Champions Cup, Round Two - Teams and Predictions
FRIDAY PREVIEW: Glasgow Warriors centre Huw Jones believes the time has come for the Scottish side to start supporting their promising performances with victories, starting with Friday’s Champions Cup Round Two trip to Aviron Bayonnais.
The second-placed United Rugby Championship team began their Pool Three campaign in deflating fashion last week with a 19-28 home loss to Northampton Saints.
This followed disappointing defeats earlier in the year in the EPCR Challenge Cup Final to RC Toulon and in the United Rugby Championship quarterfinal to Munster.
“We had some good wins, but we came out with nothing to show for it,” Jones told The Offside Line. “If we think we’re a team who should be making it to finals, we have to be proving that against the best teams.
“With the Champions Cup, you have to almost win all of your games, as it’s a really tough competition with the top teams in Europe.
“There will be teams with bigger budgets and squads, but you have to compete against them if you want to claim to be a top team.
“It would be nice to go far in the competition, but we have to go out and prove that in the early stages. We just need to get straight back to work and go down to France to play another good side.”
Stafford McDowall, Jones’ fellow centre, predicts a memorable atmosphere at the Stade Jean Dauger for the Pool Three encounter, particularly after Aviron Bayonnais held Munster to a cracking 17-17 draw in Ireland in Round One.
“These are the days that you play for, to go away to a team you’ve never played before,” he said. “I’ve heard a lot about their fans already and the atmosphere they create. It’s going to be a special one for us.”
Meanwhile, boosted by their first win in EPCR competition for a while, Northampton Saints Director of Rugby Phil Dowson wants the Premiership club to back it up when they host RC Toulon at Franklin’s Gardens.
The win at Glasgow Warriors last week lifted Northampton Saints to the top of Pool Three, ahead of English rivals Exeter Chiefs on points difference, and Dowson is eager for his side to continue that form.
“We want to be dining at the top table and that means beating some of the best French sides; Toulon are currently second in the Top 14,” he said. “We will relish that and we’re preparing for the game appropriately.”
Northampton Saints, in fact, will be seeking a hat-trick of victories, as their win in Scotland was preceded by an 18-12 triumph over Saracens.
Dowson commented: “The win against Glasgow was very similar in some ways to the Saracens game. We had a good start and got in amongst it.
“We were good at the breakdown again and we didn’t give too many penalties away. We were also good in our defensive systems along with some really good physicality.
“We knew, like the Saracens game, that Glasgow would put us under pressure at the end and they did. In an ideal world, we would deal with that better, but at the same time some of our resilience, grit and determination were outstanding.
“We asked for the players to just keep doing what made us successful in the Saracens performance. We made good decisions on when to counterattack and when to kick.
“It wasn’t a perfect performance, with some frustration in the second half as we invited them in for opportunities, but then our maul defence stood firm.
“So, we’re looking for more of the same on Friday in front of a packed-out stadium at Franklin’s Gardens.”
See below for Friday’s teams and predictions!
Friday, December 15:
Aviron Bayonnais v Glasgow Warriors
(Stade Jean Dauger, Bayonne – Kick-off: 21.00; 20.00 UK & Ireland time; 20.00 GMT)
Prediction
@rugby365com: Glasgow Warriors by seven points.
Teams:
Aviron Bayonnais: 15 Tom Spring, 14 Aurélien Callandret, 13 Cheikh Tiberghien, 12 Guillaume Martocq, 11 Nadir Megdoud, 10 Camille Lopez, 9 Gela Aprasidze, 8 Rodrigo Bruni, 7 Baptiste Heguy, 6 Rémi Bourdeau, 5 Manuel Leindekar, 4 Denis Marchois, 3 Junior Tagi, 2 Facundo Bosch, 1 Swan Cormenier.
Replacements: 16 Vincent Giudicelli, 17 Matis Perchaud, 18 Tevita Tatafu, 19 Thomas Ceyte, 20 Arthur Iturria, 21 Maxime Machenaud, 22 Thomas Dolhagaray, 23 Reece Hodge.
Glasgow Warriors: 15 Josh McKay, 14 Kyle Rowe, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Sione Tuipulotu, 11 Ollie Smith, 10 Ross Thompson, 9 George Horne, 8 Ally Miller, 7 Tom Gordon, 6 Gregor Brown, 5 Alex Samuel, 4 Greg Peterson, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 George Turner, 1 Jamie Bhatti.
Replacements: 16 Angus Fraser, 17 Nathan McBeth, 18 Oli Kebble, 19 Richie Gray, 20 Max Williamson, 21 Henco Venter, 22 Ben Afshar, 23 Tom Jordan.
Referee: Adam Leal (England)
Assistant referees: Karl Dickson (England), Dan Jones (England)
TMO: Stuart Terheege (England)
Northampton Saints v RC Toulon
(Franklin’s Gardens, Northampton – Kick-off: 20.00; 20.00 GMT; 21.00 CET)
Prediction
@rugby365com: Northampton by 11 points.
Teams:
Northampton Saints: 15 George Furbank, 14 Tom Seabrook, 13 Tommy Freeman, 12 Tom Litchfield, 11 George Hendy, 10 Fin Smith, 9 Alex Mitchell, 8 Sam Graham, 7 Tom Pearson, 6 Courtney Lawes, 5 Alex Moon, 4 Temo Mayanavanua, 3 Trevor Davison, 2 Curtis Langdon, 1 Ethan Waller.
Replacements: 16 Sam Matavesi, 17 Tarek Haffar, 18 Paul Hill, 19 Tom Lockett, 20 Juarno Augustus, 21 Tom James, 22 Charlie Savala, 23 Ollie Sleightholme.
RC Toulon: 15 Melvyn Jaminet, 14 Leicester Fainga’anuku, 13 Setariki Tuicuvu, 12 Jérémy Sinzelle, 11 Gabin Villiere, 10 Enzo Herve, 9 Ben White, 8 Selevasio Tolofua, 7 Charles Ollivon, 6 Esteban Abadie, 5 David Ribbans, 4 Matthias Halagahu, 3 Kieran Brookes, 2 Jack Singleton, 1 Dany Priso.
Replacements: 16 Christopher Tolofua, 17 Jean-Baptiste Gros, 18 Emerick Setiano, 19 Adrien Warion, 20 Matteo le Corvec, 21 Jules Danglot, 22 Mathieu Smaili, 23 Jiuta Wainiqolo.
Referees: Craig Evans (Wales)
Assistant referees: Ben Breakspear (Wales), Gwyn Morris (Wales)
TMO: Ben Whitehouse (Wales)
Source: @ChampionsCup
