Champions Cup - Week 1

[fivepointer]

Pool 1

Ulster v Wasps
Quins v LaRochelle

Pool 2

Saints v Saracens
Ospreys v Clermont

Pool 3

Leinster v Montpelier
Exeter v Glasgow

Pool 4

Racing v Tigers
Castres v Munster

Pool 5

Bath v Treviso
Toulon v Scarlets

TRP predicting LaRochelle, Clermont, Saracens, Montpelier, Tigers, Racing, Toulon and Scarlets to advance to the QF's from the groups. Certainly the French sides look formidable and will take some stopping.
Of the weekend games involving our teams the Ulster-Wasps and Exeter-Glasgow ones catch my eye.
From a neutral perspective the Toulon-Scarlets game might be good to watch.

[Peej]

I'm not sure La Rochelle will travel that well but be fearsome at home. Wasps will get destroyed Friday night, but hopefully be able to course correct. Can only see the group winner going through from Pool 1, and think it's likely to be Ulster.

Pool 2:
Sarries and Clermont

Pool 3:
Leinster

Pool 4:
Munster and Tigers

Pool 5:
Bath and Toulon

[Timbo]

Outside of Sarries I haven’t seen enough from the other English teams to suggest any of them can go all the way. But I guess it’s a long season and form and fitness can play a big part. The likes of Exeter and Wasps could be much stronger later in the group phase if/when injuries subside. My prediction:

Pool 1: LA ROCHELLE AND WASPS

Pool 2: SARACENS

Pool 3: MONTPELLIER

Pool 4: MUNSTER AND LEICESTER

Pool 5: SCARLETS AND TOULON

[twitchy]

How are glasgow this season?

[Puja]

How are glasgow this season?

Undefeated and looking pretry good, from my understanding.

Puja

[Scrumhead]

The injuries are a real leveller for Pool 1.

La Rochelle should win the group, but behind that I’d say that Quins, Wasps and Ulster are all much of a muchness right now.

I wouldn’t be at all surprised if both Quins and Wasps lose home and away in rounds 1 and 2 which will make their head to head games very interesting.

A full strength Wasps will be a different proposition, but when is that going to be? A lot of their key injuries like Cipriani and Taylor rule them out of the group stage at least.

[Stom]

I'm going all out here. First round results as follows:

Group 1: All Home
Group 2: All Away
Group 3: All Home
Group 4: All Away
Group 5: All Home

[Mikey Brown]

How are glasgow this season?

Undefeated and looking pretry good, from my understanding.

Puja

Looking utterly brilliant in patches, but with plenty of scary moments amongst it. Importantly they seem to be closing out wins where they don't necessarily look like they should. Still adjusting to Rennie but I'd say he's having a very positive effect.

It will be very interesting to see if Exeter can strangle Price/Russell out of the game, and how they adapt if they allow Glasgow to get a couple of scores. Russell has been kicking immaculately, so what Exe can get away with at the breakdown (with Gibbins to contend with) will be as key as ever.

[Numbers]

How are glasgow this season?

Undefeated and looking pretry good, from my understanding.

Puja

Aye, they were close to losing against the Cheetahs last weekend but for a last minute score, however the Cheetahs are very good at home.

I can't see them beating Exeter at sandy Park, tho it should be quite a close encounter.

[francoisfou]

La Rochelle could be dark horses and if they can get an away win or two will be in pole position for a home tie in the QFs.
Clermont are not the force they were and probably won't advance.
Of all the matches this weekend, Toulon v Scarlets could be a cracker and Scarlets could just come away with a very important win!

[hellovating]

up first....


Ulster Rugby
15. Charles Piutau; 14. Louis Ludik, 13. Luke Marshall, 12. Stuart McCloskey, 11. Jacob Stockdale; 10. Christian Lealiifano, 9. John Cooney; 1. Kyle McCall, 2. Rob Herring, 3. Wiehahn Herbst, 4. Kieran Treadwell, 5. Iain Henderson, 6. Robbie Diack, 7. Sean Reidy, 8. Jean Deysel
16. John Andrew, 17. Callum Black, 18. Rodney Ah You, 19. Matt Rea, 20. Clive Ross, 21. Paul Marshall, 22. Peter Nelson, 23. Tommy Bowe

Wasps
15. Willie Le Roux; 14. Christian Wade, 13. Elliot Daly, 12. Brendan Macken, 11. Josh Bassett; 10. Jimmy Gopperth, 9. Dan Robson; 1. Matt Mullan, 2. Tom Cruse, 3. Jake Cooper-Woolley, 4. Joe Launchbury, 5. Will Rowlands, 6. James Haskell, 7. Thomas Young, 8. Nathan Hughes
16. Ashley Johnson, 17. Simon McIntyre, 18. Marty Moore, 19. James Gaskell, 20. Jack Willis, 21. Joe Simpson, 22. Rob Miller, 23. Marcus Watson

[Which Tyler]

