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Premiership: Final day reaction

Saturday 10th May 2008

One more time: Corry to face retiring Dallaglio

Under-fire Leicester chief Marcelo Loffreda admitted Tom Varndell's late try had probably saved his job.

The Tigers secured their place in the play-offs with an incredible 31-28 bonus-point victory over Harlequins.

Sale's defeat at home to London Irish sees the Tigers clinch fourth spot and a semi-final clash with table-toppers Gloucester.

The Welford Road outfit had looked likely to spend the post-season watching from the sidelines and the one-time powerhouses of English rugby were even sweating on a place in next season's Heineken Cup.

"My job would have been in question if we hadn't made Europe," said Loffreda.

"It has been a very difficult week with all that has been going on with the rumours and press talk.

"(Chief executive) Peter Wheeler's public support has been very important to me and I told him how much I appreciate it.

"While there was hope, you have to keep hoping and we had to be patient. That's what we told the players at half-time.

"Anything can happen in this league because it is always so tight. Nobody would have bet £1 on us today but we are in the play-offs.

"All week everyone has been doubting what I can do and what I am expected to do. I have been in other situations with a lot of pressure but it was different pressure with the Pumas.

"Because of our attacking aims we sometimes made mistakes and were punished for it. We lost some control in the first half but we got it back in the second half."

Varndell's last-gasp winner capped off a frenetic and entertaining game in which the lead changed hands on numerous occasions.

And Loffreda was quick to praise his two-try hero.

"Tom Varndell was very good and he has been improving over the last few weeks, not only with the ball but without it too," he added.

Quins director of rugby and former Leicester chief Dean Richards was left fuming as his side saw their play-off hopes go up in smoke at Welford Road.

Quins finish the season in sixth and will have to hope that Bath beat Worcester in the European Shield final to clinch the last place in the Heineken Cup.

Richards said: "We would love to play Heineken Cup rugby next season but now we will have to wait for a couple of weeks and see what happens. It was probably a season too early for us.

"You always try to improve year on year. We have finished sixth this year, who knows where we will finish next year.

"We should have won the game. We got nothing from the referee who was not on top form. He was not consistent but he is a top-class referee.

"Leicester have plenty of stars in multiple positions but they were not as well organised as us. We played some good stuff and had a lot of young lads in there."

Meanwhile, Bath are sweating on the fitness of England front-row forwards Lee Mears and Matt Stevens for their Guinness Premiership play-off clash against Wasps.

Bath's 8-6 defeat at leaders Gloucester means they will head to Adams Park while their conquerors face a Kingsholm appointment with reigning champions Leicester next Sunday.

Both hooker Mears (shoulder) and prop Stevens (knee) failed to last beyond the hour and Gloucester also suffered a major injury concern in front of watching England manager Martin Johnson when Mike Tindall limped off nursing an ankle problem.

James Simpson-Daniel's first-half try made the difference as Gloucester clinched top spot after 22 games heading into the play-offs.

And while they will be favourites to beat Leicester, Bath face an altogether tougher task in pursuit of a possible first league title since 1996.

Bath Head Coach Steve Meehan said: "We are disappointed with the result, we didn't execute things as we should have done.

"We will have to play the breakdown area a lot better against Wasps. We will need to throw everything at them.

"There is an eight-day turnaround so the players have a chance to recharge and get this out of their system.

"Clearly, it would be a tremendous result to go to Wasps and win, it is a tremendous challenge."

Despite Tindall's early departure, Gloucester kept their shape and discipline to book a home semi-final.

Simpson-Daniel's 34th-minute try shaded an intense encounter, preserving Gloucester's place at the Premiership summit and consigning Bath to third spot.

Gloucester-bound Olly Barkley booted two penalties for the visitors but a scoreless second period reflected how two committed sides cancelled each other out.

Gloucester head coach Dean Ryan paid tribute to the contributions of Simpson-Daniel and workaholic Fijian flanker Akapusi Qera.

But he is taking nothing for granted against a Leicester side who grabbed the last play-off spot through a dramatic victory over Harlequins.

Ryan said: "There is no special recipe for success.

"We have got to work hard during the week. Wasps play a certain way and Bath have a pretty unique style.

"We will need to look at how Leicester have played the last few games, looking at their strengths and weaknesses."

Elswhere, a gutted Sale Director of Rugby Philippe Saint-Andre admitted his side simply failed to turn up after they lost at 17-7 at home to London Irish to surrender a Guinness Premiership play-off berth.

The Sharks began the day in fourth place and knew that victory would assure them of staying there and possibly finish as high as second, depending on other results.

But a horror show from Saint-Andre's men - who were crowned Premiership champions two years ago - allowed Leicester to leapfrog them into fourth spot and left Sale outside of the play-offs in fifth.

The Sharks were 12-0 down at the break after a half in which they were outwitted, outfought and above all outpaced by the impressive Exiles.

They never recovered to suffer a home defeat which left Saint-Andre frustrated afterfwards.

"Today we didn't turn up," the Frenchman said.

"It was an opportunity to get to a play-off semi-final but we don't deserve it after that.

"In the first half we had seven or eight opportunities in their 22, but we lost the ball straight away.

"We knew they had match-winners but when you create seven or eight opportunities of your own and don't take them then you don't deserve to be in the semi-final."

Sale finished tenth last season after an injury-ravaged campaign, so fifth represents a noteable improvement, according to Sale's boss.

"At least we finished fifth and are in the Heineken Cup," Saint-Andre said.

"That is a bonus but to finish the season like this is clearly very disappointing for us."

First-half tries from wing Topsy Ojo and centre Seilala Mapusua were the least the visitors deserved against a Sale outfit woefully bereft of ideas and inspiration.

Mapusua claimed his second in the closing stages to cap an exhilirating display of counter-attacking rugby from the visitors and although replacement Chris Bell replied late on for Sale, the hosts hosts had long since surrendered the points.

Irish even had two men - replacement Richard Thorpe and captain Bob Casey - sinbinned in the final quarter but still Sale struggled to penetrate their defence.

The Sharks were a pale shadow of the side which marched to victory against Harlequins last weekend and the majority of a bumper 10,252 crowd were left bitterly disappointed at the final whistle.

Saint-Andre added: "I don't know why we didn't perform. Sometimes we seem think we are better than we actually are."

Sale actually began the brighter of the sides but with Eoghan Hickey and Paul Hodgson dovetailing effectively at half-back, and Shane Geraghty providing additional guile and craft from inside centre, Irish cut their opponents to pieces at times, especially during the first half.

Exiles Director of Rugby Brian Smith - whose side finished a creditable seventh said:

"To come here and win with thirteen men on the pitch at one stage was so courageous.

"It's a shame that we're not going to be in the Heineken Cup but we're going to give the European Challenge Cup one hell of a bloody go."

"We're a young side which is probably evolving and getting towards its prime. Half of it is a mental belief and that was probably our best performance of the year," coach Toby Booth added.