Champions Cup 2019/20
- pinky
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Flamin' 'eck, that is unnecessarily complicated.
You'd pity the Blues players, who thought they were on holidays and now have to stay fit just in case!
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- pinky
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I like the little footnote that says if Ospreys host the game on May 29th it will be at an alternative venue as the Liberty is unavailable. Let's see, there's a lovely stadium ten miles away that they could play Scarlets in
So if Leinster win, Ospreys might get straight in, or they might lose home advantage for a playoff that takes place five weeks after the end of the regular season.
Odd that they didn't take account of the fact that if Sale don't make the top 6 on May 18th (more likely after the draw with Bristol tonight), they will know the line-up then, so no need to wait 11 days.
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- neill_m
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pinky wrote: I like the little footnote that says if Ospreys host the game on May 29th it will be at an alternative venue as the Liberty is unavailable. Let's see, there's a lovely stadium ten miles away that they could play Scarlets in
So if Leinster win, Ospreys might get straight in, or they might lose home advantage for a playoff that takes place five weeks after the end of the regular season.
Odd that they didn't take account of the fact that if Sale don't make the top 6 on May 18th (more likely after the draw with Bristol tonight), they will know the line-up then, so no need to wait 11 days.
La Rochelle have the spot if they need it and the T14 wraps the week after the Prem. T14 uses head to head as 1st tie breaker and La Rochelle host Bordeaux (one of their nearest challengers) in Round 26!
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- pinky
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Yeah La Rochelle can go very close to wrapping it up tonight if the results go as expected. They could be 8 - 10 clear of Montpellier and Bordeaux.
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- neill_m
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Bath beat Wasps today, so Sale down to 7th and needing help from Tigers to make top 6 in Round 22.
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- pinky
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Now that all that egg-chasing is done with, we can concentrate on the highlight of everyone's rugby season, the European Draw, which will presumably be in late June and follow the same format as recent years:
www.epcrugby.com/2018/06/19/pool-draws-2...pions-challenge-cup/
Connacht and Treviso's defeats ensure that Connacht are the fifth ranked Pro14 team and will definitely be in Pot 3 in the draw, which means we can get one of the less scary Pot 4 teams (though admittedly there aren't many soft touches).
The leagues are kept apart for the first three pots, which means we can't get Glasgow (or another Irish province). We also obviously can't get a team from our own pot, which includes the fifth ranked teams and two of the three fourth ranked.
So in summary we will definitely get one English and one French team from the semi-finals in their leagues, at least one of which must be a finalist. Plus one team from Pot 4, which can be from any league.
Ranking depends on the playoffs so not possible to know exactly how they'll finish up, especially in France, where in theory any of the top 9 teams could still win it.
But basically in England, Exeter, Saracens and Gloucester are guaranteed top 4 plus Northampton or Harlequins.
In France, Toulouse and Clermont are in and you would have to fancy Lyon and Racing to get home barrages and win them (but you can never write off Castres).
Pot 4 then includes Treviso and the Pro 14 playoff winner (Ospreys/Scarlets/Cardiff), almost certainly Sale, probably one of La Rochelle or Castres plus another Pro14 or English team (likely Bath) depending on how the whole 20th place shenanigans works out.
I'd like to get Lyon as they're the most beatable of the potential options. Ideally Lyon make the final (home barrage plus semi against Clermont in Bordeaux, not very likely but not impossible), then we can get Quins or Saints as our Pot 2 team. Would need a lot of luck for that though. A more realistic ambition would be Exeter and Lyon.
From Pot 4, you'd think Treviso are the best option as the World Cup might prevent them performing at the level they did this season.
