Archer on target for crucial Bristol return

The England lock Garath Archer has recovered from a neck injury and will take his place in Bristol's second row for today's crunch meeting with fellow Zurich Premiership strugglers Harlequins at the Memorial Stadium.

The England lock Garath Archer has recovered from a neck injury and will take his place in Bristol's second row for today's crunch meeting with fellow Zurich Premiership strugglers Harlequins at the Memorial Stadium.

Bristol are 10th in the table on 26 points – the same total as the bottom two clubs London Irish and Newcastle – while Quins are just three points higher in eighth position.

Quins welcome back Will Greenwood from England duty, but props Jason Leonard, Bruce Starr and Laurent Gomez are sidelined. The game is also Quins' first fixture since the death of their 21-year-old England scrum-half Nick Duncombe. A minute's silence will be held before the kick-off.

Canterbury Crusaders continued their defence of the Super 12 title with a 34-6 victory over Queensland Reds in Christchurch. The Crusaders moved to the top of the 2003 standings with tries from Brad Thorne, Richard McCaw, Leon MacDonald and Caleb Ralph. But their 15th successive win in the tournament, following last season's unbeaten campaign, came at a price – the first-half loss with a knee injury of their All Blacks fly-half Andrew Mehrtens, who looks likely to miss next weekend's meeting with Auckland Blues.

The Bulls earned a rare away success for Springbok rugby when they overpowered Wellington Hurricanes 46-34 in Napier – their first Super 12 win outside South Africa. Having finished bottom of the table for the last five seasons, the side from Northern Transvaal now lie fourth in the standings. Their fly-half Louis Koen kicked 26 points and the rest of their scoring came courtesy of a penalty try and touchdowns from Wikus van Heerden, Fabian Juries and Frikkie Welsh. Hurricanes' four tries were run in by Christian Cullen, Jason Spice, Ma'a Nonu and Rodney So'oialo.

A 22-point first-half blitz from Otago Highlanders set up their 41-17 win over another South African side, the Stormers, in Dunedin. Seru Rabeni and Aisea Tuileva claimed a brace each and Willie Walker and Paul Steinmetz also went over. Quinton Davids, De Wet Barry and Breyton Paulse crossed for the visitors. The Stormers' woes were compounded with the news that Springbok wing Pieter Ross-ouw had broken a finger and was returning to South Africa.

In Bloemfontein, Cats went down 48-36 to NSW Waratahs. Mat Rogers (2), Duncan McRae, David Lyons, Adam Frier and Rocky Elsom went over for the visitors while the home side managed only three touchdowns – through Joe van Niekerk, Andre Pretorius and a penalty try.