New Zealand fly-half Carlos Spencer suffered a disappointing day as Newport-Gwent put his Northampton side to the sword with a 26-7 win in the Anglo-Welsh Cup.
Spencer was sin-binned and out-played by his opposite number Ceri Sweeney as the Welsh side's triumph ensured Saints cannot make the semi-finals.
The Dragons took advantage of Spencer's absence and tries from Gareth Wyatt and Richard Fussell, combined with 13 points from Sweeney, ensured Northampton were condemned to defeat despite Mark Robinson's try.
Gloucester's John Goodridge scored two of his side's eight tries as they routed west country rivals Bristol 63-25.
Mark Foster got the first try for Gloucester in the 28th minute and that sparked an avalanche of scores for the home side, with Peter Richards, Ryan Lamb, James Bailey, James Forrester and Rory Lawson all crossing the line.
Ludovic Mercier added seven conversions to help Gloucester make up for last weekend's defeat against Ospreys.
Mariano Sambucetti and Andy Reay scored tries for Bristol who suffered their heaviest defeat at Kingsholm.
Leicester booked a place in the semi-finals after cruising to a 35-20 win at Worcester.
Pat Howard's team were too strong for their hosts and chalked up five tries, with Daryl Gibson getting two and John Murphy, Sam Vesty and James Buckland also scoring.
Gavin Quinnell and Ben Gotting grabbed tries for Worcester but they never threatened to cause an upset.
Howard singled out Olly Smith for praise and said: "Olly is coming back to form, he's got genuine pace and the way he handled the first try was very good."
Ospreys had to withstand a late revival from Bath before closing out a 31-24 win.
Tries from Jonny Vaughton and James Hook gave Ospreys a 18-9 lead at the interval before Stefan Terblanche added another for the Welsh side.
But Tom Cheeseman scored two tries in two minutes to bring Bath back into the match and it took drop goals from Terblanche and Hook to seal the win.
Harlequins are still without a win this season after suffering a narrow 27-28 defeat at home to Sale.
Dean Richards' side could have drawn level in injury time after Tom Williams scored a try, but Adrian Jarvis missed the conversion to hand Sale the victory. Harlequins duo Craig McMullen and David Strettle traded tries with Sale's Sean Cox and Oriol Ripol as the visitors edged in front at half-time.
Ugo Monye put Quins back in front but Daniel Larrachea kicked 13 points and Sililo Martens scored a try to give Sale a decisive advantage.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was