European Challenge Cup, Round two - Teams and Predictions
FRIDAY PREVIEW: The Lions will be looking for their first win of the European Challenge Cup as they welcome Stade Français Paris on Friday.
The Parisians made a winning start to their campaign, beating Benetton Rugby 24-14 – but they have less luck on the road, with only one win in their last eight away matches.
The Lions were at home last week too, drawing 31-31 against the Welsh region Dragons.
Elsewhere Brive will host Connacht, while Glasgow Warriors face Perpignan.
Kicking off the Round two fixtures are the Lions when they host the French side Stade Français Paris at Ellis Park in Johannesburg.
The Lions will be boosted by the return of Springbok Willem Alberts.
Starting at lock, Alberts goes up against his former team whom he spent over five seasons in the French capital.
Alberts pairs up with Pieter Jansen van Vuren, who also makes a return to the starting XV.
Jaco Kriel will captain the side, while SA Rugby Young Player of the Year nominee for 2022 Henco van Wyk, returns from suspension and Quan Horn slots into the left wing position.
Aside from Alberts, scrumhalf Andre Warner is also very familiar with the French club – having played at Stade Français Paris previously.
“We are fortunate to have both Willem and Andre who have played for Stade Francais,” Lions backline and attack coach Ricardo Loubscher said.
“Their input has been valuable during the week so we look forward to capitalizing on that intel.”
Having been at the French side himself, Loubscher has tried to prepare his team for all the challenges.
“If you look at the Top 14 league, Stade Francias are well in the top four of the log, so we expect a very good side coming here on Friday,” he said.
“Their kicking game is one designed to put teams under pressure, forcing one to make mistakes, so we’ll be prepared for that from a discipline point of view.
“Our preparations have been good this week, with most of it in wet weather as we expect similar conditions on Friday.
He added: “We touched on our decision-making and ability to scan for opportunities and to take them.
“At the moment one of the positives of the game against the Dragon [last weekend] is that we managed to score four tries but there is a lot of room for improvement.
“I would love to get to that point where I as an attack and backline coach can say we had 10 opportunities and scored 10 tries. ”
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Meanwhile, Brive seek to bounce right back from a dismal start to their Challenge Cup campaign as they failed to muster a single point in a 0-41 loss at the hands of Cardiff.
Connacht picked up a sound win last week, beating Newcastle Falcons 22-8.
“What we do know is they tend not to travel well – a testament to a 0-41 beating by Cardiff – but they tend to be very proud of their home record,” Connacht director of rugby Andy Friend:
“So it will be interesting to see what side they pick, hopefully, their best because we want to play against their best and prove ourselves.”
For Glasgow it’s a case of seeking back-to-back victories following their win on the road at Bath last week, edging a 22-19 contest.
Perpignan had less success on home turf, going down 5-19 to Bristol Bears.
“It is important for the team to build on where we left off against Bath,” Glasgow’s Cameron Neild said.
“That is our intent and where everything we did was purposeful. If we bring the same determination and the right attitude, we will be successful against Perpignan on Friday.
“People are dying to improve, so personally, I believe results will be better than they have the first few games. It’s already started with the two away wins and then we have Perpignan and the double derby. It’s exciting times.”
See below for Friday’s teams and predictions:
Friday, December 16
Lions v Stade Francais Paris
(Ellis Park, Johannesburg – Kick-off: 19.30; 17.30 GMT; 18.30 France time)
Prediction
@rugby365com: Lions by six points
Lions: 15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Edwill van der Merwe, 13 Henco Van Wyk, 12 Marius Louw, 11 Quan Horn, 10 Jordan Hendrikse, 9 Sanee Nohamba, 8 Emmanuel Tshituka, 7 Ruan Venter, 6 Jaco Kriel (captain), 5 Pieter Jansen van Vuren, 4 Willem Alberts, 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 Jaco Visagie, 1 JP Smith.
Replacements: 16 Michael van Vuuren, 17 Sti Sithole, 18 Ruan Smith, 19 Reinhard Nothnagel, 20 Darrian Landsberg, 21 Sangweni Sibusiso, 22 André Warner, 23 Rynhardt Jonker,
Stade Francais Paris: 15 Léo Monin, 14 Nadir Megdoud, 13 Paolo Odogwu, 12 Theo Dachary, 11 Harry Glover, 10 Léo Barre, 9 James Hall, 8 Juan Martin Scelzo, 7 Mathieu Hirigoyen, 6 Giorgi Tsutkiridze, 5 Juan Johan Van der Mescht, 4 Nathan Huguen, 3 Giorgi Melikidze, 2 Laurent Panis (captain), 1 Vasil Kakovin.
