Sharks to meet Agen

Sale Sharks will face Agen in the last eight of the European Challenge Cup after the French side squeezed past Viadana over the two legs.

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

But it was not enough to overturn the deficit from their first-leg defeat, 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, Uche O’Douza grabbed a hat-trick as Worcester cruised to an 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.

Thinus Delport and Darren O’Leary both scored twice – and Dale Rasmussen, Chris Horsman, Thomas Lombard and Neil Mason scored the other tries. Young fly-half James Brown, returning from a neck injury, and Tommy Hayes both kicked three conversions.

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