European Challenge Cup - Rounds 5 & 6

Pool 1

Dragons 15
Castres 13
Worcester 10
Enisei 0

Sat 11
Castres v Dragons
Worcester v Enisei

Fri 17
Worcester v Castres
Dragons v Enisei

With a home game against the Russian whipping boys Dragons should be guaranteed 20 points meaning Worcester who were outscored by the Welsh side over the head to heads could not finish above them. Beat Castres this weekend and they would top the group with a likely home 1/4 final. Lose and an away 1/4 final is the most likely result either as worst Winner or one of the better runners up. Worcester's only realistic hope is that Castre win in Newport, but lose in round 6


Pool 2

Toulon 18
Scarlets 15
London Irish 7
Bayonne 2

Sat 11
Bayonne v London Irish
Scarlets v Toulon

Saturday 18
London Irish v Scarlets
Toulon v Bayonne

With the bottom two teams out of it, Scarlets and Toulon would both hope for 5 points in Round 6. So the match this weekend at Parc y Scarlets is crucial for the Welsh side. Much will depend on the strength of the sides selected. Toulon will qualify with a victory in round 6 irrespective of Round 5.


Pool 3

Bordeaux-Begles 17
Edinburgh 16
Wasps 6
Agen 0

Sat 11
Bordeaux-Begles v Edinburgh
Agen v Wasps

Sat 18
Edinburgh v Agen
Wasps v B-B

Edinburgh should be guaranteed 21 points and a chance of a best runner up spot. An away win in France is probably needed to win teh group.


Pool 4

Bristol 19
Brive 9
Zebre 6
Stade Francais 5

Sat 11
Stade v Zebre
Bristol v Brive

Sat 18
Brive v Stade
Zebre v Bristol

Bristol will be looking to go through unbeaten. Realistically they are the only team who will qualify.


Pool 5

Leicester 18
Cardiff 13
Pau 10
Calvisano 1

Sat 11
Calvisan v Pau
Sun 12
Leicester v Cardiff

Sat 18
Pau v Leicester
Cardiff v Calvisano

Realistically Cardiff need to win at Welford Rd to stay in the competition. Victory for Tigers guarantees they win the group. Defeat and they will need to win in France to stay in the group.

LondonTiger wrote:Pool 1

Dragons 15
Castres 13
Worcester 10
Enisei 0

Sat 11
Castres v Dragons
Worcester v Enisei

Fri 17
Worcester v Castres
Dragons v Enisei

With a home game against the Russian whipping boys Dragons should be guaranteed 20 points meaning Worcester who were outscored by the Welsh side over the head to heads could not finish above them. Beat Castres this weekend and they would top the group with a likely home 1/4 final. Lose and an away 1/4 final is the most likely result either as worst Winner or one of the better runners up. Worcester's only realistic hope is that Castre win in Newport, but lose in round 6

Thanks for posting this. I was a little confused how people were saying Dragons qualification was in our own hands, as I expected to lose in Castres and Worcester to beat Castres at home, so assumed Worcester would go above us.

Ideally I would love a LBP this weekend, given their home record. I suspect we won't get it though.

I think Tigers will take Cardiff to the cleaners up front, which is to be expected when you have to rely on Andrews and Turnbull in your front 5.

Be interesting to see how Castres approach this match against Dragons given the position they're in. Hopefully they are just concentrating on the Top14 now, and they need to if they hope to stay up.

Depends on how much Tigers opt to rotate. Some big performances recently from the likes of Cole , Genge and Lavanini. Then again it was hardly a first team that beat Cardiff in their own backyard. Suspect Tigers will noticeably stronger at home than away.

Worcester can be a funny one in Europe, last season they sent the kids out and concentrated on the domestic cup. Having been humiliated by Sarries they'll want to get back to winning ways so might go strong in their home game.

Thanks for putting this up Tiger.

Dragons and Scarlets doing well in the league by their standards so full focus on the tournament
Toulon and BB doing well and will see what Clermont did last year and see it as a chance of Silverware
Edinburgh will see it as a chance for silverware
Bristol will be looking to win this and to take their minds off a bad few weeks. Also puts down a statement to domestic rivals

The tricky ones are Tigers, Blues and Castres.  Each have their league pressures and will have one large eye on domestic competitions.  I think if Blues and Castre lose the 3rd string teams are coming out for round 6. If they win they might see it as a chance to lift moral and fans love a cup run.

Everyone else will put out a B team away from home and a decent team at home.

I wish that some of these games were on FTA

I think Tigers will look to win this weekend at home and then send the kids for a jaunt to France.

