Challenge Cup pools 2016/17 season

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Pool 1
La Rochelle
Gloucester
Treviso
Bayonne

Pool 2
Ospreys
Grenoble
Newcastle Falcons
Lyon

Pool 3
Brive
Worcester Warriors
Newport Gwent Dragons
Enesi-STM

Pool 4
Cardiff Blues
Bath
Pau
Bristol

Pool 5
Harlequins
Edinburgh
Stade Francais
Timisoara Saracens

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

When's the draw for the competition Irish sides aren't too good for?

Nvm watching it.

 

[amz]

Great draw for Timisoara, excellent teams to play with so any win will be sweater

 

[Every Time Ref]

So four Bath-Bristol matches this season! Should be tasty!

Anyone know anything about Pau as a town? Decent place to visit, worth thinking about a trip?

 

[die_mole]

thinking that stade francais will dominate top 14 knowing that they don't have to commit their top players to european play

 

[SelimNiai]

Its real now, I cant wait, 4 A4 derbies, 2 Severnside derbies

<img style="-webkit-user-select: none" src="http://i.imgur.com/uChmpLQ.gif">

 

[Tony Manx]

So four Bath-Bristol matches this season! Should be tasty!

Anyone know anything about Pau as a town? Decent place to visit, worth thinking about a trip?

Definitely worth a visit! They hold a classic car race around the old town, horse racing, hunting and the ski slopes visible from the town!!

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Great draw for Timisoara, excellent teams to play with so any win will be sweater

Hosting my local team Edinburgh will probably be your best bet, but it'll be a big step up as Calvisano were heavily beaten in this competition last year. Good to see a Romanian team there. Is it the first time for a Romanian club in the competition?

Also just looking at Enisei playing Connacht in the snow of Siberia last year! Don't fancy that trip for anyone, no wonder they won two games last season.

 

[SelimNiai]

So four Bath-Bristol matches this season! Should be tasty!

Anyone know anything about Pau as a town? Decent place to visit, worth thinking about a trip?

Be prepared for an awkward trip, was unable to find any direct flight fronm England/Wales

 

[Osezno]

Hosting my local team Edinburgh will probably be your best bet, but it'll be a big step up as Calvisano were heavily beaten in this competition last year. Good to see a Romanian team there. Is it the first time for a Romanian club in the competition?

Also just looking at Enisei playing Connacht in the snow of Siberia last year! Don't fancy that trip for anyone, no wonder they won two games last season.

Timisoara is today above any Italian club, most of Eccellenza teams were quite awful to watch in Qualifying Competition and were even beaten by German and Spanish clubs. And about Enisei wins, they happened in Sochi, by the seaside, and not in Siberia, as they were only allowed to play home there against Connacht. Let's see how many games, if any, are played in Karsnoyarsk this year.

 

[amz]

...and there is a direct flight from Luton to Timisoara (I think daily) so no fuss. City is nice, not crowded in week-end, virtually no street crime, there are few pubs where you can watch rugby as well, cheap beer, pretty good wines.

And no, is not the first Romanian team in Challenge Cup.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Timisoara is today above any Italian club, most of Eccellenza teams were quite awful to watch in Qualifying Competition and were even beaten by German and Spanish clubs. And about Enisei wins, they happened in Sochi, by the seaside, and not in Siberia, as they were only allowed to play home there against Connacht. Let's see how many games, if any, are played in Karsnoyarsk this year.

Ah thanks. Hopefully Timisoara are a step up from what Calvisano were last year even though Calvisano kept it fairly close in the qualification playoff. Watched some highlights online and they look quite decent, although their backline in some games seemed filled with import players (which is a shame if you want Romanians to gain experience).

 

[amz]

Well, Timisoara has 16 foreign born players, Edinburgh (from what is available on wiki) has 13 so not such a big number; They are focusing also on homegrown players and young talents from Romania; here is the squad who played in Romanian Cup this spring:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timișoara_Saracens

 

[CABCL]

So four Bath-Bristol matches this season! Should be tasty!

Anyone know anything about Pau as a town? Decent place to visit, worth thinking about a trip?

As I have one of my sisters living in Pau, that I have also some basque blood in me (Pau is basque town stolen by Béarnais ! lol ), I will try to answer you.

Pau is a city of about 100,000 hab, in the extreme south west of France, near Biarritz (and in the same french departement). I find it's a pretty place, with a view on the pyrenean mountains. The climate is oceanic but in winter, there's often snow.

lately, they have improved and build a true stadium, and there's lots of Pubs in the center town. The area is quiet, calm. The Mayor is an important politician (Bayrou, a former candidate for many presidential elections, chief of a center right party). Truly a pretty place to live IMHO.

