Glasgow Warriors head to Bath this Sunday with a number of outcomes still possible in Pool 4 of the European Rugby Champions Cup with quarter-final places at stake.
The Warriors will be looking to qualify for the knockout stages of the tournament for the first time in their history.
Toulouse are currently top of the pool with 16 points while Bath are second with 15 and the Warriors have 14. Montpellier are out of the running for a quarter-final spot with three points.
glasgowwarriors
If Toulouse defeat Montpellier on Sunday then they are likely to top the pool, but if they lose then either the Warriors or Bath could progress as pool winners.
And if Toulouse do win, whoever wins out of Warriors or Bath may not even progress as one of the best second placed teams depending on results in other pools.
It will all take shape over the weekend, so get ready for an exciting 80 minutes on Sunday afternoon in a game the Warriors know they have to win in order to progress.
Glasgow will face a tough contest, but they can take heart from the fact that they defeated Bath the last time the sides met back in October at Scotstoun.
That day the Warriors were on fire to win 37-10 with centre Mark Bennett leading the way with 2 tries and wingers Sean Maitland and Tommy Seymour also crossing along with replacement Niko Matawalu. Flyhalf Duncan Weir, sadly now injured, kicked 2 penalties and 3 conversions as they shocked the English outfit.
Bath’s points in defeat came from a try by centre Jonathan Joseph and flyhalf George Ford kicked 5 points.
The Warriors head south on the back of a 21-10 home win over Montpellier while Bath put in a superb away performance last weekend to see off Toulouse 35-18.
15 Warriors were this week named in the Scotland squad for the RBS 6 Nations while 6 Bath men are in the England squad.
Over the years the 2 sides have met 7 times with the Warriors having won 2 and Bath 5 while the last time they met at The Recreation ground in January 2012 the English side edged the game 23-18.
Both flyhalves are the leading scorers for their respective sides in Europe so far this term, Finn Russell with 30 points and George Ford with 61.
Warriors second-row Leone Nakarawa has been on fire in the offloading department, making 22 offloads in the 5 pool matches so far, 8 better than anyone else involved in the competition.
Bath vs Glasgow Warriors, European Rugby Champions Cup Pool 4, Sunday 25 January, 13:oo BST Kick-Off at the Recreation Ground – live on BT Sport 2.
Josh Strauss out injured, really be missed by Glasgow in the match on Sunday down in Bath. He picked up an ankle injury against Montpellier last week.
Glasgow’s loose trio much changed with at least 6 loose forwards unavailable due injury etc. Leone Nakarawa who has played loose forward on various occasions but is actually a flank is at blindside, hooker Fraser Brown who did well recently when he came on in emergency as a sub on the flank, is no. 7 and Richie Vernon one time flanker who earned his Scotland colours in the loose trio but was converted into a centre last year, is at eighthman. James Eddie has to cover lock and loose forward from the bench, although Nakarawa would most probably shift to lock if need be.
With so many players out in the forwards Glasgow have gone with a 4,4 bench split. The forwards are going to need to work really hard for this one. Have to win to stand any chance of getting to the knockout stage.
@ Bullscot:
#2 should be Nakarawa is actually a lock
Big weekend in European Rugby Challenge and Champions Cup with the final round of pool matches being played. Bit ‘bedrywig’ so rather than do a dedicated thread will just post updates here on this one. Anyone else interested please do same thanks.
European Rugby Challenge Cup, Thursday results Pool 5:
Brive 20/31 Gloucester
Oyonnax 20/3 Zebre
That means Gloucester go through topping the Pool with 29 points not bad 29 out of a possible 30 points earned for them. Oyonnax are in 2nd place on 16 points and will have to wait to see what happens in the other games this weekend. Winners of each pool and 3 best 2nd placed teams go through to the quarter finals.
Big home game for Edinburgh tonight in the Challenge Cup against Bordeaux if they win they go through top of pool 4, if not it depends on results elsewhere this weekend.
European Challenge Cup rest of weekends fixtures:
Saturday 24th January 2015
European Rugby Challenge Cup – Pool 1
Grenoble v Cardiff Blues 14:00
Rovigo v London Irish 14:00
European Rugby Challenge Cup – Pool 2
Exeter v Bayonne 17:30
La Rochelle v Connacht 17:30
European Rugby Challenge Cup – Pool 3
Bucuresti v Newcastle 15:00
Newport Gwent Dragons v Stade Francais 15:00
Sunday 25th January 2015
European Rugby Challenge Cup – Pool 4
London Welsh v Lyon Olympique 14:30
Pool 1- London Irish and Cardiff Blues should win comfortably and probably get bonus points, suspect the team that doesn’t get bonus point in winning will not end first, but with Irish on 20 and Blues on 19 think London Irish will go through as winners of this pool and Cardiff Blues as one of the 3 best 2nd placed teams, probably the best 2nd placed team.
Pool 2- Connacht should win and possible get a bonus point but this won’t be enough to get them through unless Exeter lose by very far and don’t get any try bonus points which is unlikely. Exeter have 20 and Connacht 15 points so think Exeter will go through top of the group and Connacht be 2nd with 20 points of the table.
Pool 3- This is very tight as Dragons are 1st with 16 points and Newcastle 2nd with 15 points BUT Newcastle should pick up bonus point win away to Buccuresti which mean Dragons need to win as well to try be top of the group, tough game for them against Stade Francais. If Newcastle get the bonus point win and Dragons just win then they will be equal on 20 points but Dragons have a far superior points difference. Not sure Dragons will be Stade though…
European Rugby Champions Cup fixtures:
Saturday 24th January 2015
European Rugby Champions Cup – Pool 2
Castres v Harlequins 13:00
Wasps v Leinster 13:00
European Rugby Champions Cup – Pool 3
Scarlets v Toulon 17:30
Ulster v Leicester 17:30
European Rugby Champions Cup – Pool 5
Northampton v Racing Metro 15:15
Treviso v Ospreys 15:15
Sunday 25th January 2015
European Rugby Champions Cup – Pool 1
Clermont Auvergne v Saracens 15:15
Munster v Sale 15:15
European Rugby Champions Cup – Pool 4
Bath v Glasgow 13:00
Montpellier v Toulouse 13:00
Hope Edinburgh win tonight be good for them to be sure of being in the next round rather than wait and hope that other results go their way the rest of the weekend.
Due to a water shortage in Ireland, Dublin swimming baths have announced they are closing lanes 7 and 8.
Brilliant Edinburgh are through to the knockout stage of the Challenge Cup with a good win tonight – Edinburgh 38/20 Bordeaux, Sam Hildago-Clyne who was included in the Scotland 6 Nations squad, was man of the match scoring 25 points.
WP Nel scored a try for Edinburgh, Hildago-Clyne scored 2 and Matt Scott the other try to give Edinburgh a bonus point.
@ nortie:
Water shortages are never good, specially for Gardeners.
But the gay Irish Gardener, gave thanks, every time he found himself up to his balls in peat.
Wasps 20/20 Leinster result in pool 2
Pool 2 ends Leinster 20, Wasps 18, Harlequins 18. Not good for Glasgow even if beat Bath will leave them on 18 but 19 if get bonus point, both will be hard to achieve.
Bulls 16/6 Cheetahs 64min
Bulls 30/6 Cheetahs 74 min, intercept try by Duncan Mathews, think that is 3 tries so far for the Bulls come on go for the bonus point 😆
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