Official EPCR Champions Cup Preview Thread - A New Hope

Buer · 18-10-2014 07:16PM

Glasgow

Just looked at their pool. Racing have a huge chance of proceeding out of this pool now.

Hagz · 18-10-2014 07:19PM

Saracens

Buer wrote: »

Ugh. Can't stand Dowson. People can talk about Lawes all they want. Dowson is the cheap shot master.

It was Tom Wood with the swinging arm on Sexton.

Or are you talking about something else...?

Buer · 18-10-2014 07:21PM

Glasgow

Hagz wrote: »

It was Tom Wood with the swinging arm on Sexton.

Or are you talking about something else...?

Dowson coming on and scoring. He's my most disliked player in the AP.

Absolute master at late shoulder charging a player getting the ball away through the hands. Nasty git and a mouth too.

Clegg · 18-10-2014 07:31PM

Not a good day for prospective English internationals. Cipriani and Myler didn't hold their bottle when it mattered. I suppose Cipriani can at least point at a decent overall performance whereas Myler didn't impress at all.

thelad95 · 18-10-2014 07:58PM

Watching Leicester and Ulster and I'm not sure if it's the BT coverage or the fact that it's a sponsor-less, soul-less tournament with no history but I'm just not getting the same buzz of excitement I used to get from the 1st round of Heineken cup games.

Dravokivich · 18-10-2014 08:12PM

thelad95 wrote: »

Watching Leicester and Ulster and I'm not sure if it's the BT coverage or the fact that it's a sponsor-less, soul-less tournament with no history but I'm just not getting the same buzz of excitement I used to get from the 1st round of Heineken cup games.

But the main change with playoff for qualification doesnt really have an affect until next season? Contrary to the promotions on the telly, theres very little different right now for the people viewing. And I dunno... I found the match last night to be uninspiring, but the matches today on bt werent all that bad.

Clermont and sarries kept things fairly tight on the scoreboard. Bath under acheived big time, for all they seemed to be playing when I was flicking back and forth to it.

Buer · 18-10-2014 08:18PM

Glasgow

Absolutely no difference whatsoever in terms of the games on the field aside from the participants actually being of a higher calibre.

iroced · 18-10-2014 08:32PM

thelad95 wrote: »

Watching Leicester and Ulster and I'm not sure if it's the BT coverage or the fact that it's a sponsor-less, soul-less tournament with no history but I'm just not getting the same buzz of excitement I used to get from the 1st round of Heineken cup games.

I really don't get that point

.

I mean nothing changed really...

Fireball07 · 18-10-2014 08:36PM

Racing

Clegg wrote: »

Not a good day for prospective English internationals. Cipriani and Myler didn't hold their bottle when it mattered. I suppose Cipriani can at least point at a decent overall performance whereas Myler didn't impress at all.

Was Myler considered a prospective? He's just average, very average. Like Ryan Lamb.

Cipriani has talent but is an idiot. Freddie Burns... I rate him quite highly, but he's made plenty of mistakes against Ulster already.

phog · 18-10-2014 10:11PM

So far in round one, the home team has won their games bar Sale and looking ahead to tomorrow's fixtures then it looks like Munster will be the only team to get an away win this weekend.

matthew8 · 18-10-2014 10:26PM

Leinster

Metro odds on to go through if they get a losing bonus next week. Each team in that pool should get 10 off Treviso which sets them up really well. I'd expect Northampton to pick up the BP next week at home to Ospreys and the 10 off Treviso so still plenty of prospect for them. This is the only pool that resembles the old competition standard. If Metro are serious they'd want to keep the foot on the gas and run the tries in next week.

sydneybound · 18-10-2014 10:51PM

thelad95 wrote: »

Watching Leicester and Ulster and I'm not sure if it's the BT coverage or the fact that it's a sponsor-less, soul-less tournament with no history but I'm just not getting the same buzz of excitement I used to get from the 1st round of Heineken cup games.

Don't get you at all tbh. Thinks it's been a great day of rugby.

matthew8 · 18-10-2014 11:03PM

Leinster

I think some people are less excited because it's no longer a cakewalk to the quarters. Much easier to get excited if you feel closer to winning it. The rugby today was terrific entertainment.

BBDBB · 18-10-2014 11:08PM

not sure that's true, some folk remember when there was only one Irish province who had won a HEC........I forget who it was as they never mentioned it, it was rarely a cakewalk for any of our sides, its one of the things that made the competition such a good one to enjoy.

Ive enjoyed todays rugby, the debacle last year has made watching it more of a challenge, a stream is never going to match a quality picture on a TV screen, but the games have been pretty good so far

CatFromHue · 18-10-2014 11:10PM

I think there's a bit of looking through rose tinted glasses when talking about previous seasons as I'm not sure if people where that excited about first round games last season.

