Here are the latest rugby headlines on Sunday, April 30.
Wales-qualified prop headed for Cardiff
Wales-qualified tighthead prop Rhys Litterick is set to leave Harlequins to join Cardiff Rugby, according to reports.
The English giants are poised to lose the 24-year-old forward's services to the Welsh club they raided to sign fellow tighthead Dillon Lewis and fly-half Jarrod Evans.
The Rugby Paper reports that former building site landscaper Litterick, who joined Quins from Worthing and has made four appearances in the Premiership Cup, qualifies for Wales through his father. At The Stoop, he has been behind Wilco Louw and Will Collier in the pecking order.
Biggar guides Toulon to European Champions Cup final
Toulon will face Glasgow in the European Challenge Cup final after the French side saw off Benetton 23-0 at the Stade Felix Mayol despite having captain Charles Ollivon sent off early on.
The hosts opened the scoring in the fourth minute, Sergio Parisse producing a beautifully-executed grubber kick and Duncan Paia'aua going over in the corner, with Dan Biggar adding the conversion. Moments later they were reduced to 14 men when Ollivon crashed into Matteo Minozzi and was given his marching orders.
But they kept in control of proceedings and boosted their lead via a 13th-minute Biggar penalty and then Beka Gigashvili powering over four minutes later. Benetton, the first Italian team to make an appearance at this stage of the competition, began to see more possession but were unable to make it count.
Shortly after the break, a pair of Biggar penalties in quick succession put Toulon further ahead, taking his personal contribution to 13 points.
The three-time Champions Cup winners continued to handle anything Benetton threw at them for the remainder of the contest as they secured a place in the Challenge Cup final for a fifth time, and third occasion in four seasons. Toulon, yet to have won the competition, will take on debut finalists Glasgow at Dublin's Aviva Stadium on May 19.
Exeter's European hopes dashed
Defending Heineken Champions Cup holders La Rochelle set up a repeat of last year's final against Leinster with a 47-28 victory over Exeter in Bordeaux.
Exeter were hoping to give a host of stalwart players leaving the club at the end of the season a perfect send-off by reaching the May 20 final in Dublin. But they came up against a quality outfit who crossed for seven tries, with the Chiefs scoring three late touchdowns to make it appear a much more respectable scoreline.
Exeter asked all the questions in the early stages in front of a sell-out 41,000 crowd as they looked to counter La Rochelle's usual fast start, and they were rewarded with an early try. The Chiefs worked a training ground move from a tap penalty and France-bound Sam Simmonds forced his way over, with brother Joe Simmonds adding the extras.
It was just the start Exeter wanted, but La Rochelle delivered an instant riposte. Initial good work by captain Gregory Alldritt led to fly-half Antoine Hastoy chipping the ball over the Chiefs defence for South African winger Raymond Rhule to hack the ball on and dot down in the corner, with Hastoy converting to level it all up at 7-7.
The hosts lost influential flanker Levani Botia to a leg injury at the midway point of the half, but they were celebrating their second try moments later. A period of pressure on the Exeter line saw Alldritt beautifully craft a gap for centre UJ Seuteni to waltz through and score beside the posts, and a simple Hastoy conversion gave La Rochelle a seven-point lead.
Just prior to the half-hour mark, Alldritt had a try ruled out by the Television Match Official for a neck roll, but the Chiefs then suffered a damaging couple of minutes.
First, Scotland international lock Jonny Gray had to be carried off the field with a left ankle injury, and after La Rochelle had kicked a penalty to the corner, hooker Dan Frost was sin-binned by referee Jaco Peyper for pulling down a driving maul. Alldritt attacked the blindside off the back of a five-metre scrum to get his side's third try soon after.
And right on the stroke of half-time, La Rochelle showed their class in attack once again when a superb handling move involving backs and forwards made the most of their one-man advantage and it was finished off behind the posts by Kiwi scrum-half Tawera Kerr-Barlow. Hastoy slotted the simple conversion and Chiefs were left with a huge mountain to climb after the break at 29-7 down.
The French onslaught continued straight after the interval, and despite the Chiefs being back to full strength, Hastoy's delicate cross-field kick picked out Rhule to step inside the defender and grab his second try of the game. Hooker Pierre Bourgarit added a sixth touchdown from a driving maul, before Chiefs responded with a try by replacement prop Josh Iosefa-Scott after Sam Simmonds had been tap tackled just short of the line. Kerr-Barlow grabbed his second try before Exeter's Olly Woodburn and Jack Yeandle provided late scores for the beaten Chiefs.
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