Quinnell floored

SCOTLAND were handed a massive lift ahead of Saturday’s Six Nations clash in Cardiff when Wales captain Scott Quinnell was ruled out with a long-standing knee injury.

The Llanelli No8 missed his club’s 46-24 Principality Cup win over Bridgend at the weekend and is likely to be out until the Heineken Cup semi-final with Leicester on 28 April.

Quinnell, one of the main Welsh dangermen, has aggravated the injury picked up at the end of the Lions tour to Australia last summer.

There was more concern for caretaker Wales coach Steve Hansen when Bridgend flanker Nathan Budgett failed to appear for the second half of the cup match.

Zurich Premiership champions Leicester slumped to a shock 36-24 defeat at Wasps yesterday, their first defeat since November. The Tigers scored the only tries through wings Freddie Tuilagi and Steve Booth, but Wasps stand-off Alex King landed seven penalties, Kenny Logan three more and King added another two drop goals to seal a well-deserved win.

Leicester still hold a 16-point advantage over nearest rivals Gloucester, but director of rugby Dean Richards insisted: "We weren’t up for it as much as Wasps. You can talk about ill discipline in terms of the number of penalties they kicked, but the reason we lost was that some of our players have been operating in a comfort zone.

"There has been a lot of talk about the league having been won, but there is still plenty of work to do. We will have to step up a gear if we are to achieve anything."

The match signalled an inspired return for Wasps’ former England captain Lawrence Dallaglio, his first full appearance since undergoing major knee surgery last summer.

Scotland lock Stuart Grimes scored a try as Newcastle ended their barren run with an emphatic 30-10 win over Sale at Kingston Park. England stand-off Jonny Wilkinson scored 20 points, including a dazzling solo try. Scotland scrum-half Bryan Redpath claimed one of Sale’s two touchdowns.

Leeds Tykes’ director of rugby Phil Davies tipped his side to beat relegation after the narrow 29-24 defeat to London Irish at Headingley.

The home side led 17-6 after first-half tries from Scott Benton and Dan Scarbrough but Irish hit back with decisive scores from Paul Sackey, Barry Everitt and Mike Worsley. Scarbrough’s second set up a rousing finish but The Tykes could not force their way over for a fourth time to improve their bonus points to a maximum haul.

But Davies said: "We didn’t get the win but we are better off than we were this morning because we got an important bonus point. But you can’t fault the effort, which was tremendous. We’ve now got five games left and all is to play for. We’re still in there fighting and this is going to go right to the end of the season."

Leeds’ main relegation rivals Harlequins remain at the bottom of the table after losing 43-27 to six-try Bristol.