Here are your rugby headlines for Friday May 19.
Biggar ready to make history
Wales fly-half Dan Biggar is ready to embrace the pressure and fire Toulon to success tonight as he prepares for his first European final.
Biggar starts at No.10 for French giants Toulon who have lost four times in the final of the Challenge Cup and are determined to end the jinx when they clash with Glasgow in Dublin.
Despite Toulon winning the Heineken Cup three times, they haven't been able to achieve such success in the second tier European competition.
Biggar is aware of what is at stake. He is hoping for a double piece of history - his own first moment of European club success and Toulon winning the trophy for the first time.
The Wales ace said ahead of the game: "Everybody wants to be playing in the Champions Cup, but the club has never won this title before.
“We’re aware of the importance of this match for this club, president and supporters because it is a competition they have had some pain in. To achieve success would be a good starting point for the club and for me to come in and have some influence on the group and success to start.
“It doesn’t take the pressure off because we want to be competing for bigger honours. But for what we have at the minute, it would be an important step for the club who are looking to push on over the next year or two.”
Glasgow boss Franco Smith admits his side will go into the game as underdogs. Warriors are playing at this stage of the competition for the first time.
But he said: "We get to learn. I definitely feel there's been a lot of work put into Scottish rugby the last few years, the way that the national team has grown over the past seven or eight years with Gregor (Townsend) at the helm there and the quality of the players and how the product has been developed has been noticeable."
Grady tipped to shine on wing for Wales
Young Wales centre Mason Grady is being tipped to dazzle for Warren Gatland at the World Cup - as a wing.
The gifted 21-year-old Cardiff ace made his Test debut during the Six Nations as an outside centre.
But former Wales man turned pundit Nicky Robinson reckons Grady's future is likely to be in a different position and that could start as soon as the World Cup this autumn.
The blockbusting youngster has earned comparisons with George North in terms of his pace and physical attributes.
"He's going to be a proper international player, probably on the wing for Wales in the World Cup," Robinson told the Scrum V podcast. "I'm not sure of his quality at centre, but I think he's got enough speed and his power as a winger. He's our next 100 cap winger if he stays fit."
Gatland has a number of wing options as Wales get ready to take on the world, with Louis Rees-Zammit, Josh Adams, Rio Dyer and Liam Williams among those in the mix.
Wales meet Australia, Fiji, Georgia and Portugal in the group stages, with a likely quarter-final clash against either England or Argentina on the horizon after that.
Rugby's current big guns, France, Ireland, South Africa and New Zealand are each in the other half of a lopsided draw, with two of them unable to progress beyond the last eight.
Wasps 'face oblivion'
Fallen giants Wasps must begin rebuilding from the bottom of the English league pyramid after the Rugby Football Union revoked their licence to play in next season's Championship.
It represents an incredible fall for the two time European Cup winners once coached by Warren Gatland and Shaun Edwards.
The plight of the traditional English powerhouses saw the Telegraph headline their story as 'Wasps facing oblivion after demotion to bottom of English rugby's pyramid.'
Hopes that new owners HALO22 Limited could relaunch Wasps in the second tier Championship, one level below the Gallagher Premiership, have been dashed due to their failure to meet an RFU requirement on time for proving the club could still operate at the higher level.
Among the commitments that have not been kept are the provision of evidence that creditors have been paid and the creation of a suitable governance structure.
The RFU has also been told by Wasps that they are unable to recruit staff or players until additional finance has been secured and cannot recommit to playing in the Championship.
Wasps entered administration in December because of debts totalling £95million and as a result were removed from the Premiership. The RFU granted permission to play in the Championship in December following a takeover by new owners, but has been forced to remove them from the league structure.
"This is not the outcome anyone in rugby wanted and those involved with the club will be deeply disappointed," RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney said.
"We have worked with the new owners for the past six months to try to ensure that a robust plan could be put in place for the club to continue to play in the Championship while players and staff could receive monies owed to them.
"The RFU is working closely in partnership with Premiership Rugby and the Rugby Players Association to ensure players are supported. We are also working together at pace to ensure the game emerges from this challenging time on a strong and sound financial footing."
Leicester reveal frustration at England calls
Speaking of English giants, Leicester have revealed their frustration at the way new-look England ripped apart their coaching team.
The Tigers lost Steve Borthwick and four other coaches to England after the RFU decision to part company with Eddie Jones following his failure in charge. Other senior coaches to follow Borthwick to the RFU were Kevin Sinfield, Richard Wigglesworth, Aled Walters and scrum coach Tom Harrison.
The Mirror report that with Leicester's season over, the club 'want it known they were less than impressed with how events unfolded - and that England’s gain caused them a good deal of pain.'
Leicester chief executive Andrea Pinchen told the paper: “You lose your head coach and your defence coach halfway through what is a disjointed season anyway. Undoubtedly, it’s going to impact you.
"When you go into a club and take pretty much the entirety of its coaching team and IP (intellectual property), it impacts your ability to trade, it impacts you financially, your sponsors.
“For your home nation to be doing that to one of its clubs is hard to swallow. We’ve needed the emotional and financial support of everybody in and around Leicester Tigers to get through this. Without that we could have had real problems."
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