European Championship Rugby Cup 23/24
Discussion
JerryEXE said:
A fairly decent weekend for most of the English clubs and a poor weekend for a lot of the French clubs (Quins/Toulouse game being the notable exception). I know we are only half way through the pool stages but there are now a few French sides who may be feeling nervous?
It's certainly a bit weird! La Rochelle, Racing, Stade Français and Toulon are French rugby aristocracy with 5 tournament wins from 11 final appearances between them, yet they've lost 8 out of 8 so far???
The English clubs seem to be doing pretty well this season! 
Bath and Quins definitely through to the last 16 from pool 2.
Saints & Chiefs definitely through from pool 3.
Leicester are through from pool 4, but bloody hell were they destroyed by La Rochelle this afternoon!
Sarries vs Bordeaux about to start in pool 1. It would be nice to think that they need to win, or potentially Bristol could sneak in ahead of them next week!
Bath and Quins definitely through to the last 16 from pool 2.
Saints & Chiefs definitely through from pool 3.
Leicester are through from pool 4, but bloody hell were they destroyed by La Rochelle this afternoon!
Sarries vs Bordeaux about to start in pool 1. It would be nice to think that they need to win, or potentially Bristol could sneak in ahead of them next week!
JerryEXE said:
Looks like Sarries could be having one of their worst days (since 14/10 
).
Fair to say that some of the French sides have found their form again and are looking very dangerous this weekend.
Their previous worst European result was 14-46 against Clermont.).Fair to say that some of the French sides have found their form again and are looking very dangerous this weekend.
Hopefully Bordeaux can keep things ticking over!
The Quins match was highly entertaining for the biased amongst us!
Munster vs Saints was good too, and particularly entertaining for the egg on the faces of the "oh look, another game ruined by a red card" numpties on social media!
Today it looks highly likely that Exeter (or even Northampton) will advance to the next round with a record of played 4, won 4, seeded below UBB on played 4 won 3, which feels a little questionable!
Elsewhere, squeaky bum time for Sale, Leicester and La Rochelle! You'd have to think that the most probable result is a La Rochelle win seeing them and Leicester into the knock out phase and Sale into the Challenge Cup, but a chunky Sale victory could see them and Leicester through with the two-time defending champions consigned to the Challenge Cup, but there's even a third scenario where La Rochelle could lose but take two BPs and Leicester's woeful points difference would see them drop!
Then that just leaves Toulouse vs Bath. Highly improbably, Bath beating Toulouse by 56 points and keeping them without a BP could actually see the latter deprived of home advantage in the next round, whereas Bath losing without a BP would hand that advantage to Quins at their expense, and a BP for either Bath or Toulouse sends Quins away in the knock outs, so there's some interest in every one of the last games!
Munster vs Saints was good too, and particularly entertaining for the egg on the faces of the "oh look, another game ruined by a red card" numpties on social media!
Today it looks highly likely that Exeter (or even Northampton) will advance to the next round with a record of played 4, won 4, seeded below UBB on played 4 won 3, which feels a little questionable!
Elsewhere, squeaky bum time for Sale, Leicester and La Rochelle! You'd have to think that the most probable result is a La Rochelle win seeing them and Leicester into the knock out phase and Sale into the Challenge Cup, but a chunky Sale victory could see them and Leicester through with the two-time defending champions consigned to the Challenge Cup, but there's even a third scenario where La Rochelle could lose but take two BPs and Leicester's woeful points difference would see them drop!
Then that just leaves Toulouse vs Bath. Highly improbably, Bath beating Toulouse by 56 points and keeping them without a BP could actually see the latter deprived of home advantage in the next round, whereas Bath losing without a BP would hand that advantage to Quins at their expense, and a BP for either Bath or Toulouse sends Quins away in the knock outs, so there's some interest in every one of the last games!
Kermit power said:
The Quins match was highly entertaining for the biased amongst us!
Then that just leaves Toulouse vs Bath. Highly improbably, Bath beating Toulouse by 56 points and keeping them without a BP could actually see the latter deprived of home advantage in the next round, whereas Bath losing without a BP would hand that advantage to Quins at their expense, and a BP for either Bath or Toulouse sends Quins away in the knock outs, so there's some interest in every one of the last games!
Given that Toulouse have won their all games by iirc 30+ pts and have conceded only 7 tries Bath's chances are slim. However as we saw yesterday with Saints and Saracens anything can happen. It's the only game I'll be watching this afternoon Then that just leaves Toulouse vs Bath. Highly improbably, Bath beating Toulouse by 56 points and keeping them without a BP could actually see the latter deprived of home advantage in the next round, whereas Bath losing without a BP would hand that advantage to Quins at their expense, and a BP for either Bath or Toulouse sends Quins away in the knock outs, so there's some interest in every one of the last games!
Edited by Smollet on Sunday 21st January 11:22
Smollet said:
Given that Toulouse have won their all games by iirc 30+ pts and have conceded only 7 tries Bath's chances are slim. However as we saw yesterday with Saints and Saracens anything can happen. It's the only game I'll be watching this afternoon
I wouldn't disagree, although as I type Bath certainly would! It says a lot about the competitiveness of this particular group that although Toulouse will be top seeds for the last 16 if they do win, they're not yet actually guaranteed a home fixture!
Just to add to the madness, who will Toulouse's opponents be if they do win, or Leinster's if they don't? Current Top14 leaders Racing 92!
Kermit power said:
I wouldn't disagree, although as I type Bath certainly would!
It says a lot about the competitiveness of this particular group that although Toulouse will be top seeds for the last 16 if they do win, they're not yet actually guaranteed a home fixture!
Just to add to the madness, who will Toulouse's opponents be if they do win, or Leinster's if they don't? Current Top14 leaders Racing 92!
Bath are capable of winning at this rate It says a lot about the competitiveness of this particular group that although Toulouse will be top seeds for the last 16 if they do win, they're not yet actually guaranteed a home fixture!
Just to add to the madness, who will Toulouse's opponents be if they do win, or Leinster's if they don't? Current Top14 leaders Racing 92!
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