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. The flip side of that is that is that a loss tomorrow may make it difficult to qualify for the quarter finals and even if we were to get through it would more than likely be away to Gloucester which wouldn't be too enticing.

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

Looking ahead to next week Bayonne beat La Rochelle by 14-0.

Good to see Zebre get another win also at home to Brive which is irrelevant in the overall scheme of things but I'm sure it'll be a morale boost for them.

The result in Newcastle should pretty much mean Stade Francais are out. Lyon v Edinburgh later on may have important ramifications come next week.

Dragons win 40 29. Bizarre game.

London Irish rescue a win 43-41 in what sounds like a bizarre game with bags of tries and cards.

Couple of interesting and surprising scores in the Challenge Cup, Dragons have scored 5 tries before half time away to Newcastle, leading 35-3. By my calculations, they will win their pool today which is a fair achievement.

A try from Tom Guest has got London Irish back in it at home to Grenoble but trail 20-27 at half time. They do have 3 tries in the bag, led 12-0 inside 10 minutes but had a bit of a meltdown then. Interesting 2nd half ahead there.

Gloucester have the bonus point in the bag at home to Oyonnax. They will win that pool and it looks like they will be the only team to come out of that pool.

Cardiff blues have just put 104 pts on rovigo!

Ok just to bump this before the weekend.

Pool 1: Both teams likely to progress, main issue to be decided is the pool winner.
Pool 2: Connacht v Exeter, Exeter win they win the pool, Connacht win it puts the pool in our hands, we win by more than 8, we will only need the 4 points against La Rochelle next week to win the pool.
Pool 3: Newcastle v Dragons, the winner will be top of the pool heading into the final round, with Newcastle playing Bucharest in the final pool game, a win effectively wins them the pool. Stade not out just yet but need 5 points v Bucharest
Pool 4: Edinburgh likely to win the pool. Bordeaux-Begles and Lyon still in with an outside shot at one of best 2nd place teams.
Pool 5: Gloucester in control, Oyonnax need a result at Kingsholm to stay in the competition.

The overall picture will be a lot clearer by Sunday evening but worth keeping an eye on other results, regardless of our own to see what we will be fighting for in the La Rochelle game.

Pool 1
London Irish 14
Cardiff Blues 14
Grenoble 10
Rovigo 1

Fixtures
London Irish v Grenoble
Cardiff Blues v Rovigo

Pool 2
Exeter 16
Connacht 14
Bayonne 5
La Rochelle 4

Fixtures
Connacht v Exeter Chiefs
Bayonne v La Rochelle

Pool 3
Dragons 16
Newcastle 15
Stade Francais 10
Bucharest 1

Fixtures
Newcastle v Dragons
Stade Francais v Bucharest

Pool 4
Edinburgh 16
Bordeaux-Begles 11
Lyon 10
London Welsh 0

Fixtures:
Bordeaux-Begles v London Welsh
Lyon v Edinburgh

Pool 5
Gloucester 19
Oyonnax 12
Zebre 4
Brive 2

Fixtures
Gloucester v Oyonnax
Zebre v Brive

Not on our agenda immediately but ahead of our game against Exeter they have lost their 3rd game in a row in the league 25-26 at home to Gloucester which has seen them slip to 4th and looking further ahead, La Rochelle are now bottom of the table in France after losing 30-15 away to Castres. They have Toulouse away next weekend so will likely be bottom of the table when facing us.

EPCR wrote: Alexandre Ruiz of France had been appointed to referee one of the stand-out games in Round 5 of the Challenge Cup between Connacht Rugby and Exeter Chiefs at The Sportsground on Sunday, 18 January.
www.epcrugby.com/europeanrugbychallengec...913.php#.VJl5z8ADQPA

La Rochelle v Connacht Rugby
Saturday 24th January 2015, KO 18:30
Stade Marcel Deflandre, La Rochelle
Referee: Neil Paterson
www.epcrugby.com/matchcentre/match_centr...verview&fixid=200948

It was a little qualifying competition last september :
Rovigo v Tbilisi Caucasians (Georgia)
Viadana v Bucharest Wolves (Romania)

Rovigo and Bucharest Wolves were qualified to the Challenge Cup so they don't have to qualify from the group. From the next season only teams from domestic competition are able to play in European competition so the romanian champion Baia Mare replaces Bucharest Wolves while the georgian team withdrawn unfortunately.

I don't know about Enisey but I think they will find a base in Western Europe if they are qualified for the Challenge Cup. Rugby can't be played in Siberia during the winter

croket wrote: A new qualifying competition was created by the FIR. 2 pools of 3 teams. The winner of each pool will play a knock out against a romanian team and Rovigo, currently in Challenge Cup. The romanian champions Baia Mare will replace the franchise Bucharest Wolves. Both winners of knock-out games will play in Challenge Cup next season.

Pool A	Pool B
Calvisano (Italy)	Enisey-STM (Russia)
CR El Salvador (Spain)	Mogliano (Italy)
Viadana (Italy)	CDUL (Portugal)

Knock-out (home-away)
Rovigo (Italy) - winner Pool A
Baia Mare (Romania) - winner Pool B
estxv.blogspot.fr/2014/12/et-finalement-...pe-deurope-voit.html

Note : The champion of Russia, Enisey, played against Connacht Eagles last 2 seasons.

Why do rovigo and Romania team not have to qualify from the group? If Eni sey qualify for challenge cup will teams have to travel all way to siberia?
I'm also wondering why Welsh premiership champs aren't included when 4 Italian teams are.

Hopefully minus the naked Welshmen

clanman wrote: flights booked for the trip to La Rochelle, hopefully we can make a good atmosphere over there.

We sure will :woohoo:
The Clan advance party will be arriving in La Rochelle on the Thursday. The General Humbert is promising us a great reception and after match party on Sat.

A new qualifying competition was created by the FIR. 2 pools of 3 teams. The winner of each pool will play a knock out against a romanian team and Rovigo, currently in Challenge Cup. The romanian champions Baia Mare will replace the franchise Bucharest Wolves. Both winners of knock-out games will play in Challenge Cup next season.

Pool A	Pool B
Calvisano (Italy)	Enisey-STM (Russia)
CR El Salvador (Spain)	Mogliano (Italy)
Viadana (Italy)	CDUL (Portugal)

Knock-out (home-away)
Rovigo (Italy) - winner Pool A
Baia Mare (Romania) - winner Pool B
estxv.blogspot.fr/2014/12/et-finalement-...pe-deurope-voit.html

Note : The champion of Russia, Enisey, played against Connacht Eagles last 2 seasons.

flights booked for the trip to La Rochelle, hopefully we can make a good atmosphere over there.