2015-16 Champions Cup thread

matthew8

Wasps

Try Exeter! Now they go top says Austin Healy.

Buer

Exeter try and Bordeaux penalty.

Exeter top!

Dave_The_Sheep

Parra must not have known. Lunacy!

aimee1

clermont pen in front of posts and parra tapped

Quint2010

Jesus Christ. Parra...

sydthebeat

Munster

What absolute craziness !!!!##


Surely the bench should have known and got word onto the pitch what should have happened

matthew8

Wasps

No matter what the situation is was incompetent by Parra. Ridiculously stupid you had to take that kick.

Guy:Incognito

What the hell was Parra thinking? ridiculous

Buer

Parra should be shot. As commentary pointed out though, not a single Clermont coach was out on the sideline shouting instructions. I don't think any of them knew what was required.

The single best finish to the pool stage in the history of the tournament.

Exeter going to Wasps. Northampton go through. Ulster's failure to get the BP away to Oyonnax ends up costing them the quarter final.

Saracens vs Northampton
Leicester vs Stade Francais
Racing vs Toulon
Wasps vs Exeter

aimee1

matthew8 wrote: »

No matter what the situation is was incompetent by Parra. Ridiculously stupid you had to take that kick.

even a try would only get them the LBP. Its not like they could have won the game. Will Greenwood tearing into the clermont DOR/coaches

Diabhal Beag

That's a costly mistake.

matthew8

Wasps

Exeter points difference was -3. Ospreys was -4. Ospreys turned down a kickable penalty in the closing stages. Exeter travel to Wasps and they'll have a great chance of making a semi.

Buer

Parra will take the flak but Bardy should take even more. Absolutely moronic and dangerous penalty and yellow card (could have been red) in the final stages. Bordeaux scored 17 points while he was off.

blackcard

Even the Sky commentators didn't know the implications of Bordeaux scoring their last penalty, it is not rocket science. Surely everyone should have been aware of the possibilities

sydthebeat

Munster

No pro12 team in the quarter finals.
Two English forth seeds top their groups.

The tide has most definitely turned and the pro12 is now the very poor neighbour, with absolutely no evidence of changing in the medium term future.

irishbucsfan

sydthebeat wrote: »

No pro12 team in the quarter finals.
Two English forth seeds top their groups.

The tide has most definitely turned and the pro12 is now the very poor neighbour, with absolutely no evidence of changing in the medium term future.

I think Greenwood made a very important point, which is that the Pro 12 sides were hit much harder by the world cup than any English or French side. I don't think this result is representative of the strength of the leagues.

Hagz

I don't think you can discount the effect the world cup has had on the Pro 12 sides this season. Next season will be a much fairer reflection.

CatFromHue

Wasps

I think Exeter would have gone through as they'd 5 (a win and tbp) match points compared to 4 for the Ospreys over the two games.

They also got more match points, 6 (a win, tbp, and lbp) compared to Bordeaux's 5 (win and tbp) in their games.

It's pretty confusing tho

CatFromHue

Wasps

I think Exeter would have gone through as they'd 5 (a win and tbp) match points compared to 4 for the Ospreys over the two games.

They also got more match points, 6 (a win, tbp, and lbp) compared to Bordeaux's 5 (win and tbp) in their games.

It's pretty confusing tho

paddyref

No Irish, Welsh or Scottish teams left now 😱😱

aimee1

sydthebeat wrote: »

No pro12 team in the quarter finals.
Two English forth seeds top their groups.

The tide has most definitely turned and the pro12 is now the very poor neighbour, with absolutely no evidence of changing in the medium term future.

leinster, ospreys, glasgow are the strongest sides from each country of the pro12 and they were supplying the most numbers to the RWC squads. Leinster had a new coach who took 19/20 players back few weeks before the ERCC started whereas in england some sides only had a few players away and the level of disruption was akin to bringing few guys back from injury

Guy:Incognito

Ospreys could (should) have game managed a losing bp there near the end. Thats the difference between one and no pro 12 team in the quarters. The situation is bad but not like they were all blown out of it.Ulster were fairly close too and got more points than everyone in the Exeter group.

