Melville: English rugby will be the loser

Nigel Melville will be sorry for English rugby once the dust has settled on Sunday's sell-out Heineken Cup quarter-final clash between London Wasps and Gloucester at the Causeway Stadium.

The Gloucester director of rugby has lost out in recent battles against his former club, notably in last year's controversial Zurich Premiership title play-off and in this season's league fixture at Wasps last November.

He acknowledges that Wasps are England's leading team at present but added: "The main thought I have about this weekend's game is that it is shame for both clubs that we are meeting in the quarterfinal-It is not good for English rugby that one of us will have to go out of the competition at this stage."

His head coach Dean Ryan, another former Wasps man, will be doing all in their tactical and motivational powers this week to plot their revenge. "Wasps are a very difficult side to beat on their home ground, as Northampton found out to their cost on Sunday," said Melville. "They clearly start this game as favourites, and they have a great home record.

"They have put themselves on top of the perch by their achievementsbut we also had a great season-last year and we have a pretty tidy squad of players ourselves.

"We didn't play particularly well while beating Saracens on Saturday, but it was still an important result for us and several players were able to come back into the side and get a game under their belts in preparation for Sunday.