European Pro Club Rugby Champions Cup – Upcomes Round 3 There will be sorrow and much consternation in certain ready rooms post-match on the upcomer, for this is the round where them what don’t belong more than likely will drop out of the running and the front four in each pool move on to the knockouts for the top clubside in the Northern Hemisphere: Connacht of Pool 1; Cardiff and Racing from the second group; Bayonne, Munster and Toulon from Pool 3; and the pair of Top 14 clubs, Stade Francias and last season’s champions, La Rochelle, from the Pool of Death all must win in order to keep in the running for extra time at the conclusion of four-fixture pool play January 21. Round 3 Pool 1 Clubs (league pos.) Bordeaux (2) Lyon (13) Bulls (6) Saracens (6) Bristol (8) Connacht (9)
w 2 1 1 1 1 0
l 0 1 1 1 1 2
d 0 0 0 0 0 0
+/55 -1 10 8 -17 -55
table points 10 7 5 5 5 1
Saturday, January 13: Club (table points) v (table points) Club Lyon (7) v (1) Connacht at Stade Gerland, 6am MST: a home win ensures extra time for the Lyonnais, with a loss an early vaycay for the Galwaymen; Bristol (5) v (5) Bulls at Ashton Gate, 8am MST: Bristol back on track with the return of USA Eagle standoff, AJ MacGinty; Bulls are traveling heaps but have been rested since before Chri-Chri; Sunday, January 14: Bordeaux (10) v (5) Saracens at Chaban-Delmas, 10am MST: Bordeaux have yet to lose at home this season and it is unlikely to occur this outing; Sarries are 1-and-2 since Round 2 and did not look well last time out in the league v Leicester at Welford Road; Pool 2 Clubs (league pos.) Toulouse (5) Bath (2) Ulster (4) Harlequins (3) Racing 92 (1) Cardiff (12)
w 2 2 1 1 0 0
l 0 0 1 1 2 2
d 0 0 0 0 0 0
+/73 30 -7 -25 -19 -52
table points 10 10 5 5 2 2
Saturday, January 13: Ulster (5) v (10) Toulouse at Ravenhill, 1pm MST: Ulster rolling after back-to-back victories in the URC v Irish provinces Leinster and Connacht; Toulouse are already in the knockouts; Cardiff (2) v (5) Harlequins at the Arms Park, 1pm MST: denial of goal will be what wins this one as both are capable of racking up numbers; Sunday, January 14: Bath (10) v (2) Racing 92 at the Rec, 6am MST: Home 10, Finn Russell, and company versus Russell’s former club; this’ll be blinder than an eclipse!
“Together we are better; united we are strong”
European Pro Club Rugby Champions Cup – Upcomes Round 3 Pool 3 Clubs (league pos.) w l d +/- table points Northampton (1) 2 0 0 12 9 Exeter Chiefs (4) 2 0 0 9 9 Glasgow (3) 1 1 0 -8 4 Bayonne (10) 0 1 1 -1 2 Munster (10) 0 1 1 -8 2 Toulon (4) 0 2 0 -4 1 Friday, January 12 Northampton (9) v (2) Bayonne at Franklin’s Gardens, 1pm MST: Saints are rockin’ the rosary and clipping along at lightspeed as headboys in the English league just now; their guests have dropped their last five fixtures on the trot; Saturday, January 13: Exeter (9) v (4) Glasgow at Sandy Park, 6am MST: Warriors travel to play a Chiefs side that allowed 28 points behind a pair of yellow cards this past weekend, blowing a 12-point midpoint advantage last time out v Saints at home; expect Los Jefes to make amends this day; Toulon (1) v (2) Munster at Felix Mayol 8am MST: neither have been performing well of late; travelers have not won on the road since winning the URC in Cape Town last season; home side’s motivated; Pool 4 Clubs (league pos.) Leinster (1) Leicester (7) Sale Sharks (5) Stormers (7) La Rochelle (8) Stadw Français (3)
w 2 2 1 1 0 0
l 0 0 1 1 2 2
d 0 0 0 0 0 0
+/17 12 13 -8 -12 -26
table points 9 9 4 4 2 1
Saturday, January 13: Stormers (4) v (4) Sale at Cape Town Stadium, 10am MST: not quite desperation time for the NoHemi Sharks, but near as damnall; Sale have lost their last two after leading at the half so a successful second stanza is a must; still, the long trip down under to the Cape, then a matchup with a XV on a three-match home winstreak; it will take a mighty effort for visitors to travel home happy; Leinster (9) v (1) Stade Français at the RDS, 10am MST: Home team are on a tear, while visitors notso much, yet the French need a win here to keep in the short race for extra time; Sunday, January 14: La Rochelle (2) v (9) Leicester at Marcel Deflandre, 8am MST: Homeboys are coming into form at this crucial point in their EPCR Champions Cup defense; travelers have banked their fires with recent wins over Bath and Sarries; a blinding belter this one!
“Together we are better; united we are strong”