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The only certainty ahead of the knockout stages of the Challenge Cup... and 10 other stats
The only certainty ahead of the knockout stage is that 2020 will see a new Challenge Cup winner crowned as none of the clubs in the last eight have lifted the trophy. Castres Olympique, Edinburgh Rugby and RC Toulon have all been defeated finalists.
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The Challenge Cup last-eight matches get underway on Friday, 18 September with the clash of Bristol Bears and the Dragons at Ashton Gate where France’s Mathieu Raynal will be on the whistle, and on the following day, Ireland’s Frank Murphy will be in the middle for the Stade Chaban-Delmas meeting of Bordeaux-Bègles and Edinburgh Rugby, while his compatriot, Andrew Brace, has been appointed for the RC Toulon-Scarlets tie at Stade Félix Mayol.
The concluding Challenge Cup quarter-final on Sunday, 20 September which pits Leicester Tigers against Castres Olympique at Welford Road will be refereed by Mike Adamson of Scotland.
10 OTHER CHALLENGE CUP FACTS:
No 1-ranked Toulon are the only club in the quarter-finals to have won all six pool matches.
Edinburgh wing, Duhan van der Merwe, has the highest total of defenders beaten with 28.
Camille Gerondeau of Castres has won the most line outs to date with 45 which includes eight on the opposition throw.
Bristol Bears’ Callum Sheedy needs five points to reach 100 in the Challenge Cup.
If Dragons’ Matthew Screech is selected for the match at Ashton Gate it will be his 35th tournament appearance.
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Blair Kinghorn is now Edinburgh’s leading Challenge Cup try scorer with eight.
1?? WEEK TO GO ??
This time in seven days either @EdinburghRugby or @UBBrugby will be in the semis ??
Having already played each other twice in #ChallengeCupRugby this season, who are you backing? pic.twitter.com/iGme5u0jpK
— EPCR Challenge Cup (@ChallengeCup_) September 12, 2020
Darcy Graham’s four tries against Agen in Round 6 is the most by an Edinburgh player in a match in European competition.
Dragons have never lost a Challenge Cup quarter-final match to date, winning twice at home and once away against Gloucester in 2016.
Scarlets will travel to Toulon with confidence having narrowly lost 17-16 in Round 2 at Stade Mayol where Anthony Belleau’s last-gasp conversion edged the home side to victory.
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1?? WEEK TO GO ?
Kieran Hardy has been putting them away in #ChallengeCupRugby this season ?
Will he start for @scarlets_rugby against @RCTofficiel in the quarter-final? pic.twitter.com/S8qxEmK1e2
— EPCR Challenge Cup (@ChallengeCup_) September 12, 2020
Rory Kockott’s 23 points in the Round 6 win over Worcester Warriors is a record for a Castres player in the tournament.
CHALLENGE CUP CUP MATCH KICK OFF TIMES:
Friday 18 September: Bristol Bears v Dragons, Ashton Gate (19:45)
Saturday 19 September: Bordeaux-Bègles v Edinburgh Rugby, Stade Chaban-Delmas (12:30)
RC Toulon v Scarlets, Stade Félix Mayol (20:15)
Sunday 20 September: Leicester Tigers v Castres Olympique, Welford Road (15:00)
All timings are UK/Irish time.
EPCR
Comments on RugbyPass
Je suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
25 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
25 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
25 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
25 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to comments