pinky wrote:

Fourdogs wrote: From a travel point of view there could be some very interesting destinations. Bucharest or the Russian side for the die hard's. Average temp in Siberia in Feb is something like -15 Degrees.

Any word on if they intend to keep teams from the same leagues apart. Hope so as that would mean we could not get Zebre "AGAIN"

Disappointing draw (imo only) would be to get 2 English sides. (With 4 of them spread over the other 3 pots, 2 will have to be drawn in the same pool). Although that might get more fans travelling.

3 of the 5 pools will also have 2 French teams in them.

Yeah, not sure how the Russian thing will work. I'm only assuming one or both of the slots will be filled by Russian teams based on the fact that they are professional and the likes of Krasny or Enisei would certainly see off the Spanish or Portuguese teams. Not sure what Georgia has to offer club-wise. As far as I know the Russian league runs in the summer and I can't imagine there will be any playable pitches in Krasnoyarsk in the winter. Even Bucharest always play two home games in October as they can't play at home in Jan.
As Rossie says, we'll have at least one English team and at least one French and the last one could be from anywhere.
Based on the pots I have above, we couldn't get two English teams as there are only 5 so one per pool, but there would be 6 if Wasps lose the playoff.
From a marketing point of view, there aren't many teams among our potential opponents that would be familiar to the casual rugby fan. L Irish the only one really. So I don't think there would be justification for charging more than the current €22/23 Pro12 price.

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.

From a marketing point of view, there aren't many teams among our potential opponents that would be familiar to the casual rugby fan. L Irish the only one really.

Grenoble could be tasty with Jackman managing them next season and the likes of Hart and now Farrell playing for them.

Fourdogs wrote: From a travel point of view there could be some very interesting destinations. Bucharest or the Russian side for the die hard's. Average temp in Siberia in Feb is something like -15 Degrees.

Any word on if they intend to keep teams from the same leagues apart. Hope so as that would mean we could not get Zebre "AGAIN"

Disappointing draw (imo only) would be to get 2 English sides. (With 4 of them spread over the other 3 pots, 2 will have to be drawn in the same pool). Although that might get more fans travelling.

3 of the 5 pools will also have 2 French teams in them.

Yeah, not sure how the Russian thing will work. I'm only assuming one or both of the slots will be filled by Russian teams based on the fact that they are professional and the likes of Krasny or Enisei would certainly see off the Spanish or Portuguese teams. Not sure what Georgia has to offer club-wise. As far as I know the Russian league runs in the summer and I can't imagine there will be any playable pitches in Krasnoyarsk in the winter. Even Bucharest always play two home games in October as they can't play at home in Jan.
As Rossie says, we'll have at least one English team and at least one French and the last one could be from anywhere.
Based on the pots I have above, we couldn't get two English teams as there are only 5 so one per pool, but there would be 6 if Wasps lose the playoff.
From a marketing point of view, there aren't many teams among our potential opponents that would be familiar to the casual rugby fan. L Irish the only one really. So I don't think there would be justification for charging more than the current €22/23 Pro12 price.

There will be 3 pools with 2 french teams. There cant be 1 pool with 3 french teams for instance or 2 welsh in the one pool.

rossie wrote: No. Only rule afaik is keeping teams from same country apart and domestic league finishing position deciding seeding.

How do you make that rule work if you have 5 pools but 8 French teams. Some genius really had their thinking hat on there then, or is this the best example of "every rule has an exception" I should really get some sleep.

No. Only rule afaik is keeping teams from same country apart and domestic league finishing position deciding seeding.

From a travel point of view there could be some very interesting destinations. Bucharest or the Russian side for the die hard's. Average temp in Siberia in Feb is something like -15 Degrees.

Any word on if they intend to keep teams from the same leagues apart. Hope so as that would mean we could not get Zebre "AGAIN"

Disappointing draw (imo only) would be to get 2 English sides. (With 4 of them spread over the other 3 pots, 2 will have to be drawn in the same pool). Although that might get more fans travelling.

3 of the 5 pools will also have 2 French teams in them.

