English Sides Perform In Parker Pen Challenge Cup

But there were no such narrow results for the top English sides. The Newcastle Falcons reigned in Spain, running in 11 tries as they cruised past VRAC 71-10. Wingers Tom May (three) and Michael Stephenson (two) bagged five tries between them, while centre Mark Wilkinson, the older brother of England's hero Jonny, and big Tongan flanker Epi Taione also scored a brace offive-pointers.

The Spaniards gave the home side some cheer with two popular tries to brothers Miguel and Oscar Frechilla in front of 3,000 fans.

Saracens return from Roma with a 45-13 win under their belts, with the brilliance of fly-half Thomas Castaignede proving too much for the Italian minnows.

Saracens coach Rod Kafer rested skipper Taine Randell and England scrum-half Kyran Bracken, and lost pacey fullback Richard Haughton to the England Sevens squad, but had far too many guns for Roma, who must be dreading the return trip to Vicarage Road.

England backrower Richard Hill scored twice as Saracens ran in five first-half tries for a comfortable 31-6 halftime lead. The English club took their foot off the pedal in the second 40, scoring just the two tries to centres Ben Johnston and Denis Cech, with Roma's fans finally getting something to cheer about when backrower Domenico De Luca went over for their only five-pointer.

Bath Rugby recorded the highest score of the English clubs, romping to a 75-11 victory over Italian club L'Aquila at Stadio Tommaso Fattori.

Prop Matt Stevens was the star of the show, scoring three of his side's 11 tries - 10 of which were converted by Olly Barkley, who scored one of his own for a haul of 25 points.

Zurich Premiership leaders Bath led 56-3 at halftime, and needed only one of the four replacements they named on the bench. Flanker James Scaysbrook and Scotland winger Simon Danielli both picked up two tries in a very one-sided match.

In other matches, Uruguayan international Rodrigo Capo Ortega scored two tries from the base of the scrum to help Castres Olympique to a comfortable 53-14 victory at Rugby Rovigo.

The French side ran in four tries in each half as they completely out-played the Italians at Stadio Battaglini, with the home side's only try coming through Romanian prop Sorin Socaciu in the second half.

Grenoble beat GRAN Parma 35-10, with winger Jean Victor Bertrand scoring a double in an easy win at the Sergio Lanfranchi ground.

Scottish side Glasgow ensured the in-form English teams wouldn't get all the Parker Pen Challenge Cup headlines with a solid 30-11 victory over Montpellier in France.

The match was transferred from Montpellier's Stade Sabathe to Carcassonne because of a flooded pitch, and barely 300 French fans made the two-hour trip to see their side fall to an impressive Scottish outfit.

Glasgow had the upper hand throughout the match, with hard-working flanker Donnie Macfadyen and winger Sean Lamont scoring tries to give the visitors a 17-6 lead at halftime, and replacement scrum-half Sam Pinder adding a third in the second half.

Glasgow captain Cammie Mather led by example to pick up the man-of-the-match award while fly-half Dan Parks added 15 points with the boot.

Colomiers' powerful bench was to the fore as the French side beat Petrarca 37-12 at home, with replacement prop Sebastien Rondinelli (two) and replacement hooker Christophe Laurent scoring crucial second-half tries.

The Italian club couldn't breach the home side's try-line and had to be content with four penalty goals from diminutive fly-half Luciano Orquera.

In the final match of the night, Brive crushed Viadana 39-3 after being held 10-3 at the break.

In the Sunday matches a second-string Harlequins side were given a scare by Spanish minnows Cetransa El Salvador.

The English club led 19-3 at halftime after a brace of tries to prop Ceri Jones, but the gritty young Spaniards hit back with a penalty try and a five-pointer from centre Jose Revilla to narrow the score to 19-18 midway through the second half.

Harlequins coach Mark Evans was forced to clear his star-studded bench in the 57^th minute and tries to two of those replacements - centre Chris Bell and hooker Tani Fuga - gave the visitors a 31-18 victory.

London Irish fly-half Mark Mapletoft kicked 16 points but couldn't prevent his side falling 26-30 at Montauban.

Mapletoft converted a try in each half from winger Justin Bishop and backrower nKeiron Dawson, but the visitors' defence let them down at crucial times to give the French club a four-point advantage going into the second leg.

Home fly-half Sebastien Faugue was the star of the day, scoring two tries and kicking eight points to secure the victory.

Connacht travelled to Beziers, with veteran fly-half Eric Elwood securing a valuable 18-10 away win with six penalty goals. The haul takes Elwood to 413 points in Parker Pen rugby - the first player to break the 400 mark.

Beziers scored the game's only try - a second-half effort from hooker Dimitri Szarzewski - but will have to improve to test the Irish province at the Galway Sportsground next weekend.

In the final Parker Pen match of the round, French heavyweights Pau sneaked past Rugby Parma, winning 33-28 despite a second-half fightback from the home side.

Parma winger Francesco Marangon scored twice as the Italian club came back from 13-28 to get within a try of a huge upset at the Sergio Lanfranchi ground.