Neil3030

Ah good. No Scottish, Welsh, Irish or Italian team in the quarter finals. They'll be dancing on the streets of Tblisi, Bucharest and St. Petersburg, lauding the fine efforts of Nigel Wray and co., in orchestrating this pivotal victory for the Tier 2 nations of rugby.

Buer

The RWC impact is a fair point but only to a limit. Ulster provided 8 players. Munster provided 5. Scarlets 7. Osrpeys 11. Obviously, Leinster and Glasgow were hit hard but they stood out from the rest of the top Pro12 sides.

Leicester provided 8. Northampton 8. SF 9. Clermont 11. Racing 11. Bath 12. Toulon 14. Saracens 16.

bilston

Buer wrote: »

The RWC impact is a fair point but only to a limit. Ulster provided 8 players. Munster provided 5. Scarlets 7. Osrpeys 11. Obviously, Leinster and Glasgow were hit hard but they stood out from the rest of the top Pro12 sides.

Leicester provided 8. Northampton 8. SF 9. Clermont 11. Racing 11. Bath 12. Toulon 14. Saracens 16.

Yeah but gor example in Ulster's case the first game against Saracens was also the first time a number of players played for Ulster after the WC and that rustiness showed. If they had had a bit more gametime under their belt who knows what would have happened. In hindsight (and not that it matters given the reasons for it) Ulster were buggered by the initial postponement of the Oyonnax match.

Looking to next year I would expect both Leinster and Ulster to be contenders thanks to the youngs at Leinster and the signings and potential signings that Ulster are making. I'd worry for Munster though.

Perversely this all should make for renewed focus on the Pro 12 now and we could have quite an exciting finish to that competition.

errlloyd

Ospreys

Of the 38 votes cast in the poll at the top of this thread, 22 of us (including me) voted for teams that haven't even made it out of their pools.

Of the 16 who voted for teams who did get out of their pools, only 2 voted for teams who won their pools. Assuming that no one thought their team was best served by being a runner up (which I actually made an argument for based on the new seedings) only 2 out of 38 of us were able to come close to identifying a potential winner in week 1.

bilston

Can't remember if or how I voted (probably Toulon) but I'd be backing Racing now. As long as it isn't Saracens I don't really care although I'd love Exeter to win it!

Neil3030

bilston wrote: »

Perversely this all should make for renewed focus on the Pro 12 now and we could have quite an exciting finish to that competition.

Nothing perverse about it, for me. Ultimately, the only thing that Irish rugby fans can control is the extent to which they give a crap about their own domestic competition. We're playing against a stacked deck when we step up to the European stage, given population and funding advantages enjoyed by England and France.

We can't control if BT keep loss leading on English rugby to try squeeze Sky out of the broadband market. We can't control if a Qatari quadrillionaire suddenly funds a squad of galacticos in an Alpine town you've never heard of.

BUT, we can still pack out the Aviva stadium for interpros, we can still turn up 20k strong to see academy products learn their trade and become stars, we can still feel satisfied that a domestic title is something to be cherished and celebrated.

errlloyd

Ospreys

The most hilarious result of all this is that despite having the final in the South of France, there is a very strong chance it will be two English teams. The only way to avoid an all English final would be a French team winning away from home.

One of Saracens, Northampton, Exeter or Wasps has to be in the final.

The other side is less clear, but a French team will have to win away from home. This is because Leicster are against Stade at home, so unless Stade win that game away Leicster will go through the semis.

If Leicster get to the semis they will have to play the winner of Racing v Toulon.

Racing will play Leicster in England
Toulon would play Leicster in France.

So unless Stade win in Leicster, Toulon win in Paris or Racing win in England, the final will be all English.

vienne86

Scarlets

errlloyd wrote: »

Of the 38 votes cast in the poll at the top of this thread, 22 of us (including me) voted for teams that haven't even made it out of their pools.

Of the 16 who voted for teams who did get out of their pools, only 2 voted for teams who won their pools. Assuming that no one thought their team was best served by being a runner up (which I actually made an argument for based on the new seedings) only 2 out of 38 of us were able to come close to identifying a potential winner in week 1.

Well I am claiming the Racing vote - fancied their chances from the start. I thought Saracens would be in the mix as well, but I could never bring myself to vote for them. Never. That said, there is no way I expected things to wind up the way they have after the pool games.