Worcester romp into last eight

Uche O’Douza grabbed a hat-trick as Worcester cruised to emphatic 67-14 victory over Italians Rovigo at Sixways.

The flying wing scorched over for three of Worcester’s 11 tries as they booked a quarter-final date with Leonessa in the European Challenge Cup.

Thinus Delport and Darren O’Leary both scored twice. Dale Rasmussen, Chris Horsman, Thomas Lombard and Neil Mason got the other tries.

Young outside-half James Brown, returning from a neck injury, and Tommy Hayes both kicked three conversions.

Sale Sharks will face Agen in the last eight after the French side, Heineken Cup competitors last season, squeezed past Viadana over the two legs.

The Italian outfit beat Agen 22-17 at Stadio Luigi Zaffanella with Casper Steyn bagging 17 of their posts.

However, it was not enough to overturn the deficit from their first-leg defeat with Pepito Elhorga and Sylvain Mirande getting the crucial tries to keep Agen in touch.

Brive will play either Saracens or Parma, who play tomorrow, after a 45-23 win at El Salvador with scrum-half Valentine Courrent scoring two of their seven tries and kicking five conversions.

In the European Shield, Auch beat L’Aquila 31-23 to book a place in the last eight against Gran Parma.