Exeter facing a tall order with tough trip to France

Exeter can probably count themselves as the minnows in a strong draw for the quarter-finals of Europe's second-tier tournament, which they reached by beating Perpignan 31-14 at Sandy Park on Saturday. The Chiefs are the lowest-seeded pool winners, having come out on top of Pool Four, so their reward is a quarter-final trip to Paris to face the highest-seeded team, Stade Français. Stade beat Worcester 33-10 at home on Saturday, to win Pool One.

The other pool winners in the Amlin will face the three unlucky runners-up from the Heineken Cup. That means that Jonny Wilkinson's Toulon, who beat Petrarca 50-6 on Saturday to take Pool Two, will be at home to Harlequins; Wasps, 36-13 winners at home to Bordeaux-Bègles yesterday and thus the best in Pool Three, will host Biarritz; and Brive, who accounted for Sale on Thursday to win Pool Five, will be at home to the Scarlets.

On Saturday, Newcastle were knocked out after they lost 21-13 at Lyons and the Newport Gwent Dragons, who were already eliminated, beat Cavalieri Prato 45-16 at Rodney Parade. The other games brought wins for Bucuresti and Bayonne, the latter by 92-6 against Rovigo.

Amlin Cup draw

Quarter-finals: Stade Français v Exeter Chiefs;

Toulon v Harlequins;

Wasps v Biarritz;

Brive v Scarlets;

(Ties to be played 6/7/8 April)

Semi-finals: Toulon or Harlequins v Stade Français or Exeter;

Wasps or Biarritz v Brive or Scarlets;

(Ties to be played 27/28/29 April)