That's either an EPRC bod not having a clue about his own competition, or they've gone and changed the rules yet again and haven't told anyone.

Considering the clusterwellhellothere that is European rugby, both are equally likely

After reading Rossie's post, I had a look at that interview.
www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/european-...nt-delayed-1.2071239

McNaughton says:
“Actually though there is already reward for the Challenge Cup winners that many people haven’t realised.
“The winners of the Challenge Cup can still qualify for the Champions Cup play-offs if they haven’t already done so through league position.”

I was under the distinct impression that that rule had changed when they changed the playoff format to 3 teams.
They would want to confirm definitively whether the Challenge Cup winner is in or out of the playoff. The Chairman seems to be saying something different to what was previously announced.

If what McNaughton says is true then if Connacht finish 7th they would not get a playoff spot if Dragons, Cardiff or Edinburgh win the Challenge Cup.

rossie wrote: All they really have to do is allow the winner of challenge cup take the last qualifying spot from their respective league( if not already qualified) and the team they displace would in turn take the qualifier spot and receive bye to final round of qualifiers at home. Not that difficult and would greatly enhance this competition.

Of course the chance of such a fair, simple and sensible proposal being adopted is somewhere near zero....

rossie wrote: All they really have to do is allow the winner of challenge cup take the last qualifying spot from their respective league( if not already qualified) and the team they displace would in turn take the qualifier spot and receive bye to final round of qualifiers at home. Not that difficult and would greatly enhance this competition.

Amen. The current situation is crazy, and while the competition wasn't taken seriously by some before, it has suffered badly as a result of losing the automatic qualification for the main competition. Hopefully some sense will prevail.

One quick look at the likely quarter final pairings and there isn't one french team among them in spite of having 8 teams in the competition one of which is currently in top 2 of top 14 atm afaik.
when you consider top 14 sides will make up 4 of the 8 Qtr finalists in the Heineken cup and the top 3 seeds shows a lot.

I read an interview that pat mcnaughton(acting chairman of eprc) gave recently. It was about redundancies at ercc and difficulties filling the independent chairman and director general positions however at tail end he states that it was proving difficult to resolve the issues with challenge cup. He stated that they were looking at ways of making it more attractive and raising prize money was being considered. He went on to say that if you won the competition you already qualify for a playoff berth for Heineken which imo was a worrying comment to make. It implies that there is no immediate plan to grant the winner a position in Heineken if not already qualified .

All they really have to do is allow the winner of challenge cup take the last qualifying spot from their respective league( if not already qualified) and the team they displace would in turn take the qualifier spot and receive bye to final round of qualifiers at home. Not that difficult and would greatly enhance this competition.

I've given my thoughts on salmson post.

1) Gloucester (24 pts +136 diff, away to eliminated Brive.
I expect glaws to win and be top seed.

2) Dragons (21, +122, home to Stade, win would put them on 25)
Agree

3) Exeter (20, +73, home to Bayonne, BP win puts them on 25)

4) Irish (19, +69, away to Rovigo, BP win puts them on 24)

5) Edinburgh (17, +38, home to Bordeaux Begles, win puts them on 21

6) Cardiff (19, +129, away to Grenoble, even an unlikely BP win would leave them behind Irish)
I'll give them just a win

7) Newcastle (16, +17, away to Bucharest, 5 points to 21,
Give them 5 point

8.) Connacht (15, +32, away to La Rochelle, need win, and BP to deny Lyon the chance to overtake them)

Challenge cup quarter final predictions.
Glaws vs Connacht,
dragons vs Newcastle,
Exeter vs Cardiff,
London irish vs Edinburgh.

If stade beat dragons in Wales (unlikely), and Cardiff fail to get any points in grenoble, then it will be Exeter vs Connacht in quarters!?!

connachta wrote: And that Lyon hasn't won a single away game so far this season. So, yes it's a shame they play the day after us, but i'm pretty confident a + 40 margin would be well enough

Every other games are lined up that all 4 teams in a group play at same time.
Exeter vs bayonne 5.30
La Rochelle vs Connacht 5.30 (both irish times)

But Edinburgh play bordeaux play Friday but London Welsh play Lyon on Sunday. Anyone know why this is? Why aren't they playing the same time?

salmson wrote: As it stands


9) Connacht (15, +32, away to La Rochelle, need Edinburgh to win, and BP to deny Lyon the chance to overtake them)

No need for Edinburgh to win.. :dry:

