LONDON, 18 January 2005 — Injury-ravaged Newcastle reached the quarterfinals of the Heineken Cup for the first time on Sunday when they edged Newport-Gwent Dragons 25-17 to finish top of Pool Five.
France’s Perpignan failed to join them, however, after they were beaten 40-17 by Edinburgh, the Scottish side’s first win of the competition.
That result meant Leicester scraped through in the final slot for the best runners-up following their 62-10 thrashing of Calvisano in Italy on Saturday.
In Sunday’s other match Stade Francais emphatically secured top spot in Pool Six by thumping Gloucester 27-0, the English side’s first home defeat in the competition.
Also through to the last eight are Biarritz, who ousted holders Wasps on Saturday, Leinster, Toulouse, Munster and Northampton.
Newcastle needed victory over the Dragons to guarantee progress but after suffering a terrible run of injuries, notably to England flyhalf Jonny Wilkinson, they approached the game in a nervous frame of mind and with Jonny’s brother Mark filling in at No. 10.
They started well, though, and tries by flanker Colin Charvis and winger Tom May edged them ahead 13-5 at half-time.
The Welsh visitors closed the gap in a tense second half but Australian fullback Matt Burke, who also kicked four goals after passing a late fitness test, settled the issue with a great try three minutes from time.
Newcastle will visit Paris to play Stade Francais in the last eight after the French champions poured cold water on Gloucester’s hopes.
Gloucester had needed a huge win to overhaul Stade but instead found themselves trailing 27-0 at half-time as Mauro Bergamasco, Stephane Glas and Christophe Dominici all scored and there was no further scoring after the break.
The Dragons’ defeat by Newcastle meant that for the first time, Wales will not have a single team in the last eight.
Nor will Scotland, but they at least mustered a win after 11 previous defeats for Glasgow and Edinburgh when the latter turned on the power in the second half to overwhelm Perpignan, who had needed a bonus point win to go through.
Edinburgh’s belated success, watched by only around 1,000 at Murrayfield, enabled Leicester to scrape through, having finished second in Pool One on 19 points.
The English Premiership leaders scored 10 tries in Italy, led by a Geordan Murphy hat-trick, but now face a tough away game against Ireland’s Leinster, the only team to win all six of their pool games after they thrashed Treviso 57-17 in Pool Two.
Wasps traveled to France on Saturday knowing a bonus point victory could send them through but the English and European champions were never able to break clear after reaching halftime level at 8-8.
In the second half Biarritz dominated up front, just as they had when upsetting Leicester last week, and surged clear with a try by Jimmy Marlu and the boot of Dimitri Yachvili.
Biarritz will host Munster in the quarters after the Irishmen made it through for the seventh successive season when their 18-10 victory over Harlequins at Twickenham cemented their place at the top of Pool Four.
Castres missed their chance, though, when they lost 20-11 to the Neath-Swansea Ospreys. A bonus point win would have sent the French team through as a runner-up.
The first of those “back-door berths” was claimed by Northampton on Friday when they came from 13-5 down at halftime to beat Glasgow 33-23 in Pool Three.
Their reward is a third meeting with Toulouse. Last year’s runners-up clinched top spot in the pool with a 53-36 home win over Llanelli.
The quarterfinals will be played on April 2-3.