Leicester Tigers (v Cardiff Blues, Welford Road, Sunday 3.15pm)

15 Telusa Veainu
14 Jordan Olowofela
13 George Worth
12 Kyle Eastmond
11 Rory Hughes
10 George Ford
9 Ben White
1 Greg Bateman
2 Tom Youngs (c)
3 Joe Heyes
4 Joe Batley
5 Harry Wells
6 Sam Lewis
7 Tommy Reffell
8 Jordan Coghlan

Replacements
16 Tatafu Polota-Nau
17 Ellis Genge
18 Nephi Leatigaga
19 Will Spencer
20 Ifereimi Boladau
21 Harry Simmons
22 Noel Reid
23 Adam Thompstone

Weaker side than I expected, but still includes 13 from the 23 that faced Bristol, with 5 guys starting last week and this.

15. Matthew Morgan , 14. Jason Harries, 13. Josh Adams , 12. Rey Lee-Lo, 11. Hallam Amos, 10. Jason Tovey, 9. Lloyd Williams, 1. Corey Domachowski, 2. Liam Belcher, 3. Dillon Lewis, 4. Filo Paulo, 5. Josh Turnbull, 6. Shane Lewis-Hughes, 7. Josh Navidi (c), 8. Seb Davies.
Replacements:
16. Ethan Lewis, 17. Brad Thyer, 18. Dmitri Arhip, 19. James Ratti, 20. Will Boyde, 21. Olly Robinson, 22. Tomos Williams, 23. Ben Thomas

Looks like a much stronger lineup from Cardiff.

LondonTiger wrote:15. Matthew Morgan , 14. Jason Harries, 13. Josh Adams , 12. Rey Lee-Lo, 11. Hallam Amos, 10. Jason Tovey, 9. Lloyd Williams, 1. Corey Domachowski, 2. Liam Belcher, 3. Dillon Lewis, 4. Filo Paulo, 5. Josh Turnbull, 6. Shane Lewis-Hughes, 7. Josh Navidi (c), 8. Seb Davies.
Replacements:
16. Ethan Lewis, 17. Brad Thyer, 18. Dmitri Arhip, 19. James Ratti, 20. Will Boyde, 21. Olly Robinson, 22. Tomos Williams, 23. Ben Thomas

Looks like a much stronger lineup from Cardiff.

It's a mixed bag, a little understrength. The starting props could be their best options but it's always difficult to tell when the coach makes changes so much.

I expected stronger at home but there's more than a few players there that would want more game time and will be relied upon heavily during the 6N period. Let's see what they can do.

Wasps side for the dead rubber away in Agen:

Wasps (First-team appearances)
15 Rob Miller (108)
14 Tom Bacon (0)
13 Juan de Jongh (55)
12 Jimmy Gopperth (89)
11 Josh Bassett (112)
10 Lima Sopoaga (34)
9 Sam Wolstenholme (7)
1 Tom West (19)
2 Tom Cruse (75)
3 Biyi Alo (4)
4 Theo Vukasinovic (4)
5 Charlie Matthews (24)
6 Ashley Johnson (c) (196)
7 Ben Morris (23)
8 Sione Vailanu (12)

Replacements
16 Gabriel Oghre (13)
17 Simon McIntyre (162)
18 Jack Owlett (6)
19 Thibaud Flament (9)
20 Will Wilson (0)
21 Henry Clement (3)
22 Billy Searle (17)
23 Will Simonds (2)

Sopoaga back from illness partnering the impressive Wolstenholme in the half backs. With Gopperth and JdJ outside, it looks like a decent midfield, and Sopoaga really has to impress! Good to see Bassett getting some time on field too.

Couple of debutants, Academy winger Tom Bacon starting, and back row Wil Wilson to come off the bench.

Can't really get excited for this one, meh.

You Is Ben Thomas wearing 13, but playing 12? Confused.

Morgan limps off unfortunately, one of their danger men.

I think that was Millard that went off next, looked like a dislocated shoulder - dropping like flies atm. High tackle call is a soft one there... 

Blues could benefit from a new defence coach, their 1v1’s are still very poor.

Too many try scoring opportunities went begging yesterday with dropped balls or sloppy final passes. Failing to get a TBP this week and in Italy could consign us to an away 1/4 final.

However a good win for a side that saw a lot of rotation from the Bristol game.

The scrums looked good for Cardiff surprisingly, when Domachowski and Lewis were on. Can you confirm or deny LT?

mikey_dragon wrote:The scrums looked good for Cardiff surprisingly, when Domachowski and Lewis were on. Can you confirm or deny LT?

I thought we had the upper hand, but were struggling to adapt to Clancy's interpretations. Of course I am biased.

Of course. I expected to Cardiff to be very poor there, but they were very solid, shoved Leicester back on one occasion at least.

mikey_dragon wrote:The scrums looked good for Cardiff surprisingly, when Domachowski and Lewis were on. Can you confirm or deny LT?

Clancy didn't have a great game at the scrum and as such it was a real mess. The Cardiff props did fine and seemed to show him what he wanted more than the Tigers props. I think the young Tigers tighthead was particularly vexed that he wanted to scrum hard and straight but the Cardiff boys were there to get whatever they could. Fair play the young cub will learn.