Replacements: 16 Lucas Peyresblanques, 17 Sergo Abramishvili, 18 Paul Alo Emile, 19 Noa Kanika, 20 Arthur Coville, 21 Alex Arrate, 22. Ferdinand Dreno, 23. Moses Alo Emile.
Referee: Karl Dickson (England)
Assistant referees: Matthew Carley (England) & Sara Cox (England)
TMO: Ian Tempest (England)
Brive v Connacht Rugby
(Stade Amédée-Doménech, Brive – Kick-off: 21.00, 20.00 GMT; 20.00 UK and Ireland time)
Prediction
@rugby365com: Connacht by nine points
Brive: 15 Seta Tuicuvu, 14 Kevin Fabien, 13 Nico Lee, 12 Sam Arnold, 11 Wesley Douglas, 10 Nicolas Sanchez, 9 Paul Abadie, 8 Abraham Papali’i, 7 Said Hireche (captain), 6 Retief Marais, 5 Tevita Ratuva, 4 Renger van Eerten, 3 Tietie Tuimauga, 2 Florian Dufour, 1 Daniel Brennan
Replacements: 16 Vano Karkadze, 17 Nathan Fraissenon, 18 Pietro Ceccareli, 19 Julien Delannoy, 20 Matthieu Voisin, 21 Enzo Sanga, 22 Tom Raffy, 23 Thomas Laranjeira.
Connacht: 15 Conor Fitzgerald, 14 Adam Byrne, 13 Bundee Aki, 12 Tom Daly, 11 Diarmuid Kilgallen, 10 David Hawkshaw, 9 Kieran Marmion, 8 Paul Boyle (captain), 7 Shamus Hurley-Langton, 6 Oisin Dowling, 5 Gavin Thornbury, 4 Darragh Murray, 3 Sam Illo,2 Shane Delahunt, 1 Peter Dooley.
Replacements: 16 David Heffernan, 17 Jordan Duggan, 18 Dominic Robertson-McCoy, 19 Niall Murray, 20 Ciaran Booth, 21 Colm Reilly, 22 Byron Ralston, 23 Oran McNulty.
Referee: Adam Leal (England)
Assistant referees: Alex Thomas (England) & Wayne Falla (England)
TMO: Dan Jones (England)
Glasgow Warriors v Perpignan
(BT Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh – Kick-off: 22.00; 22.00 GMT; 23.00 France Time)
Prediction
@rugby365com: Glasgow by five points
Glasgow Warriors: 15 Josh McKay, 14 Sebastian Cancelliere, 13 Sione Tuipulotu (captain), 12 Huw Jones, 11 Rufus McLean, 10 Duncan Weir, 9 George Horne, 8 Jack Dempsey, 7 Sione Vailanu, 6 Matt Fagerson, 5 Richie Gray, 4 Lewis Bean, 3 Murphy Walker, 2 George Turner, 1 Jamie Bhatti.
Replacements: 16 Johnny Matthews, 17 Nathan McBeth, 18 Simon Berghan, 19 JP du Preez, 20 Sintu Manjezi, 21 Euan Ferrie, 22 Ali Price, 23 Tom Jordan.
Perpignan: 15 Tristan Tedder, 14 George Tilsley, 13 Afusipa Taumoepeau, 12 Dorian Laborde, 11 Mathieu Acebes (captain), 10 Jake McIntyre, 9 Tom Ecochard, 8 Genesis Mamea Lemalu, 7 Kelian Galletier, 6 Lucas Velarte, 5 Piula Faasalele, 4 Tristan Labouteley, 3 Siosiua Halanukonuka, 2 Seilala Lam, 1 Giorgi Tetrashvili,
Replacements: 16 Mike Tadjer, 17 Xavier Chiocci, 18 Arthur Joly, 19 Posolo Tuilagi, 20 Lucas Bachelier, 21 Sadek Degmache, 22 Lucas Dubois, 23 Boris Goutard.
Referee: Anthony Woodthorpe (England)
Assistant referees: Simon Harding (England) & Peter Allan (England)
TMO: Andrew Jackson (England)
Compiled by Leezil Hendricks
@Leezil07
@rugby365com
* Additional reporting by @ChallengeCup_