To travel there, I would advice you to fly to Bordeaux Mérignac (if possible), then take the TGV (very high speed train) from Bordeaux to Pau in less than 2 hours. You have also the possibility to take the plane to Toulouse Blagnac but then, I don't think there's a TGV for Pau, you can choose to rent a car and take the Highway road between Toulouse and Pau. (longer in time than by Bordeaux but pretty areas to see during the car travel).

 

[CABCL]

Pool 3
Brive
Worcester Warriors
Newport Gwent Dragons
Enesi-STM

I hope that this year Brive will play it as the team has already done a good beginning in the Top 14. (4W (1 away in Toulon - 3 at home, la Rochelle, Racing, and Stade Français), 1 Draw (away - Lyon), 2 L (2 away - Grenoble and Montpellier) ). The gameplan is in place, old style gameplan : strong forwards, great scrum, very efficient kicker (Germain (fullback), almost the best kicker in Top 14 for the last 3 seasons, alreay 1st and 117 points this season in 7 match). There's no star but Brive plays as a whole team and due to the smallest budget in T14, Coach chooses the match they have to win. Very hard to play Brive in front of their crowd. It will then depend on the willingness to play the challenge or not. Brive used play it in the past, but last year, they preferred to concentrate on T14 to save their place (finished 9th).

Someone has infos about Worcester, Newport and Enesi ?

 

[Croket66]

Pool 3
Brive
Worcester Warriors
Newport Gwent Dragons
Enesi-STM

I hope that this year Brive will play it as the team has already done a good beginning in the Top 14. (4W (1 away in Toulon - 3 at home, la Rochelle, Racing, and Stade Français), 1 Draw (away - Lyon), 2 L (2 away - Grenoble and Montpellier) ). The gameplan is in place, old style gameplan : strong forwards, great scrum, very efficient kicker (Germain (fullback), almost the best kicker in Top 14 for the last 3 seasons, alreay 1st and 117 points this season in 7 match). There's no star but Brive plays as a whole team and due to the smallest budget in T14, Coach chooses the match they have to win. Very hard to play Brive in front of their crowd. It will then depend on the willingness to play the challenge or not. Brive used play it in the past, but last year, they preferred to concentrate on T14 to save their place (finished 9th).

Someone has infos about Worcester, Newport and Enesi ?

Enisei signed few foreign players :
- Thomas Halse (NZ fly half), Fiamme Oro
- Mikheil Gachechiladze (GEO flanker), Qochebi, ex-Federale1
- Jake Grey (SAM prop), 5 caps for Samoa
- George Tuineau (NZ prop)
- Maxim Gargalic (MDA lock), back after a 2 years ban
- Mamuka Khechikovi (GEO prop), Kuban Krasnodar

They got few decent players, like georgian centre Davit Kacharava who started all last-RWC games, Anton Rudoy a kazakh born eightman and winger Denis Simplikevich

 

[CABCL]

Thanks Crocket66... I think that, for Brive, it will mostly depend on the will or not to play seriously the challenge this year.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Timisoara vs Edinburgh

http://www.digisport.ro/Pages/TV/DigiSport+1

Trying to kid my computer I'm in Romania so I can watch it, but no joy so far.

- - - Updated - - -

Cannot get the link to work even with Google Hola / VPN, so probably not worth trying for anyone.

 

[SelimNiai]

Different competition same old story from Bristol

Promising start, playing well, dominating and then the drop of concentration, from the 29th to the 48th minute we conceded 19 points and a sin-binning. By the end of that the game had gone. Its just frustrating to listen to.

Reports were that the ref, Gauzere(sp), was poor but we can't blame the loss on that. It's all very well hearing the players aknowledge the mistakes and errors but we're 6 weeks or so into the season, they need to start proving they have learnt.

B**h next Thursday, should be fun.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Enisei up 10-7 at the half, although Worcester seem to have superior fitness and I expect them to come out as victors as Enisei seemed to be picking up injuries.

http://news.sportbox.ru/Vidy_sporta/regbi/spbvideo_NI675804_Kubok_Vyzova_Jenisej_STM__Vuster

- - - Updated - - -

Treviso starting with McKinley at 10 but otherwise a strong lineup (by their standards). I know zero about La Rochelle but think Treviso could pick up their second French scalp of the season.