ShaneM wrote: Am I correct in saying Perpignan could "theoretically" get through with 1 point? That's a JOKE

Yes, well one of the bottom five has to get through so if they all lose again, someone gets through without a win.
There could be a mini battle on Friday night between Perpignan, Bath and Zebre to see who can keep the score down enough to get sixth!
The other thing to consider is that any of those five that wins is in poll position to get through, so Newcastle still have an incentive to win (as do Brive). Whether or not either of them particularly fancies the trip to Llanelli for April Fool's Day is another question ...

pinky wrote: Late try bonus points killed us in the other games. Both Bristol and Toulon looked like falling short of the maximum but pulled it out of the bag.
Home QF seems out of reach again now, having briefly become a possibility.
Even a home last 16 is looking dodgy now. We would need a TBP in Kingston Park to guarantee top 4, as Cardiff look to have top spot wrapped up and Bristol, Toulon and Glasgow should all be favourites to get five points at home on Friday.

What an utterly daft competition format. There is a very reasonable chance that a team with 19 points out of 20 will be away in the round of 16.

It's flipping mental Pinky!! Would prefer if they reverted to the 4 team, 6 match pools.
Am I correct in saying Perpignan could "theoretically" get through with 1 point? That's a JOKE
As you said we could get 19/20 pints and could be away!!

I would fancy Ulster to beat Sale at home and Stormers to beat Clermont.
That would leave Clermont and Sale in 9th/10th (order depending on bonus points)
If we were to beat them at home, we'd be away to 2nd Pool B in the QF (currently Benetton and likely to stay that way if they beat Stade Francais and Scarlets beat Bayonne).
Get less than 5 points in Newcastle and we still play 2nd Pool B, just a round earlier, and then probably away to Bristol in the QF if we win.
So decent chance of a trip to Treviso in April, which would make me likely to cancel any tentative plans to go to Parma in February ...

No reason why we can't get 5 points next weekend and stay in 3rd.

If the Champions Cup pools stay as they are (hope not), 10th in Pool B is Ulster

Challenge Cup Pool A 1st v Challenge Cup Pool B 6th

Challenge Cup Pool A 2nd v Challenge Cup Pool B 5th

Challenge Cup Pool A 3rd v Champions Cup Pool B 10th

Challenge Cup Pool A 4th v Champions Cup Pool B 9th

Challenge Cup Pool B 4th v Champions Cup Pool A 9th

Challenge Cup Pool B 3rd v Champions Cup Pool A 10th

Challenge Cup Pool B 2nd v Challenge Cup Pool A 5th

Challenge Cup Pool B 1st v Challenge Cup Pool A 6th

Late try bonus points killed us in the other games. Both Bristol and Toulon looked like falling short of the maximum but pulled it out of the bag.
Home QF seems out of reach again now, having briefly become a possibility.
Even a home last 16 is looking dodgy now. We would need a TBP in Kingston Park to guarantee top 4, as Cardiff look to have top spot wrapped up and Bristol, Toulon and Glasgow should all be favourites to get five points at home on Friday.

What an utterly daft competition format. There is a very reasonable chance that a team with 19 points out of 20 will be away in the round of 16.

Cardiff have obviously decided to target this and are set fair to be at home for the three knockout rounds. It's hard to see where they drop points.
So we'll have to go on the road at some point. We should be able to hold off Glasgow for the home game in the next round but after that it's likely to be the road.
If the current positions hold, the path would be:
Montpellier Home
Scarlets Away
Toulon Away
Cardiff in Dublin

This is the second time this season I have successfully gotten inside the minds of the EPCR. Frankly I am a little scared.

The Swiss Nigels have "fixed" the Pool B issue with Wasps and Worcester unfortunately no longer involved in the competition.

Pool of 8 with Dragons now playing the Lions and Pau and Benetton now playing Bayonne and Stade Francais.