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- neill_m
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Premiership with 3 sides in Pot 2:
Pot 1: T14 No 1, Prem No 1, T14 No 2
Pot 2: Prem No 2, T14 No 3, Prem No 3, Prem No 4
Pot 3: Connacht
Pot 4: Benetton, T14 No 6, Prem No 6, Pro 14 No 7, Bonus Side
Pro 14 with 3 sides in Pot 2:
Pot 1: T14 No 1, Prem No 1, Prem No 2
Pot 2: T14 No 3, Prem No 3
Pot 3: Connacht
Pot 4: Benetton, T14 No 6, Prem No 6, Pro 14 No 7, Bonus Side
Top 14 with 3 sides in Pot 2:
Pot 1: T14 No 1, Prem No 1, Prem No 2
Pot 2: T14 No 2, T14 No 3, Prem No 3, T14 No 4
Pot 3: Connacht
Pot 4: Benetton, T14 No 6, Prem No 6, Pro 14 No 7, Bonus Side
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- DeadStraightStare
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How do they determine rankings for each league? Do the results in the play offs effect it or is it league position alone?
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- neill_m
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DeadStraightStare wrote: How do they determine rankings for each league? Do the results in the play offs effect it or is it league position alone?
Top 6 in Pro 14/T14 and Top 4 in Prem by playoff as explained in Pinky's excellent summary. Points gained over the regular season is used as a tiebreaker to decide best/worst loser in a playoff round. 3 scenarios in play as there is a mini draw before the main draw to see which league's 2nd and 4th sides are placed in Pot 2.
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- pinky
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Ospreys v Scarlets confirmed for Saturday night.
Sale are surely odds on to qualify now. Seventh would now be good enough for them as long as La Rochelle make top 6. So beating Gloucester would do it. Bristol or Wasps could sneak in if Leicester do a job on Bath.
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- Accidentally Onside
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Osprey into the CC for next year.
Didn't see the game but scarlet fans not at all happy with Ben Whitehouse. How you let an Osprey fan ref that match I'll never know.
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- connemara man
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He was grand if anything Scarlets got the rub of the green, ospreys shown a harsh yellow card
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- pinky
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connemara man wrote: He was grand if anything Scarlets got the rub of the green, ospreys shown a harsh yellow card
You'd have to wonder though why they wouldn't send the Welsh officials up to Scotstoun, and give the Swansea gig to Johnny Lacy et al.. , but we digress.
Bath are confirmed into Pot 4 along with Ospreys and Treviso. Sale should join them as long as La Rochelle get a better result at home to Bordeaux than Montpellier get away to Clermont. That's not a given though as Clermont have nothing really to play for.
Harlequins go into Pot 3 along with Connacht so we can't get them in the draw. Bath would be a nice spot to visit.
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- cabaiste
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pinky wrote:
You'd have to wonder though why they wouldn't send the Welsh officials up to Scotstoun, and give the Swansea gig to Johnny Lacy et al.. , but we digress.connemara man wrote:
I just figured that they were giving Lacey a bit of a swansong in the semi-final given that he is due to finish up this year.
I've no basis for that though, so I could be way off the mark!
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- salmson
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cabaiste wrote:
pinky wrote:
You'd have to wonder though why they wouldn't send the Welsh officials up to Scotstoun, and give the Swansea gig to Johnny Lacy et al.. , but we digress.connemara man wrote:
I just figured that they were giving Lacey a bit of a swansong in the semi-final given that he is due to finish up this year.
I've no basis for that though, so I could be way off the mark!
His last game as a professional ref according to well-wishers on Twitter, so I'd say you're bang on the money.
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- neill_m
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Premiership with 3 sides in Pot 2:
Pot 1: T14 No 1, Prem No 1, T14 No 2
Pot 2: Prem No 2, T14 No 3, Prem No 3, Prem No 4
Pot 3: Connacht
Pot 4: Benetton, T14 No 6, Bath, Ospreys, Bonus Side
Pro 14 with 3 sides in Pot 2:
Pot 1: T14 No 1, Prem No 1, Prem No 2
Pot 2: T14 No 3, Prem No 3
Pot 3: Connacht
Pot 4: Benetton, T14 No 6, Bath, Ospreys, Bonus Side
Top 14 with 3 sides in Pot 2:
Pot 1: T14 No 1, Prem No 1, Prem No 2
Pot 2: T14 No 2, T14 No 3, Prem No 3, T14 No 4
Pot 3: Connacht
Pot 4: Benetton, T14 No 6, Bath, Ospreys, Bonus Side
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