Édition du Nord

Select Edition

Nord Nord
Sud Sud
Mondial Mondial
Nouvelle Zélande Nouvelle Zélande
France France

Challenge Cup : le point des clubs français avant la 3e journée

Edinburgh Rugby v Aviron Bayonnais – EPCR Challenge Cup – DAM Health Stadium

Les clubs français engagés en Challenge Cup affichent des performances variées, avec le LOU et Montpellier en position de force pour viser la qualification, tandis que l’USAP, Bayonne, Vannes et Pau joueront des matchs cruciaux pour préserver leurs chances d’accéder aux phases finales.

ADVERTISEMENT

Lyon Olympique Universitaire (LOU) : Le LOU a réalisé un départ solide avec deux victoires, notamment un succès éclatant face à Cardiff Rugby (37-26), qui les place à la deuxième position de la poule 1 avec 9 points. L’équipe lyonnaise, portée par son attaque prolifique, se prépare à un choc crucial contre le leader Connacht Rugby (11 janvier) lors de la troisième journée. Ce duel au sommet pourrait permettre à Lyon de prendre la tête de la poule avant l’ultime journée contre les Toyota Cheetahs (18 janvier à Gerland).

USAP : Malgré un nul accroché contre les Toyota Cheetahs (20-20), l’USAP reste en difficulté après sa défaite contre Connacht Rugby (18-31) avec 2 points et la quatrième place de la poule 1. Les Catalans devront impérativement briller face à Cardiff Rugby à domicile (11 janvier) et Zebre Parma (19 janvier) en déplacement pour espérer une qualification. L’an passé, l’USAP avait encaissé quatre défaites de rang et n’avait pu sortir de la phase de poule.

Montpellier Hérault Rugby : Invaincu en deux rencontres (14-18 contre le Dragons RFC et 59-15 contre les Ospreys), Montpellier domine la poule 2 avec 9 points. Forts de leur régularité en Top 14 depuis les trois dernières journées et en Challenge Cup, les Montpelliérains auront pour objectif de poursuivre sur leur lancée contre les Emirates Lions (le 11 janvier au GGL Stadium), puis les Newcastle Falcons (le 17 janvier à Kingston Park), pour sécuriser leur qualification avec un statut de favori. L’an passé, le parcours des Montpelliérains en Challenge Cup s’était arrêté en huitième de finale face à l’Ulster.

Section Paloise : En sérieuse difficulté en Top 14 (11e), la Section Paloise occupe la deuxième place de la poule 2 avec 6 points, obtenus grâce à une victoire importante (32-19 contre les Falcons de Newcastle) et un bonus défensif. Après la défaite contre les Emirates Lions (43-35), les Palois chercheront à conforter leur position contre les Dragons RFC (12 janvier à Rodney Parade) et les Ospreys (le 18 janvier au Stade du Hameau). Une victoire en déplacement au Pays de Galles pourrait être décisive dans la course aux huitièmes de finale. L’an passé, Pau avait fini deuxième de sa poule avant de s’incliner en huitième de finale face au Connacht.

RC Vannes : La lanterne rouge du Top 14 pointe à la deuxième place de la poule 3 avec une courte défaite face au Black Lion (22-19), puis une victoire prometteuse sur Gloucester (43-19). Avec deux matchs à venir contre Edinburgh Rugby (le 11 janvier à la Rabine) et les Scarlets (le 18 janvier), le RC Vannes devra élever son niveau de jeu pour confirmer ses ambitions de qualification.

Aviron Bayonnais : Actuellement derniers de la poule 3 avec 4 points, les Basques ont montré de belles promesses en battant les Scarlets sur le fil (17-16) avant de s’incliner lourdement à Édimbourg (52-12). Ils se déplacent désormais chez le Black Lion (11 janvier), puis accueillent Gloucester Rugby (le 19 janvier). Ces deux rencontres seront cruciales pour relancer leurs espoirs de qualification dans une poule où tout reste encore possible.

ADVERTISEMENT


Vous souhaitez être parmi les premiers à vous procurer des billets pour la Coupe du Monde de Rugby 2027 en Australie ? Inscrivez-vous ici.

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Commentaires

0 Comments
Soyez le premier à commenter...

Inscrivez-vous gratuitement et dites-nous ce que vous en pensez vraiment !

Inscription gratuite
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

J
JW 1 hour ago
How law changes are speeding up the game - but the scrum lags behind

so what's the point?

A deep question!


First, the point would be you wouldn't have a share of those penalities if you didn't choose good scrummers right.


So having incentive to scrummaging well gives more space in the field through having less mobile players.


This balance is what we always strive to come back to being the focus of any law change right.