Sat Dec 10 5:30pm Pool A Connacht v Newcastle epcrugby.tv
Fri Dec 16 8pm Pool A Brive v Connacht epcrugby.tv
Sat Jan 14 5:30pm Pool A Connacht v Brive epcrugby.tv
Sat Jan 21 5:30pm Pool A Newcastle v Connacht epcrugby.tv

In terms of Pool B, I suspect the sides due to play Wasps & Worcester will just get the 10 points v bringing in new sides / tweaking the fixtures.

Hard to know how the Premiership's woes will affect the Challenge Cup. Assuming Wasps go the way of Worcester (and everyone else survives), that would leave no English representative in Pool B and 3 in Pool A. The path of least resistance would be to just have their scheduled opponents play each other, so Dragons would play Lions and Benetton play Bayonne. Messes with the seedings a bit but it's fairer than handing out ten points to four random teams. The other option is just to keep inviting Currie Cup teams as the English drop out. So far our pool seems to be unaffected but the season is young ...

Thought we were getting fixture confirmations today but by the looks of it RTE jumped the gun in releasing their schedule.
ITV press release says they will confirm details later in the week so I presume the full fixtures will be out shortly.

Weekends confirmed

Dec 9-11 Connacht v Newcastle
Dec 16-18 Brive v Connacht
Jan 13-15 Connacht v Brive
Jan 20-22 Newcastle v Connacht

Knockout Stage – Round of 16

2.7 The six highest-ranked clubs in Pool A, the six highest-ranked clubs in Pool B, and the 9th and 10th ranked clubs from each of the Heineken Champions Cup pools will qualify for the Round of 16. The four highest-ranked EPCR Challenge Cup qualifiers from each pool will have home advantage as follows:

R16 1: number 1-ranked club in ECC Pool A v number 6-ranked club in ECC Pool B
R16 2: number 2-ranked club in ECC Pool A v number 5-ranked club in ECC Pool B
R16 3: number 3-ranked club in ECC Pool A v number 10-ranked club in HCC Pool B
R16 4: number 4-ranked club in ECC Pool A v number 9-ranked club in HCC Pool B
R16 5: number 1-ranked club in ECC Pool B v number 6-ranked club in ECC Pool A
R16 6: number 2-ranked club in ECC Pool B v number 5-ranked club in ECC Pool A
R16 7: number 3-ranked club in ECC Pool B v number 10-ranked club in HCC Pool A
R16 8: number 4-ranked club in ECC Pool B v number 9-ranked club in HCC Pool A

Quarter-finals
2.8 Clubs with the higher rankings from the pool stage will have home venue advantage in the quarter-final matches as follows:

QF 1: winner R16 1 v winner R16 8
QF 2: winner R16 3 v winner R16 6
QF 3: winner R16 2 v winner R16 7
QF 4: winner 4 v winner Match 5

Semi-finals
2.9 Clubs with the higher rankings from the pool stage will have home venue advantage in the semi-final matches as follows:

SF 1: winner QF 1 v winner QF 2
SF 2: winner QF 3 v winner QF 4

Jaysus these draws have gotten even more monotonous.
They could do the whole thing just by tossing a coin a bunch of times ...

It's probably the tougher of the two pools in terms of getting a high seeding for the last sixteen. You'd expect Glasgow, Toulon and Bristol to make hay in their various games against Zebre, Bath and Perpignan, which makes it a battle for the last home knockout game.
You'd be hoping that Van Graan can turn around Bath's fortunes sufficiently to take a few points off Toulon and Glasgow.

Brive and Newcastle it is.

POOL A
Glasgow Warriors
RC Toulon
Bristol Bears
Connacht Rugby
Cardiff Rugby
CA Brive
Newcastle Falcons
Zebre Parma
USAP
Bath Rugby

POOL B
Scarlets
Section Paloise
Wasps
Lions
Benetton Rugby
Stade Francais Paris
Worcester Warriors
Dragons RFC
Bayonne
Cheetahs