While there was delight for Bath and departing captain Borthwick and Olly Barkley – heading for Saracens and Gloucester respectively – there was only dejection for Worcester Warriors as defeat ended their hopes of Heineken Cup 2008/09 qualification.

It means Worcester will be one of the six English clubs in next season’s European Challenge Cup competition, along with London Irish, Saracens, Bristol Rugby, Newcastle Falcons and promoted Northampton Saints.

Connacht will be flying the flag for Ireland with Rovigo and Overmach Parma confirmed European Challenge Cup qualifiers from Italy. The other two Italian teams will be the losing semi-finalists following the second leg matches this weekend.

The first legs ended in wins for Viadana and Rugby Calvisano as Viadana made home advantage count to beat Benetton Treviso 20-16 while Rugby Calvisano won 20-18 at Petrarca Rugby.

With three rounds of the French Top 14 still to be played the seven French European Challenge Cup qualifiers are still far from settled.

One team from Spain and one from Romania will again take part in the 2008-09 tournament.

European Challenge cup dates 2008-09:

Round 1  10 / 11 / 12 October 2008
Round 2  17 / 18 / 19 October
Round 3  5 / 6 / 7 December
Round 4  12 / 13 / 14 December
Round 5  16 / 17 / 18 January 2009
Round 6  23 / 24 / 25 January
Quarter-finals 10 / 11 / 12 April
Semi-finals 1 / 2 / 3 May
Final 22 / 23 / 24 May

Snippets:

The 2008 final was the 17th 2007-08 tournament match televised live.

The 67 matches produced 404 tries and 3,233 points at match averages of 6.03 tries and 48.25 points. The matches were watched by 296,495 fans.

In all there have been 905 tournament matches producing three all-English finals – London Wasps v Bath Rugby in 2003, Gloucester Rugby v London Irish in 2006 and last weekend’s Bath Rugby v Worcester Warriors.

Bath Rugby and ASM Clermont Auvergne have both played in three tournament finals.

ASM Clermont Auvergne were the third club to win the trophy twice, joining Harlequins (2001 and 2004) and Sale Sharks (2002 and 2005).

The only non English or French team to play in a tournament final so far was Pontypridd, who were beaten by Sake Sharks in 2002.

The first four tournaments were strictly French affairs won by Bourgoin, Colomiers, Montferrand and Pau.

Leading scorers 2007-08:

Points:

Olly Barkley (Bath Rugby) - 91
Shane Drahm (Worcester Warriors) - 74
Alberto Di Bernardo (Leeds Carnegie) - 67
Jonny Wilkinson (Newcastle Falcons) - 64
Rima Wakarua (GRAN Parma) - 57
Charlie Hodgson (Sale Sharks) - 52
Gerard Fraser (Rugby Calvisano) - 46
Barry Irving (Overmach Rugby Parma) - 46
Butch James (Bath Rugby) - 44
Romain Teulet (Castres Olympique) - 42

Tries:

Ollie Phillips (Newcastle Falcons) - 8
Rico Gear (Worcester Warriors) - 7
Matthew Banahan (Bath Rugby) - 6
Chris Mayor (Sale Sharks) - 6
Daniel Riordan (Connacht Rugby) - 6
Miles Benjamin (Worcester Warriors) - 5
Pat Sanderson (Worcester Warriors) - 5

Conversions:

Shane Drahm (Worcester Warriors) - 24
Olly Barkley (Bath Rugby) - 22
Alberto Di Bernardo (Leeds Carnegie) - 11
Jonny Wilkinson (Newcastle Falcons) - 10
Charlie Hodgson (Sale Sharks) - 9
Steve Jones (Newcastle Falcons) - 9
Maxime Petitjean (Brive) - 9
Romain Teulet (Castres Olympique) - 9

Penalty goals:

Alberto Di Bernardo (Leeds Carnegie) - 14
Jonny Wilkinson (Newcastle Falcons) - 12
Rima Wakarua (GRAN Parma) - 11
Barry Irving (Overmach Rugby Parma) - 10
Gerard Fraser (Rugby Calvisano) - 9
Florin Vlaicu (Bucuresti) - 9
Olly Barkley (Bath Rugby) - 8
Luciano Orquera (Brive) - 8
Romain Teulet (Castres Olympique) - 8

Dropped goals:

Tom May (Newcastle Falcons) - 2.