Bath Rugby team to face Benetton Rugby

15. Anthony Watson
14. Semesa Rokoduguni
13. Jonathan Joseph
12. Max Clark
11. Aled Brew
10. Josh Lewis
9. Chris Cook

1. Nick Auterac
2. Tom Dunn
3. Anthony Perenise
4. Charlie Ewels (c)
5. Luke Charteris
6. Zach Mercer
7. Sam Underhill
8. Taulupe Faletau

Replacements:
16. Nathan Charles; 17. Beno Obano; 18. Scott Andrews; 19. James Phillips; 20. Francois Louw
21. Kahn Fotuali’i; 22. Jack Wilson; 23. Darren Allinson


Unavailable for selection:
Nathan Catt, RossBatty, Jack Walker, Henry Thomas, Shaun Knight, Max Lahiff, Kane Palma-Newport, Dave Attwood, Matt Garvey, Tom Ellis, Paul Grant
Freddie Burns, Rhys Priestland, Ben Tapuai, Matt Banahan, Jeff Williams, Tom Homer, Darren Atkins


So last-minute standing (barring Stooke, Douglas and WHomer), presumably Khan as backup FH

[paddy no 11]

There's a chance of some good rugby this weekend this tournie has been pants since they changed the format - hopefully its a bit better this year

[Tigersman]

Leicester Tigers (v Racing 92, away, Saturday 4.15pm local time/3.15pm UK time)

15 Telusa Veainu

14 Nick Malouf

13 Matt Smith

12 Matt Toomua

11 Jonny May

10 George Ford

9 Ben Youngs

1 Ellis Genge

2 Tom Youngs (c)

3 Dan Cole

4 Dom Barrow

5 Graham Kitchener

6 Mike Williams

7 Luke Hamilton

8 Sione Kalamafoni

Replacements

16 George McGuigan

17 Greg Bateman

18 Pat Cilliers

19 Dan Tuohy

20 Brendon O’Connor

21 Ben White

22 Joe Ford

23 Mathew Tait

[Puja]

Good to see Evans and Wells retained after good performances!

Bit of a shame for Owen not to make the XXIII as well - thought he looked very handy last week.

Puja

[Tigersman]

Good to see Evans and Wells retained after good performances!

Bit of a shame for Owen not to make the XXIII as well - thought he looked very handy last week.

Puja

Evans i can understand as that back row did the business v exeter, but Wells.......

Owen looked good but not sure who i would drop for him.

[fivepointer]

Well at least the impressive Evans has been dropped for a real top class international......er,no.

CHIEFS SIDE TO FACE GLASGOW WARRIORS

15 Phil Dollman
14 Lachie Turner
13 Henry Slade
12 Ian Whitten
11 Olly Woodburn
10 Gareth Steenson
9 Nic White
1 Ben Moon
2 Jack Yeandle (capt)
3 Harry Williams
4 Mitch Lees
5 Jonny Hill
6 Don Armand
7 Julian Salvi
8 Sam Simmonds

16 Elvis Taione
17 Carl Rimmer
18 Tomas Francis
19 Ollie Atkins
20 Thomas Waldrom
21 Stuart Townsend
22 Tom Hendrickson
23 James Short

[Puja]

I'm a little bit concerned about the Champions Cup this year. The Premiership has been hugely unpredictable and it's hard to tell if that's because everyone's great this year or because everyone's crap this year. I'm more than a little bit worried that it's the latter.

Puja

[Puja]

Good to see Evans and Wells retained after good performances!

Bit of a shame for Owen not to make the XXIII as well - thought he looked very handy last week.

Puja

Evans i can understand as that back row did the business v exeter, but Wells.......

Owen looked good but not sure who i would drop for him.

I'd have JFord off the bench and put Owen there. Let's face it, GFord is not going to be coming off for Joe for tactical reasons and, if there is an injury, we'd be just as likely to shift Toomua one across. So why bother having him on the bench?

Puja

[fivepointer]

I'm a little bit concerned about the Champions Cup this year. The Premiership has been hugely unpredictable and it's hard to tell if that's because everyone's great this year or because everyone's crap this year. I'm more than a little bit worried that it's the latter.

Puja

The Top14 is a bit of a mixed bag too. Lyon are top and in the Challenge Cup, while Racing, Clermont and Castres are in the lower half of the league. Difficult to assess things in the Pro14 as there are 2 conferences, but Glasgow are unbeaten.

Bath have a relatively straightforward game but everyone else could easily lose. At least we should have a winner out of saints and Saracens.

[Mellsblue]

You always wonder how seriously the French team's take Europe. I can categorically state that La Rochelle are taking it very seriously.......Ryan Lamb starts at 10.

[Peej]

The architect of the hammering of Clermont?

[Mellsblue]

Exactly!

[kk67]

Chiefs don't look particularly injury stricken. Who's missing..?.

[Puja]

Chiefs don't look particularly injury stricken. Who's missing..?.

I think it's mostly about being able to select, rather than just pick who's fit. It's a handy first team still, but they're missing the likes of McCaffrey, Campagnaro, Devoto, Waldrom, LCD, etc who would give them depth and selection choices.

Puja