18-10-2014 11:11PM

As a connacht fan I gotta say the lack of coverage in the second tier comp and coz of that the lack of tmo is annoying.

CatFromHue · 18-10-2014 11:16PM

From years past I thought Sky used to cover some Challenge Cup (Thurs, Sunday night, and maybe a red button option on a Saturday) games so it's strange that it's abandoned completely this season.

BBDBB · 18-10-2014 11:16PM

Agreed, the debacle of last year has left me paying the same amount for less of a product. I no longer have the same range of choice on HEC weekends. That's annoying to say the least.

(Im a sky subscriber but not BT)

Hagz · 18-10-2014 11:58PM

Saracens

Chris Ashton is just two tries shy of equalling Shane Horgan's record, having played less than half the amount of games. Love him or hate him....

bilston · 19-10-2014 12:14AM

Ulster

Hagz wrote: »

Chris Ashton is just two tries shy of equalling Shane Horgan's record, having played less than half the amount of games. Love him or hate him....

He knows his way to the try line, every his worst critic couldn't deny that. He is also by most accounts a top fella, but on the pitch, jeez...I can't help but wish him ill fortune!

CatFromHue · 19-10-2014 12:18AM

He gets alot of stick but he's an excellent winger and really works for his teams I think, which tends to be ignored in favour of his swan dives.

errlloyd · 19-10-2014 12:26AM

Glasgow

I know its kinda different, but do people think Rugby Union is growing faster in relation to Rugby League. Ashton's RL skillset serves him well, I wonder in the future will converting players be very useful for England in particular - as it has been for Aus.

CatFromHue · 19-10-2014 12:48AM

They've tried a good few times in the past with varying levels of success, Jason Robinson would have been the biggest but his transition was managed very well. We even had our own go with Brian Carney but he wouldn't have been managed as well. Henry Paul, Andy Farrell, and Lesley Vainikolo would have been guys who didn't fair as well though. It is interesting though as it does seem to be one way traffic from RL to RU.

Sam Burgess is a big big name RL player from what I hear and he's signed on for Bath with the hope of making the England RWC team. If that ever happens I dunno as he got injured in the RL Aus final.

.ak · 19-10-2014 01:38AM

Will there be hi lights for the games online anywhere yet? Missed all the games through traveling. Munster game sounded good?

Fireball07 · 19-10-2014 01:43AM

Racing

.ak wrote: »

Will there be hi lights for the games online anywhere yet? Missed all the games through traveling. Munster game sounded good?

Exciting, yes.

Good? Maybe not the highest quality game, Munster were god awful in the 1st half, Sale were god awful in the 2nd half.

As for highlights, I don't know, TG4 had highlights earlier (although their highlight reel for the Ulster game was an absolute disgrace... kept moving forward & back in time)

icdg · 19-10-2014 09:51AM

CatFromHue wrote: »

From years past I thought Sky used to cover some Challenge Cup (Thurs, Sunday night, and maybe a red button option on a Saturday) games so it's strange that it's abandoned completely this season.

It's not, Sky showed Gloucester v Brieve on Thursday, and BT will show London Welsh v Bordeaux next Thursday. At least one game will be covered each matchday, though I think all the TVmatches scheduled for UK/Ireland transmission are between English and French teams. AFAIK Bayonne v Connacht in Round 4 is scheduled for transmission in France but not Ireland.

former legend · 19-10-2014 09:59AM

Leinster

Also, it's a pain in the nuts that, even with fewer games and two broadcasters, we still have matches on the red button.

thomond2006 · 19-10-2014 10:02AM

Leinster

Can anything be done about the French not caring about the Challenge Cup? I know Montpellier were fined a few seasons ago for leaving out players in their European squad but this seems to be a lineup issue as opposed to a squad.

bilston · 19-10-2014 10:04AM

Ulster

former legend wrote: »

Also, it's a pain in the nuts that, even with fewer games and two broadcasters, we still have matches on the red button.

That surprised me, I thought they would manage to schedule all the games at different times. I suppose fitting 10 games into one weekend would still be pretty hard. You'd need a Thursday or Monday nights game.

CatFromHue · 19-10-2014 11:37AM

thomond2006 wrote: »

Can anything be done about the French not caring about the Challenge Cup? I know Montpellier were fined a few seasons ago for leaving out players in their European squad but this seems to be a lineup issue as opposed to a squad.

Stade Francais have left 10 first team regulars out of their European squad and they lost at home to the Dragons yesterday so it looks like they're going to be allowed do what they want.

Seemingly the rules are that you can make changes to the squad if you make the knock outs though.

Official EPCR Champions Cup Preview Thread - A New Hope

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