With both Bath and London Wasps going out of the competition, it now means that it is unlikely that anywhere below fourth place in the Zurich Premiership will gain automatic qualification for the Heineken Cup, although we are still very much involved in the Parker Pen Challenge Cup, and if we were to fail to achieve fourth place in the Premiership there is also the Zurich Wild Card Play-Off's.

Following the disappointment of losing to London Wasps the previous week, particularly the circumstances in which that result came about, it means that our remaining six Premiership fixtures are all vitally important, starting away to Leicester Tigers on Friday 19th March.

The players have now returned to the training ground at Aldershot following a well earned break, and although there are a large number of players away on international duty, the focus is very much on preparing for the two games against Leicester at the end of this month.

As is always the case at this time of the season there has been enormous amount of speculation revolving around players contracts; who will be staying, who will be going, and what new players may be coming to NEC Harlequins. I will confirm that discussions are taking place with a number of players or their representatives with a view to offering them new contracts for next season and beyond, but the club will not be making any comment on these negotiations until they have been finalised and the contracts signed.

When you run a squad of 32 players, and the majority of these players are on either one or two year contracts, it stands to reason that each year a number of players may potentially fall out of contract and could therefore leave the club, either through their own choice or through ours. It is the nature of professional sport. Furthermore, if you run a successful academy, as clearly we are, it also means that younger players will be pushing for places within the first team squad. This is the way that we want to see Quins progress, but it does mean there could be casualties on the way.

Last night (3rd March) our second XV led by Luke Sherriff beat The Army at Aldershot by 61-17 in a very entertaining game. It shows something of the progress that we have made that in our first season at Aldershot (2000/2001) our second XV struggled to compete with a good Army side, and now without several England Under 21 players we should win so convincingly.

The second XV are in action again next Tuesday evening (9th March) at the Stoop when they take on Gloucester in the Zurich A League, kick-off 7.30pm.

I hope that you all have a good weekend and that those of you lucky enough to have tickets to see England play Ireland at Twickenham on Saturday enjoy the game.

Finally good luck to all the NEC Harlequins players representing their country this weekend either for England, England A, England Under 21 and England Under 19's.