Edinburgh close in as Logan's stint at Wasps comes to a close

The Scotland wing Kenny Logan is to leave Wasps when his contract runs out at the end of the season after seven years with the Premiership club.

Warren Gatland, the Wasps director of rugby, said yesterday: "It's sad, but all players have to move on. He wants to do other things."

Logan, who will be 32 tomorrow, joined Saracens from Stirling County in March 1997. Edinburgh hope to sign him.

The Heineken Cup is to revert to its original structure next year with the pool games being played in blocks of two in October, December and January, and, with all the countries having a minimum of one team in the lesser European competition, the Parker Pen Challenge Cup, it has thrown up an anomaly.

There are presently 23 places accounted for in the 24-team Heineken Cup - next year England and France will each have six, Wales four, Ireland three, Scotland and Italy two each. The 24th team will come from France or England.

But the requirement of representation in the lesser tournament means that if Connacht, the fourth Irish province, were to win the Challenge Cup this year they would gain an automatic place in the 2005 Heineken Cup.

That would mean one of the three remaining provinces having to play in the lesser competition next year. As things stand Ulster, the likely winners of the Celtic League, would drop down because the Irish will base their selection criterion on form in this year's European Cup. The anomaly would see the likes of Edinburgh and Glasgow, who are just above bottom-of-the-table Borders in the Celtic League, still qualify for the Blue Riband event.

The Scotland centre Tom Philip, who was cited for a dangerous tackle in the Six Nations match against Ireland last weekend, escaped without a suspension because the disciplinary panel felt it was made recklessly, rather than with intent.

John Leslie is to leave Northampton at the end of the season. Morgan Williams has signed a contract that will keep him at Saracens for another couple of years, while Diego Albanese has committed himself to Leeds for a further 12 months.