Leslie's double sees Saints safely home

Sale missed a chance to reclaim second place in the Zurich Premiership when they lost 27-17 to Northampton at Franklin's Gardens yesterday. Scottish centre John Leslie crossed twice and the England wing Ben Cohen also went over as Saints eased above Leeds into fifth spot in the table.Andy Titterrell and Graeme Bond touched down for Sale.

Rotherham finished their second successive season as National League One champions on an anticlimactic note with a 26-25 home defeat by Coventry. The runners-up, Worcester, 76-24 winners away to bottom club Rugby, with Duncan Roke grabbing four tries, finished two points adrift of the Yorkshire club.

Bridgend scored seven tries, all of them converted by fly-half Craig Wardlow, and 35 second-half points without reply as they replaced Neath at the top of the Welsh Premiership by thrashing Swansea 49-21 at Brewery Field. They have a 100 per cent record after nine matches.

Caerphilly will face Castres in the Parker Pen Shield final next month despite losing the second leg of their semi-final 26-33 at home to Italian side Petrarca. But the Welsh club prevailed 54-43 on aggregate, having won the first leg 28-10 in Padua.

Ander Monro kicked five penalties as Heriot's Former Pupils lifted the BT Cup in Scotland for the first time with a 25-13 victory over Watson-ians. Hugh Gilmour and Craig Harrison ran in Heriot's tries, while James Easton touched down for Watsonians.

Scotland's assistant coach, Hugh Campbell, is to take over the reins at Glasgow Warriors from New Zealander Kiwi Searancke, and will be assisted by Boroughmuir's Sean Lineen and Glasgow Hawks' Shade Munro.

Blues consolidated their position at the helm of the Super 12 with a 25-16 success over Sharks in Auckland, while Bulls and Stormers gained rare South African victories against Kiwi opposition with one-point wins over defending champions Crusaders and Chiefs respectively. In Brisbane, the Queensland Reds mangled the Cats 41-13.

Meanwhile, Reds' 29-year-old Australian international centre Daniel Herbert has revealed that he will join French club Perpignan after the Rugby World Cup in his native land this autumn.

Perpignan, who have Australian fly-half Manny Edmonds on their books, face Leinster in Dublin today for the right to take on Toulouse in the Heineken Cup final.