swift4prez wrote: Pool Draw for new Challenge Cup
06th June 2014
The draws will be streamed live on epcrugby.com – site available from Tuesday.

So ERC Rugby is now EPC Rugby - European Professional Club Rugby

Pool Draw for new Challenge Cup
06th June 2014

The draws for the composition of the pools for the 2014/15 European Rugby Champions Cup and European Rugby Challenge Cup tournaments will take place at the Stade de la Maladière, Neuchâtel, Switzerland on Tuesday, 10th June.

This is when Connacht will find out their opposition for the pool stages of the tier two European competition in its inaugural year.

For the new competition there will be five pools, each containing four teams. The teams in each pool will play each other twice, at home and away. The best placed team in each pool, and the three best second placed teams will qualify for the knockout stages of the competition.

The European Rugby Challenge Cup draw will take place at 12 noon (Irish time) followed by the European Rugby Champions Cup draw at approximately 12.30pm.

The draws will be streamed live on epcrugby.com – site available from Tuesday.

Train #055/056 known as the Yenisey has been operating on the route between Moscow and Krasnoyarsk since December 10, 1993. It is named after one the greatest rivers in Siberia. The trip takes a little more than 60 hours. The train crosses 4065 km on its route and 4 time zones.
This train has 1st, 2nd and 3rd class carriages. Bed linen is included in the price of all tickets. The 1st class compartment for 2 people is air-conditioned and has a TV and VHS.
Additional services in 1st and 2nd class compartments include hot meals, bed linens, newspapers and a hygiene package. The train also has a good restaurant carriage with traditional Siberian cuisine. Travel on the Trans Siberian express with us and journey from Moscow to Krasnoyarsk.

anyone here watch an idiot abroad. This is Karl being moved to third class. Honestly, that 'bed' (shelf) wouldnt hold me

pinky wrote:

ConnachtCows wrote: Krasnoyarsk would be some adventure, but you're looking at a 14hour flight, with two stop overs

Dublin -> Paris
Paris -> Moscow
Moscow -> Krasnoyarsk

Flight?
Where's your sense of adventure, Cows?
We're getting the train!

www.transsiberianexpress.net/moscow-krasnoyarsk-train.html

To be honest, that would be quality.
I can picture Sky Sports showing the try highlights of the game after, and the camera zooming in on Pinky and Swifty celebrating in the emptiness of a 100,000 seater stadium, and then getting hit with a severe bout of jealousy

ConnachtCows wrote: Krasnoyarsk would be some adventure, but you're looking at a 14hour flight, with two stop overs

Dublin -> Paris
Paris -> Moscow
Moscow -> Krasnoyarsk

Flight?
Where's your sense of adventure, Cows?
We're getting the train!

www.transsiberianexpress.net/moscow-krasnoyarsk-train.html

Yeah, if a Russian team qualifies, I don't know how it would work. Their league is played in summer so they would be playing no other rugby apart from Challenge Cup at that time of year and their pitches will be unplayable. The Qualifying Competition will also clash with the business end of their season as far as I know, so given the lack of any details from EPCR, I'm guessing there is a good chance they won't participate at all, at least for this season.

We could still get London Irish Craic Head as one or other of us could be in Pot 3, or the system could be completely different than the above. Essentially we could still get anyone. I'd like to avoid LI as trips to London are less craic, but they would be a good box office draw for the home game.

4D I can have a word with the EPCR if 2H doesn't fancy Newcastle.
Exeter, Bayonne, Bucharest, maybe?

Krasnoyarsk would be some adventure, but you're looking at a 14hour flight, with two stop overs

Dublin -> Paris
Paris -> Moscow
Moscow -> Krasnoyarsk

Two horses likes the option of Bordeaux and Krasnoyarsk/Bucharest but said she will pass on Newcastle :whistle: :whistle:

I was hoping that we would draw London Irish.

Anyone but Zebre

Just checked to see where Krasnoyarsk is. I pity any poor team having to travel to play them

Bordeaux
Newcastle
Bucharest

That will do me nicely

Right so, London Welsh are promoted so that finalises the line-up apart from the two qualifiers.
Apparently the draw is next Tuesday. No confirmed details yet on how it will work so here is some idle speculation.
If it is seeded based on league position, the relevant positions are:

7th :Stade Francais, Cardiff
8th :Exeter, Bordeaux-Begles, Edinburgh
9th :Gloucester, Brive, Dragons
10th:London Irish, Bayonne, Connacht
11th:Newcastle, Grenoble
12th:Oyonnax, Zebre
Pmtd:London Welsh, Lyon, La Rochelle

As there are five teams in 7th/8th we can assume they will be Pot 1
The the three 9th and two random 10th will be Pot 2
The remaining 10th, two 11th and two 12th could be Pot 3, but there is a strong argument that Zebre shouldn't be ahead of Lyon/Welsh given that they would have been relegated were there anywhere for them to go, etc. There's a good chance they will just have one pot of ten for the lower teams.

But with four pots and Connacht getting that 2/3 shot at a second seeding, it would look like so:

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Stade Francais	Brive	Bayonne	Zebre
Cardiff	Gloucester	Newcastle	London Welsh
Exeter	Dragons	Grenoble	Bucharest
Bordeaux-Begles	Connacht	Oyonnax	La Rochelle
Edinburgh	London Irish	Lyon	Krasny Yar

So it could be Bordeaux (red wine), Newcastle (brown ale) and Krasnoyarsk (white Russian) for our holidays.

A little from column A, a little from column B.
I would have thought the playoff would be on the domestic semi and final weekends, but apparently it's the euro final and domestic final weekends, so if one of them is in a final, there's only one weekend to play with.

pinky wrote: If Wasps beat Bath on Sunday in the Challenge Cup semi, then assuming they remain 7th in the Premiership, the Euro playoff will be a single match with a draw for home advantage.
If they lose, it will be a two-legged aggregate type thing.
I think they would probably fancy themselves over two legs against Stade or Bordeaux, whereas a single match makes it a bit of a lottery.
So it might be a good idea to lose.

And if Saturn is in the 7th recession of the moon's transit of Uranus the relegated sides from the French and English top flights play a game of dodgeball to see who gets to host....

Is this down to available dates or is it more like my suggestion?

If Wasps beat Bath on Sunday in the Challenge Cup semi, then assuming they remain 7th in the Premiership, the Euro playoff will be a single match with a draw for home advantage.
If they lose, it will be a two-legged aggregate type thing.
I think they would probably fancy themselves over two legs against Stade or Bordeaux, whereas a single match makes it a bit of a lottery.
So it might be a good idea to lose.

Initially at least it will be a knockout competition at start of season. They hope for 8 teams so open draw( keeping teams from same union apart). Quarters and semis. Dont know if they will bother with final as its a qualifying comp for two places in the challenge cup.

rossie wrote: Dont forget there will be two italian teams in the mix for the challenge cup spots aswell. I also hear that pontyprydd want wru to put them into mix also.

I heard mention of that alright. Seems daft as the idea was to give teams from lower tier nations a chance. Bucharest have been routinely beating the Italian teams in the Challenge Cup the last few seasons anyway so I wouldn't fancy Calvisano, etc. to progress.
Was there any update on the format for the third tier Rossie? I haven't heard much officially beyond that it will be played in September.