So to bring that back to some of the points in this article, if changing the current 'offense' structure of scrums, to say not penalizing a team that's doing their utmost to hold up the scrum (allowing play to continue even if they did finally succumb to collapsing or w/e for example), how are we going to stop that from creating a situation were a coach can prioritize the open play abilities of their tight five, sacrificing pure scrummaging, because they won't be overly punished by having a weak scrum?


But to get back on topic, yes, that balance is too skewed, the prevalence has been too much/frequent.


At the highest level, with the best referees and most capable props, it can play out appealingly well. As you go down the levels, the coaching of tactics seems to remain high, but the ability of the players to adapt and hold their scrum up against that guy boring, or the skill of the ref in determining what the cause was and which of those two to penalize, quickly degrades the quality of the contest and spectacle imo (thank good european rugby left that phase behind!)


Personally I have some very drastic changes in mind for the game that easily remedy this prpblem (as they do for all circumstances), but the scope of them is too great to bring into this context (some I have brought in were applicable), and without them I can only resolve to come up with lots of 'finicky' like those here. It is easy to understand why there is reluctance in their uptake.


I also think it is very folly of WR to try and create this 'perfect' picture of simple laws that can be used to cover all aspects of the game, like 'a game to be played on your feet' etc, and not accept it needs lots of little unique laws like these. I'd be really happy to create some arbitrary advantage for the scrum victors (similar angle to yours), like if you can make your scrum go forward, that resets the offside line from being the ball to the back foot etc, so as to create a way where your scrum wins a foot be "5 meters back" from the scrum becomes 7, or not being able to advance forward past the offisde line (attack gets a free run at you somehow, or devide the field into segments and require certain numbers to remain in the other sgements (like the 30m circle/fielders behind square requirements in cricket). If you're defending and you go forward then not just is your 9 still allowed to harras the opposition but the backline can move up from the 5m line to the scrum line or something.


Make it a real mini game, take your solutions and making them all circumstantial. Having differences between quick ball or ball held in longer, being able to go forward, or being pushed backwards, even to where the scrum stops and the ref puts his arm out in your favour. Think of like a quick tap scenario, but where theres no tap. If the defending team collapses the scrum in honest attempt (even allow the attacking side to collapse it after gong forward) the ball can be picked up (by say the eight) who can run forward without being allowed to be tackled until he's past the back of the scrum for example. It's like a little mini picture of where the defence is scrambling back onside after a quick tap was taken.


The purpose/intent (of any such gimmick) is that it's going to be so much harder to stop his momentum, and subsequent tempo, that it's a really good advantage for having such a powerful scrum. No change of play to a lineout or blowing of the whistle needed.

161 Go to comments
J
JW 3 hours ago
How law changes are speeding up the game - but the scrum lags behind

Very good, now we are getting somewhere (though you still didn't answer the question but as you're a South African I think we can all assume what the answer would be if you did lol)! Now let me ask you another question, and once you've answered that to yourself, you can ask yourself a followup question, to witch I'm intrigued to know the answer.


Well maybe more than a couple of questions, just to be clear. What exactly did this penalty stop you from doing the the first time that you want to try again? What was this offence that stopped you doing it? Then ask yourself how often would this occur in the game. Now, thinking about the regularity of it and compare it to how it was/would be used throughout the rest of the game (in cases other than the example you gave/didn't give for some unknown reason).


What sort of balance did you find?


Now, we don't want to complicate things further by bringing into the discussion points Bull raised like 'entirety' or 'replaced with a ruck', so instead I'll agree that if we use this article as a trigger to expanding our opinions/thoughts, why not allow a scrum to be reset if that is what they(you) want? Stopping the clock for it greatly removes the need to stop 5 minutes of scrum feeds happening. Fixing the law interpretations (not incorrectly rewarding the dominant team) and reducing the amount of offences that result in a penalty would greatly reduce the amount of repeat scrums in the first place. And now that refs a card happy, when a penalty offence is committed it's going to be far more likely it results in the loss of a player, then the loss of scrums completely and instead having a 15 on 13 advantage for the scrum dominant team to then run their opposition ragged. So why not take the scrum again (maybe you've already asked yourself that question by now)?


It will kind be like a Power Play in Hockey. Your outlook here is kind of going to depend on your understanding of what removing repeat scrums was put in place for, but I'm happy the need for it is gone in a new world order. As I've said on every discussion on this topic, scrums are great, it is just what they result in that hasn't been. Remove the real problem and scrum all you like. The All Blacks will love zapping that energy out of teams.

161 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ Davit Niniashvili: 'Georgia can qualify for the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals' Davit Niniashvili: 'Georgia can qualify for the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals'
Search