As it stands

1) Gloucester (24 pts +136 diff, away to eliminated Brive, likely to finish on 28/29 points)
2) Dragons (21, +122, home to Stade, win would put them on 25)
3) Exeter (20, +73, home to Bayonne, BP win puts them on 25)
4) Irish (19, +69, away to Rovigo, BP win puts them on 24)
5) Edinburgh (17, +38, home to Bordeaux Begles, win puts them on 21, loss likely would eliminate them)
6) Cardiff (19, +129, away to Grenoble, even an unlikely BP win would leave them behind Irish)
7) Bordeaux Begles (16, +52, away to Edinburgh, win would see them swap with Edinburgh, loss likely eliminates them)
Newcastle (16, +17, away to Bucharest, 5 points to 21, likely to be 6th or 7th seed)
9) Connacht (15, +32, away to La Rochelle, need win, and BP to deny Lyon the chance to overtake them)
10) Oyannax (12, -18, home to Zebre, but even a BP win will almost certainly see them eliminated)
11) Stade Francais (15, +23, away to Dragons, asteroid strike chance of progression)
12) Lyon (14, +5, away to London Welsh, eliminated if Edinburgh win and Connacht get a BP win; otherwise in with a chance)

Edit: Connachta's corrections to my maths added.

Bear in mind it's probably the only chance for Welsh to get a win this season. And Welsh were better recently, 13-24 against Harlequins for exemple. And that Lyon is focused on top 14 to survive. And that Lyon hasn't won a single away game so far this season. So, yes it's a shame they play the day after us, but i'm pretty confident a + 40 margin would be well enough

connachta wrote: Even if both teams are with 19 points in the end, Lyon has a + 5 diff overall, we have a + 32 diff. I guess a simple win next week should be enough

Bear in mind Welsh lost by 32 points to Bordeaux at home in Round 2, and Exeter beat them 52-0 there in the Premiership, among other nightmares in Oxford.
I would be a nervous man indeed on Sunday if Lyon were travelling there with a known target, even if it was 40+ points.
Lately the Kassam stadium is the kind of place where you can nip out to the bar during the second half and come back to find your name on the scoresheet.

connachta wrote: Even if both teams are with 19 points in the end, Lyon has a + 5 diff overall, we have a + 32 diff. I guess a simple win next week should be enough

I think you are right. The qualification criteria on the epc website isn't particularly clear on this but from what I can make out it looks like points difference is the first differential, its used to come down to tries scored previously but looks like this might be a change.

2.3 The five pool winners and three best-placed runners-up will qualify for the quarter-finals and will be decided as follows:
(a) The pool winner will be the club with the highest number of match points in each pool. The best-placed runners-up will be the three clubs with the highest number of match points out of the five clubs that finish second in their respective pools. For the quarter-finals, the pool winners will be ranked 1 to 5 and the best-placed runners-up ranked 6th, 7th and 8th by reference to the number of match points earned.

(b) If two or more clubs in the same pool are equal on match points, their ranking will be determined by the matches played between the relevant clubs as follows:
(i) the club with the greater number of match points from those matches; or
(ii) if equal, the club with the best aggregate points difference from those matches; or
(iii) if equal, the club that scored the most tries in those matches.

(c) If ranking remains unresolved and/or if clubs have not played each other previously in the pool stage, ranking will be determined as follows:
(i) the best aggregate points difference from the pool stage; or
(ii) if equal, the number of tries scored in the pool stage; or
(iii) if equal, the club with the fewest number of players suspended for incidents in the pool stage; or
(iv) if equal, by drawing lots.

Even if both teams are with 19 points in the end, Lyon has a + 5 diff overall, we have a + 32 diff. I guess a simple win next week should be enough

Now It's Connacht vs Lyon, with a 1 point advantage for us.
London Welsh wasn't far from denying the BP away to Bordeaux, so there's a slim possibilty they try to claim their 1st win of the season and help us.
BP to La Rochelle achievable too, even with a few changes.

It will obviously be Gloucester away, can't see them losing without any BP to Brive. We mustn't have too much regrets, Cardiff Blues will be 2nd of their pool, and then away from home, just because of a stupid 1-point aggregate difference in their head-to-head with London Irish

+ I think Gloucester has a better chance to be televised :silly:

So, basically, If we win tomorrow we'll have with a 99% probability

1) Gloucester Connacht, if we're unable to get any bonus point in the last two games
2) Connacht-Edimburgh (or Bordeaux) if we get one

Borders no.2 wrote: Lyon edge out Edinburgh which leaves Edinburgh on 17 heading into next Friday's game against Bordeaux-Begles who are just 1 behind them. Even with a bonus point win it would only bring them to 22. I'd say its likely they'll end on 21. Either way if we do the business tomorrow we will know what we have to do next Saturday evening.

By my calculations a win tomorrow would leave it in our hands next Saturday at La Rochelle to win the group and get a home quarter final! A win by 8 or more points tomorrow would be even better.

we have our home Quarter-fi, with certainty, if we get 9 points in the last 2 games as I said earlier (probably away quarter-f with 8, if Exeter gets the LBP and no TBP for us)

The prospect of a potential chance to get revenge at home to Edinburgh in the European quarter final should provide further motivation for tomorrow.

Oh yeah a beating for them :woohoo: