Amlin Challenge Cup 2011/2012

theboss80

Amlin Challenge Cup - Season 2011/12

Pool draw from ERC

Pool 1

Stade Français
Worcester Warriors
Crociati Parma
Bucharest Wolves

Pool 2

Toulon
Newcastle Falcons
Petrarca Padova
Lyon Rugby

Pool 3

London Wasps
Bayonne
Femi-CZ Rovigo
Bordeaux-Bègles

Pool 4

Perpignan
Newport Gwent Dragons
Exeter Chiefs
Cavalieri Prato

Pool 5

Sale Sharks
Brive
Agen
Club de Rugby La Vila

jolley123

The only pools I'm unsure about are 5 and 3.

irishbucsfan

Pool 2 will be fascinating. Lyon have improved, Newcastle are falling away.

BoarHunter

We don't have a clue what Sales will look like next season as everyone is gone ... so Brive could do something there.

Good confrontation between Bayonne and the Wasps.

BTL

It'll mostly come down to which French sides care about winning the Challenge cup.

Cheika is pretty much going to need a top 6 finish with Stade Francais, they are too big a club to not compete at the top of the table, so he should be focusing all-out on the league.

Same with Toulon.

Agen, Brive, Lyon and Bordeaux are going to be concerned first about avoiding relegation, so they'll be focused on the league unless one of them get a few good results together.

So the teams most likely to want to win the thing are Perpignan and Bayonne, with Perpignan probably having the best chance.

Which means that Exeter's draw is pretty horrible, not only the did they get the worst French side they could have drawn. but they also got Cavalieri Prato, who are a really, really good side...

Digifriendly

Don't forget that while Cavalieri beat Connacht in Italy they lost 83-7 away to Connacht and 57-17 away to Harlequins so away from home they're probably not too strong.

P_1

Wilko going back to Newcastle, interesting...

Can't see nothing but the tier 1 teams all qualifying for the 1/4 finals.

No real easy draw for any of the teams who drop from the HEC.

EKClarke

Anyone see Worcester and Stade Francais? Worcester were 14-0 up by 12 minutes yet failed to score after that and it ended 14-23. Garvey's try was ridiculous. Yet at the end of the day Stade were just to classy.

Podge_irl

Think Cheika is a perfect fit for Stade really. He instils a real backbone in teams and after getting Ireland's capital team up to scratch he must relish the chance to do the same with France's.

Big Nelly

Stade should be on a revenage mission. Seen final last season and they should of won it over Quins!!

Digifriendly

What is disappointing about this competition is that it will be dominated by English and French sides - no Scottish teams, no Irish and 1 Welsh. I'm personally delighted that Connacht have made it into the HC but downside is no Irish team. Considering weakness of some of the Italian teams could the top Irish team from British/Irish cup last season not be allowed to enter and the same with the Scots?

ormond lad

Digifriendly wrote: »

What is disappointing about this competition is that it will be dominated by English and French sides - no Scottish teams, no Irish and 1 Welsh. I'm personally delighted that Connacht have made it into the HC but downside is no Irish team. Considering weakness of some of the Italian teams could the top Irish team from British/Irish cup last season not be allowed to enter and the same with the Scots?

Munster or Leinsters 2nds. Dont think that will be allowed happen

Fireball07

Digifriendly wrote: »

What is disappointing about this competition is that it will be dominated by English and French sides - no Scottish teams, no Irish and 1 Welsh. I'm personally delighted that Connacht have made it into the HC but downside is no Irish team. Considering weakness of some of the Italian teams could the top Irish team from British/Irish cup last season not be allowed to enter and the same with the Scots?

No that wouldn't work, you can't have sub teams in there really. It'd be a bit unfair. Irish teams had a chance to be there, but it's there own fault for being too good.

[Jackass]

3 Irish teams could end up in the quarters of this, in thereoy.

It's a second tier competition, we're top tier, but if we fail in the top tier competition we may end up competing in it, as Munster did last season.

I think it's new format is brilliant and has really given it a lot more status and the quality of team and meaningfulness as a result is much higher.

If all the top seed group teams go through (as I expect they will) you could have a quarter-final line up of something along the lines of Stade Francais, Toulon, Wasps, Perpingan, Sale, Munster, Harlequins & Ospreys. Wouldn't look completely out of place in the Heineken Cup. It's a massive progression from the quarters and even semi's of old, where maybe you'd only have 2 decent European sides in the entrie competition, and the French in particular are taking Europe a lot more seriously year on year, and in this competition also, such as Toulon for example.

Digifriendly

[Jackass] wrote: »

3 Irish teams could end up in the quarters of this, in thereoy.

It's a second tier competition, we're top tier, but if we fail in the top tier competition we may end up competing in it, as Munster did last season.

I think it's new format is brilliant and has really given it a lot more status and the quality of team and meaningfulness as a result is much higher.

If all the top seed group teams go through (as I expect they will) you could have a quarter-final line up of something along the lines of Stade Francais, Toulon, Wasps, Perpingan, Sale, Munster, Harlequins & Ospreys. Wouldn't look completely out of place in the Heineken Cup. It's a massive progression from the quarters and even semi's of old, where maybe you'd only have 2 decent European sides in the entrie competition, and the French in particular are taking Europe a lot more seriously year on year, and in this competition also, such as Toulon for example.

Take back what I wrote. Completely forgot about the HEC teams being able to qualify for latter stages. Should be at least 1 Irish team there.