you Can Quote Me On That!

LONDON IRISH 42 NEWPORT 5

London Irish director of rugby Conor O'Shea: "To go into a European Cup game and put on 40 points has to be a good day."

"That's improved our confidence," said O'Shea.

"We have to win our last two games, scoring three or four tries in each and hope for the best.

"All we can do is go up to Edinburgh and try to turn in another performance like that."

Newport director of rugby Darryl Jones: "Those things don't help when you are down to 14 men against a good team. They tackled well and didn't give us a chance to settle. We are beaten by a better side on the day."

"They played a nice wide game, pulled us in then took us wide and their runners came from good angles."

BRISTOL 41 SWANSEA 23

Bristol head coach Peter Thorburn 'Our defence was awesome,' said the Kiwi, whose side avenged their defeat at St Helens last weekend in the first leg. 'That is what is keeping us in the frame.

'I don't care who scored the tries, that first one broke them down from the start.

'I don't know what has changed since last weekend's game. We started poorly then and it helps to score seven points early on.'

NORTHAMPTON 31 CARDIFF 0

'We missed an opportunity to score more tries - we created enough chances,' admitted Northampton coach Wayne Smith.

'I think that we took away a lot of Cardiff's possession early on through pace and position, and I was pleased that we created opportunities.'

Northampton were quite exceptional in the first 20 minutes. They played with a tempo that we couldn't live with,' said Young.

Cardiff coach David Young: 'It is fair to say that there weren't many departments that we were not second best in.

'We thought that we would have been more competitive, but we missed more first-up tackles today than we had done all season, and it was a hard lesson for our players today.

'Only 12 months ago, Northampton were in the same position as us, but they have turned it around.'

TOULOUSE 50 EDINBURGH 17

Edinburgh coach Frank Hadden said: 'It was a very gutsy performance. We were looking down the barrel at half-time but never folded completely at any time.

'Toulouse are an outstanding side. We have improved a great deal over the past few months, but they are at another level.

'They have tremendous buying power and clearly recruit very wisely. We have been very unlucky to have been drawn in the same pool as them for this campaign.'

LEICESTER 53 BEZIERS 10

Leicester team manager Dean Richards: 'As I said at the start of the season we had an injury crisis in the backs but now we have got players like Geordan Murphy, Austin Healey and Leon Lloyd back.'

'The backs are starting to fire again and I was very pleased with the performance. It was a very difficult game in France last weekend but we showed that we did our homework.

'If you get to the quarter-finals it does not matter who you get there because it is going to be a difficult game.

'But history shows that very few away sides win so it would be an advantage to be at home for the quarter-final stage.'

BIARRITZ 25 ULSTER 20

Ulster assistant coach Mark McCall: "We should have won the game in the final 10 minutes,' admitted McCall. 'But it was still a magnificent performance given that we went into the game without David Humphreys, Shane Stewart, Tyrone Howe and Ryan Constable.

'Biarritz have not lost at home this season and we gave them a big scare.'

PERPIGNAN 31 GLOUCESTER 23

Phil Vickery, Gloucester captain: "That was a tough a scrummaging test as we've had, by a long way.

"I'm not sure we need a kick up the backside, but if we did it was well and truly given today.