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Wales Online
Wales Online
Sport
Paul Abbandonato

Easter Sunday rugby news as Scarlets semi opponents revealed and South African Euro hopes are crushed

Here are your Easter Sunday morning rugby headlines.

Scarlets to play Glasgow in battle for final spot

Dwayne Peel's Scarlets will play Glasgow in their battle to reach the Challenge Cup final.

The Scottish side earned their own place in the semi-finals with a hard-fought 31-21 victory over the Lions on Saturday night.

The last four Wales v Scotland showdown will take place in Llanelli on the final weekend of April. Peel's men had booked their own semi-final spot with a riveting victory over Clermont.

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However, there is no Welsh representation in the other Euro semi after Cardiff were beaten by Benetton. The Italians travel to Toulon for their last four clash.

The make-up of the Heineken Champions Cup is also complete, with South African interest in Europe's most prestigious club competition at an end.

Toulouse hammered the Sharks 54-20 and will meet Leinster in one cracking semi-final. The other game will be between Exeter, who thumped Stormers 42-17, and whoever wins the last quarter-final being played today between La Rochelle and Saracens.

If reigning European champions La Rochelle beat Sarries, the semi-final will be in Bordeaux, but a triumph for Owen Farrell and his team would send a mouth-watering English Euro showdown to Bristol City's Ashton Gate.

Peel's Scarlets delight

Scarlets boss Dwayne Peel talked up his side's fighting spirit after seeing them "snatch victory from the jaws of defeat" against Clermont.

The French side, despite losing centre Irae Simone to a red card in the 24th minute, looked set to claim a last-four spot for themselves as they recovered from 15-3 down to lead 30-22.

However, Scarlets refused to give in and grabbed their 32-30 win when Ryan Conbeer scored a try with five minutes to go which was superbly converted by Sam Costelow from the touchline.

Peel said: "It's a massive win as we snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. On 65 minutes, I thought we were really up against it as we were struggling to cope with their power game.

"Sam's kick was fantastic but we showed terrific fight and endeavour to get the job done but if I was in Clermont's shoes, I would be very disappointed.

"It's a massive competition but it shows how important it was to finish top of the group and get these home games. It won't be easy in the semi-finals as Glasgow are in good form."

Cardiff and Young lick Euro wounds

Cardiff's director of rugby David Young tipped Benetton to turn European tradition on its head by potentially winning the Challenge Cup after they made history by becoming the first Italian side to reach a European semi-final with their 27-23 win.

Young believes the Italians could go on to cause problems for other teams as they prepare for their historic trip to Toulon in the last four at the end of the month.

"They are a very good team, and they will cause lots of problems for many sides. They've enjoyed some fantastic wins over top teams out here," said Young.

"We were in that game right until the last minute. I'm proud of the players and we definitely have a lot of build on. We're disappointed with the loss, but I'm not disappointed with the effort. We were under lots of pressure for the first 20 minutes and found a way to stay in the game.

"We knew this was going to be a tough place to come and that we'd have to be right on the money for 80 minutes. It was a game of real fine margins, and we had a couple of opportunities in the last five minutes when we could have sneaked over to make the result oh so different, but we didn't."

In the end it was a juggling try from England Sevens star Marcus Watson that clinched the game for Benetton. His 70th-minute score put the Italians back in front in a game in which the lead changed hands four times.

Cardiff would have faced a repeat of their 2010 Challenge Cup final against Toulon had they made it through. They would also have joined fellow Welsh region the Scarlets in the semi-finals.

"I'm disappointed for the players because lots of effort had gone into the game, but it just got away from us. I'm happy with the commitment, effort and some of the rugby we played," said Young. "Hopefully, we can keep building on the last couple of performances. These are the standards we have set ourselves and I'd like to finish with two big performances, and we'll see where that takes us."

Exeter end South African Euro interest

Exeter emphatically ended South African interest in this season's Champions Cup as they booked a semi-final place by thrashing the Stormers 42-17 at Sandy Park.

With the Sharks losing in Toulouse, it was down to the Stormers to retain any hope of Euro silverware in the home of the world champions.

But just a week on from a stamina-sapping victory over Montpellier that was decided on try count after extra-time, Exeter delivered an immense performance that saw them dominate every key area.

The Stormers encountered difficulties travelling from Cape Town to Devon, and they were never in contention as Exeter posted tries during the first 30 minutes from full-back Tom Wyatt, captain Jack Nowell and his fellow wing Olly Woodburn, each converted by Joe Simmonds.

And when number eight Sam Simmonds scored just five minutes into the second half, again converted by the fly-half, it effectively ended the contest, before Jack Yeandle and Tom Cairns crossed for further tries that Simmonds again improved.

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