Challenge Cup Preview: Harlequins and Sale face tough French tests
Harlequins and Sale both face major semi-final tasks on Saturday in a bid to maintain English clubs’ impressive European Challenge Cup record.
Every Challenge Cup final since 2013 has been contested by at least one Premiership side, while Quins have won the tournament three times and Sale on two occasions.
But they will arrive in France this weekend with it all to do as Quins face Clermont Auvergne and Sale tackle La Rochelle.
Competition favourites Clermont are currently second in the Top 14 behind runaway leaders Toulouse, and their Stade Marcel-Michelin cauldron will be full to the brim for Quins’ visit.
And Sale, boosted by Chris Ashton and James O’Connor returning from injuries, face a team that reached last season’s Champions Cup quarter-finals.
A lengthy Quins injury list means they are without the likes of scrum-half Danny Care, lock James Horwill, centre Joe Marchant and wing Nathan Earle, but hooker Rob Buchanan returns after more than 18 months out due to shoulder trouble.
“Rob has shown incredible resilience and strength of character to be back playing elite rugby,” Quins’ head of rugby Paul Gustard told the club’s official website.
“He is a hugely popular member of the squad, as well as being a very talented player, and his availability is a positive boost for the team as we enter the last couple of months of the season.
“This is our first semi-final in three years, and we are relishing the opportunity to go out and perform against Clermont at their home.
“Stade Marcel-Michelin is an awesome place to play, and it will be an experience to savour.
“We are under no illusions of the challenge and quality they will put forward, but behind all the noise, all the hype, all the current form are two teams on a piece of a grass with some sticks and 80 minutes between them and a spot in a final.
“We will go into the game as big underdogs with the chance to make our own history. This is what European rugby is all about, and we are really looking forward to the contest.”
Sale, Challenge Cup winners in 2002 and 2005, welcome back wing Ashton for his first appearance since suffering a calf muscle injury during England’s Six Nations campaign.
And O’Connor, who partners Sam James in midfield, returns after three weeks out in a team captained by Jono Ross.
Ross replaces injured Scotland international Josh Strauss, with Curry twins Ben and Tom filling the flanker positions, but backs Byron McGuigan and Janse Van Rensburg are both sidelined.
PA
Comments on RugbyPass
We’re building a bridge but can't agree where the river is.
2 Go to commentsfirst no arms shoulder or helmet tackle into his rib cage is going to be so very painful even to watch. go back to RU mate.
2 Go to commentsBulls by 5. Plus another 50.
3 Go to commentsJohan Goosen avatar. Cute. Surely someone at RP knows how to do a google image search?
3 Go to commentsCan’t these games play a little earlier? Asking for a friend.
3 Go to commentsIt’s impressive that we can see huge stadiums with attendance in the 40 000 to 50 000 region. It shows how popular this competition is becoming. What is even more impressive is the massive growth in broadcast viewership. The URC is one of the two best leagues in the World, the other being the Top14.
7 Go to commentsChristie is not Sottish, like the majority of the Scotland team.
2 Go to commentsHold the phone, decline over-rated. Is it a one game, dead cat bounce or the real thing? Has the Penney dropped? Stay tuned.
45 Go to commentsTotally deserved win for the Crusaders Far smarter than the Chiefs who seem to be avoiding the basics when it matters Hotham showed them what was missing and Hannah seems a real find - a tad light but that can be fixed over time
8 Go to commentsGreat insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
2 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
7 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
45 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
8 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
8 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
8 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
45 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to comments