It is disappointing that Richard has chosen to leave, but I would like to take this opportunity to thank him for all his efforts over the last two years and to wish him every success in his new role. With the departure of Richard to Newport, a new opportunity opens for someone to join our coaching team.

In addition to Richard, there are also a few other players that are leaving Quins. These are Mark Mapletoft, Nick Burrows, Ryan O'Neill, Mark Ireland, Mark Scrivener and Alex Alesbrook; these are in addition to those previously announced, namely Steve White-Cooper, Adrian Olver, Bruce Douglas and Jonny Roddam.

Congratulations to Alex Codling, who has been selected for the England team to play the Barbarians at Twickenham this Sunday. It is a great reward for Alex after all the hard work he has put-in this season with John Kingston, particularly in relation to the lineouts. With Ben Gollings, Nick Duncombe and Steve White-Cooper all representing England in the Sevens at Twickenham this weekend, it remains a busy period for some of the squad.

On the injury front, Pat Sanderson has returned to training this week and may even feature for the England Sevens squad down in Cardiff next weekend. Jason Leonard fractured his ankle against Sale in the final game of the season. The fracture is not serious and he should be back in training by mid-July at the latest. The enforced break will do him no harm at all.

Although we have a longer than usual pre-season this summer, there is still very little time to get things done. The players will return to full training at Aldershot on 10th June, except of course those away on tours etc. This will give our coaching and fitness staff plenty of time prior to the new season to improve both our existing and the new players that will be joining us. Moving into the first team squad as Associate Professionals will be Max Wilcox, Andrew Reay, Daryl Griffin, Jon Hammond, Kai Horstmann, Tom Williams and Sam Walton, all of which have a great opportunity to stake a claim for first team rugby.

Finally, this weekend sees the final of the Heineken Cup between Munster and Leicester Tigers at the Millenium Stadium. This has all the hallmarks of being a classic final between two teams that we know very well. Who is going to win? Difficult to say - both teams are full of potential match winners and both play in contrasting styles. I am sure it will be a great advert for Northern Hemisphere rugby - I for one am looking forward to it immensely.