; A Chillon, E Gori; A Denti, A Manici, N Corbanese, F Cazzola, P Stinchello, F Ferrarini, G Cicchinelli, L Santelli (capt). Replacements: E Carugi for Corbanese, E Lioneri for Denti both half-time, N Belardo for Cicchinelli 47 mins; N Corbanese for Carugi 50 mins.

Referee: C Brett (Scotland).

Munster and Gloucester battle for Coventry date

The winners of the Heineken European Cup quarter-finals featuring London Irish and Perpignan and Saracens and Ospreys will play their semi-finals on home soil, European Rugby Cup (ERC) said yesterday. Should London Irish win they would face Toulouse or Cardiff Blues at Twickenham while a Perpignan victory would mean a semi-final at the Stade de la Mosson in Montpellier.

Ospreys will be rewarded with a semi-final at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium if they win while victory for Saracens would mean they face Munster or Gloucester at Coventry City Football Club's Ricoh Arena.

"We are delighted to have four world-class stadia on stand-by in France, England and Wales to host the various semi-final options," ERC chairman Jean-Pierre Lux said.

"This means fans will know exactly where they are going once their team has won through to the last four."

Montpellier's Stade de la Mosson has never hosted a European Cup match while Twickenham and the Millennium Stadium have staged finals but not semi-finals.

The semi-finals are on April 26th and 27th and the options are: London Irish v Toulouse or Cardiff - Twickenham Stadium, London, capacity: 80,000.

Perpignan v Toulouse or Cardiff - Stade de la Mosson, Montpellier: 32,000.

Saracens v Munster or Gloucester - Ricoh Arena, Coventry: 32,000.

Ospreys v Munster or Gloucester - Millennium Stadium, Cardiff: 74,600.

FRIDAY

Challenge Cup quarter-final: Sale v Brive, Edgeley Park (7.30).

SATURDAY

Heineken Cup quarter-finals: London Irish v Perpignan, Madejski stadium (3.0); Gloucester v Munster, Kingsholm (5.30).

Challenge Cup quarter-finals: Bath v Leeds, Recreation Ground (2.15); Worcester v Montpellier, Sixways (3.0); Newcastle v Castres, Kingston Park (8.0).

AIB Cup semi-final: Galwegians v Shannon, Crowley Park (2.30).

SUNDAY

Heineken Cup quarter-finals: Saracens v Ospreys, Vicarage Road (12:30); Toulouse v Cardiff Blues, Stade Municipal (3.0, Irish time).