Here's your round-up of all the latest rugby headlines for Saturday, May 21.
Young stunned as Phillips puts boot in
Cardiff boss Dai Young admitted it “just wasn’t good enough for the jersey” following his team’s humiliating 10-try defeat at the hands of Benetton out in Treviso.
It was a desperate end to the season for the Arms Park outfit, who trailed 31-7 at half-time and conceded six more touchdowns after the break to eventually lose 69-21. You can read the full report here.
"We just looked really tired physically and mentally. No excuse. That’s a disappointing factor,” Young told S4C. “We didn’t build pressure or momentum and they broke our line far too easy, especially around the forwards. Obviously you can play open rugby, but you have to have the skill levels to do it and we didn’t demonstrate that.”
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He added: “It’s been a difficult season for us. People ask me if there have been any positives. Not really. I suppose the only positive is this is our last game. We will have to work hard pre-season and we have to come better than that because that wasn’t good enough for the jersey."
He added: "I told the players - if that doesn’t hurt us then we don’t want to be here next year, it’s as simple as that. Unfortunately we’ve now got a long wait until we can put things right.
“It’s a really quiet changing room, but how can you tell if they’re really hurting? We’ll find that out next season when they come out and they need to use that as fuel to get better.”
Former Cardiff player and Wales international Mike Phillips was deeply unimpressed with the result, describing it as "a joke" and "embarrassing" on social media.
Scarlets now have to win
The Ospreys moved a step closer to Heineken Champions Cup qualification despite suffering a 38-31 defeat to the Bulls in Swansea.
A pair of bonus points mean Toby Booth's side are now two clear of the Scarlets at the top of the United Rugby Championship's Welsh Shield, with the winner set to play in the top tier of European competition next season.
The Scarlets play the Stormers in Llanelli on Saturday and now need a win to overtake the Ospreys.
A hat-trick of tries from centre Cornal Hendricks along with scores from Madosh Tambwe, Chris Smith and Canan Moodie got the Bulls over the line. Smith also contributed eight points from the kicking tee.
The Ospreys scored four tries of their own to pick up two bonus points courtesy of Jac Morgan, Luke Morgan (2) and Sam Parry, with Gareth Anscombe kicking 11 points.
You can read the full report here.
Biggar v Farrell
Dan Biggar makes his rugby return today as he goes up against Owen Farrell in a huge English Premiership clash (5.30pm KO).
Biggar has served a three-week suspension after being sent off against Gloucester last month and comes straight into the Northampton starting line-up as Saints travel to Saracens.
Northampton currently sit in the final play-off spot, one point clear of Gloucester with two rounds remaining.
Gloucester play Harlequins at Twickenham (3pm KO), with Louis Rees-Zammit starting on the wing.
Exeter's play-off hopes over
Boss Rob Baxter admitted defeat declaring Exeter were "done on the play-offs" following Friday night's 40-33 Gallagher Premiership defeat against Bristol at Ashton Gate.
The Chiefs, six times Premiership finalists, are unlikely to make the top four for the first time since 2015.
Two losing bonus points means that Exeter still have the tiniest mathematical chance of progressing, but they are four points behind fourth-placed Northampton with just one game left, and Saints or Gloucester can end Exeter's chances in their games on Saturday.
Baxter said: "We are done on the play-offs, aren't we? Two points tonight - I think we are done. Mathematically, maybe not, I am not sure.
"It is disappointing. I think today has kind of highlighted that we have got to move on.
"I've said to the lads 'get your heads up, but at the same time open your eyes and believe at some stage that we have to move on', which means we have to move forward as players.
"I think we have become a little bit stubborn as a group of players as to where we are moving on and what we want to do and how we want to go and achieve things, and actually they need to stop and open their eyes and move forward.
"We've got to be better.
"We can't just stand here and go 'we can just be the same people and next season we will just win'. It won't work like that. We have got to improve as individuals and as a team.
