European Professional Club Rugby is somewhat of a misnomer these days with the addition of the African teams from the United Rugby Championship (URC). The competition continues to evolve. This season’s tournament features four, six-club pools. Each pool contains two clubs from the three professional leagues that do rugby business either side of the Prime Meridian: Gallagher Premiership (GP), Top 14 (T14), and the URC. For example, Pool 1 is comprised of: Saracens and Bristol Bears from GP; Bordeaux Beglès and Lyon from T14; and Connacht and Bulls from URC. Each club plays a pair of home matches and a pair of aways against clubs in their pool not in their leagues, ensuring the matches feature action between leagues in the round robin stages. Then it’s the playoff rounds: knockouts (eighths), quarters, semis and finals. Fixtures live on FloSports. Double-digit table points should see extra time. The pools, the clubs in the pools, and those clubs’ current positions in their respective leagues: Pool 1 Friday: Connacht v Bordeaux, 1pm MT at Clubs (league pos.) won lost drawn table points Galway Sportsgrounds: home team Bordeaux Bègles (7) have one win and two losses in Bulls (3) their last trio of matches, two close results, 13-12 and 22-24, on either Bristol Bears (8) side of a beating, 27-53, from Bulls Connacht (8) in Pretoria; visitors are two and Lyon (12) one, and on a pair of wins running Saracens (4) after a four-point loss to the Champions Cup titleholders, La Rochelle, in mid-November; Prediction: Connacht 25 – 22 Bordeaux Saturday: Bulls v Saracens, 10:30am MT at Loftus Versfeld: homeys are two and one in their last three, counting nearly 100 points in the two matches at home after a close loss at Edinburgh; same record for travelers though they’ll be weathering almost half a day in the air en route the contest; Prediction: Bulls 35 – 14 Saracens Bristol v Lyon, 1pm MT at Ashton Gate: Bears are one and two, scoring better than half century last time out over Gloucester, 51-26; guests have gone one and two since middle of last month with both losses coming on the road; Lyon have not won on the trot this season; Prediction: Bristol 21 – 17 Lyon Pool 2 Clubs (league pos.) Bath (2) Cardiff (12) Harlequins (3) Racing 92 (1) Toulouse (6) Ulster (7)
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Saturday: Bath v Ulster, 8am MT at the Rec: home side is two and one with the loss a 2-pointer at Sale, while the Irish Province have lost two straight after topping the Lions; Russell will work it out! Prediction: Bath 31 – 22 Ulster;
Toulouse v Cardiff, 8am MT at Ernest-Wallon: two losses and a lone win for home team which one might think unlike the French Giants, and the Blues have only drawn on the road; big numbers will be put up by a home side thirsty for the claret here after an RWC hangover. Prediction: Toulouse 55 – 10 Cardiff;
Sunday: Racing 92 v Harlequins, 10:30am at La Defense: homeboys are two and one with their loss coming away; Quins’re one and two in their last threesome, though they’ve won a brace of fixtures on the trot in the Gallagher thus far this year; this one will absolutely sizzle, Prediction: Racing 31 – 29 Harlequins;