Cardiff looked alright in the first half. Second half they couldn't keep hold of the ball. I think the held up try knocked their confidence and gave Tigers a boost. When Navidi went off Tigers brought on a more physical number 8 and the breakdown went away from Cardiff. Tigers originally light backrow didn't help but once the subs were there and Navidi not young Reffell started to make his presence felt a lot more.

I'm still not sure about Lewis, I guess I was impressed as that was the first time in a long time that he didn't keep going backwards. Domachoski the LH looks quite solid and could be one for the future. Tigers were more aggressive at the breakdown, that I noticed. Clancy wasn't great, no. His breakdown and 'high tackle' calls were inconsistent.

Leicester Tigers (v Pau, away, Saturday 2.00pm local/1.00pm UK time)

15 George Worth
14 Adam Thompstone
13 Manu Tuilagi (c)
12 Noel Reid
11 Rory Hughes
10 Tom Hardwick
9 Harry Simmons
1 Facundo Gigena
2 Tatafu Polota-Nau
3 Joe Heyes
4 Joe Batley
5 Will Spencer
6 Harry Wells
7 Ifereimi Boladau
8 Sione Kalamafoni

Replacements
16 Jake Kerr
17 Greg Bateman
18 Dan Cole
19 Sam Lewis
20 Jordan Taufua
21 Ben White
22 Sam Costelow
23 Jonah Holmes

Argus wrote:Dragons: C Penny, J Rosser, A Warren, T Griffiths, R Dyer, S Davies, T Knoyle, L Fairbrother, E Dee, L Brown, M Screech, C Hill (captain), A Wainwright, T Basham, R Moriarty. Replacements: E Shipp, J Reynolds, C Coleman, J Davies, H Keddie, L Baldwin, J Botica, T Morgan.

Enisei-STM: Enisei-STM: E Douwrie, D Meskhi, D Kacharava, D Gerasimov, B Basson, R Gaisin, A Shcherban, N Khatiashvili, S Magomedov, I Zykov, U Saulite (captain), E Elgin, M Gachechiladze, A Temnov, D Krotov. Replacements: S Selskii, E Westhuizen, A Musin, J Jordaan, N Churashov, K Uzunov, J Baranovs, V Nemtsev.

Referee: Joy Neville (Ireland)

Good to see some of the Welsh Pro teams games being shown by S4C this weekend (this one tonight and Scarlets tomorrow). I wonder if that means we might be treated to a TMO tonight?

Wasps are fielding a surprisingly strong side in what's a dead rubber, against a strong Bordeaux side.

I assume the idea is to win at home (we haven't had many of those this season) and build some momentum going back into the Prem games.

Hopefully it pays off. Hopefully it doesn't result in injuries and another home defeat.

LondonTiger wrote:Leicester Tigers (v Pau, away, Saturday 2.00pm local/1.00pm UK time)

15 George Worth
14 Adam Thompstone
13 Manu Tuilagi (c)
12 Noel Reid
11 Rory Hughes
10 Tom Hardwick
9 Harry Simmons
1 Facundo Gigena
2 Tatafu Polota-Nau
3 Joe Heyes
4 Joe Batley
5 Will Spencer
6 Harry Wells
7 Ifereimi Boladau
8 Sione Kalamafoni

Replacements
16 Jake Kerr
17 Greg Bateman
18 Dan Cole
19 Sam Lewis
20 Jordan Taufua
21 Ben White
22 Sam Costelow
23 Jonah Holmes

That look likes like a starting team expecting a very physical battle. Some more dynamic options on the bench for when the game opens up in the second half. Good to see Holmes and Simmons back.

Challenge cup games all have a live feed - legal as well! Edinburgh game but you shouold be able to navigate to the game youwant

https://www.epcrugby.com/video/live-edinburgh-rugby-v-agen/

Scarlets vs London Irish makes a good start, one try each after 21 minutes

Very good performance from the Scarlets so far. Wrapped up the bonus point shortly after half time.

Scarlets have the bp at the majeski stadium and just need to hold on for a win to make the last eight.

Five tries now...! Great performance

Scarlets back in Toulon in the QF...

mikey_dragon wrote:Scarlets back in Toulon in the QF...

Could be interesting?

They’ve had some close matches and a win recently. Good luck to them and the Dragons.

Billy V off with a suspected broken arm, same arm as the other breaks apparently. That might be him out of the 6N.

Otherwise it seems business as usual for Sarries, they were 14 points up, but Racing now poached a couple of tries

17-14 Saracens now at 27 mins

Looks like a red for Skelton, late cheap and high

Dirty player Skelton, that was a cheap shot and he deserved the red

Sarries up against it now

Whoops, just realised wrong thread

Fair play to both Welsh teams making it through to the quarters. Both have hard trips, but have nothing to lose.