So as it stands from what I can see if we beat Cardiff but lose to Ospreys, then to finish 7th we would need Scarlets to beat Dragons and Cardiff at home and Edinburgh to lose all their remaining games (away to Glasgow and Leinster and home to Munster). Each of those results will probably be odds on to go in our favour, but for all of them to come off is a long way from guaranteed, especially with Scarlets having nothing to play for as they can't get fifth and unlikely to drop to seventh.
Still, eighth will presumably be good enough for a top seed spot in the Challenge Cup, so the Cardiff game is key to avoiding the better teams.

Wasps should make the playoff and I fancy Gloucester to overhaul Exeter for 8th so they should be seeded too.
Stade look like they will take the French playoff spot, though they gave Bordeaux a chance by conceding a late consolation try to them, giving them a better head-to-head. Bordeaux need a try bonus at home to Biarritz and need Stade to lose away to Toulon. Both fairly likely. Castres could drop down as they're away to relegation-threatened Bayonne, but I doubt it. Looks like Perpignan have the second relegation spot sewn up.
In any case Stade, Bordeaux and Castres should all be top 8 and thus seeded if they are in the lower tier.

If Connacht beat Cardiff and they seed the draw based on league position, my pots would be roughly.

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

I gave Wasps the playoff win and there's a bit of guesswork in there.

CountFurlo wrote: Can someone clarify for me whether or not RFU Championship winners are in?

Bugs be that in the B&I Cup, National League 1 winners get a place so wonder if it also applies here

Yes the winners of championship replace relegated team in the challenge cup. Always have done afaik. Same applies in france.

[strike]Apparently not, neither the winner of the ERCC or the Amlin get an automatic place in the ERCC.[/strike]

Edit: Completely misread the Counts question.+

Can someone clarify for me whether or not RFU Championship winners are in?

Bugs be that in the B&I Cup, National League 1 winners get a place so wonder if it also applies here

No games in the Top14 or Aviva next week due to HCup.

Edinburgh
Connacht
Cardiff
Dragons
zebre
Brive
london irish
Newcastle
Lyon

With our dreams over and us cant finish 6th,we better look forward to Rugby Challenge Cup. (and where we're going on holidays next season).

With no play-offs this year, and we dont have relegation, the pro12 is more easy to figure out with only 2 games left.

Edinburgh
Connacht
Cardiff
Dragons
zebre

with only 1 games left in top14, 8 teams can still play in the RCC. biarritz are down, and 4 others are fighting relegation. Brive cant finish 7th nor can the get relegated. brive will be joining us in RCC
the 8 teams are:

5th castres 66 points... away to bayonne
6th toulouse 64 points... home to grenoble
7th stade francais 64 points... away to toulon
8th bordeaux 59 points... home to biarritz

10th grenoble 53 points... away to toulouse
11th bayonne 50 points... home to castre
12th oyonnax 50 points... away to brive
13th perpignan 50 points... away to clermont

from D2, lyon are all but crowned champions, with 3 games to go, with la rochelle, agen, narbonne, pau and tarbes fighting for playoffs spots.


2 teams in the aviva premiership are confirmed to be playing in the RCC, which are london irish and Newcastle.
3 teams are fighting for the 7th spot, to be in the platoff vs a french team.
7th wasps 44 points... home vs newcastle, away to northanpton
8th exeter 40 points..home vs quins, away to newcastle
9th gloucester 37 points... home vs london irish, away vs worcester

its will be bristol vs london welsh will have the championship playoffs but still early.

Cardiff blues beat scarlets to go into 7th and onto 37pts. Connacht v blues now crucial to both teams For seedings. Both are away in wales v scarlets and ospreys in last round.

pinky wrote: Don't forget Biarritz, Worcester and one other will be gone (looking likely to be Perpignan).
I'd say Wasps could make the playoff and it will be prob be between SFP and Begles for the other one.
But I'd be happy with Grenoble, Newcastle and Krasny Yar
Thiye trip to Siberia would sort out the fair weather tourists.

Nostrovia (Na Zdorovie) my friend.

Don't forget Biarritz, Worcester and one other will be gone (looking likely to be Perpignan).
I'd say Wasps could make the playoff and it will be prob be between SFP and Begles for the other one.
But I'd be happy with Grenoble, Newcastle and Krasny Yar
The trip to Siberia would sort out the fair weather tourists.