The battle for the Amlin Challenge Cup quarter-final places is coming to a head with former tournament champions, Bath Rugby, Gloucester Rugby and London Wasps, all strong contenders to advance to the knockout stage where the five pool winners will be joined by three pool runners-up from the Heineken Cup.
The 2011 beaten finalists, Stade Francais Paris, as well as Worcester Warriors and Perpignan from a fiercely competitive Pool 2, are also in the mix to keep their dream of European silverware alive by the time the last eight comes around in April with the added incentive of a home quarter-final for each of the four highest-ranked pool winners.
Bath, armed with the only maximum 20-point record in ERC tournaments this season, will secure their place in the last eight as Pool 4 winners if they defeat Agen in Saturday’s Round 5 game at the Recreation Ground.
Gloucester face a demanding trip to Bordeaux-Bègles where a victory would seem them emerge on top of Pool 1while Wasps will remain favourites to qualify from Pool 3 if they continue their unbeaten run at Adams Park this season with a win over Italian visitors, Rugby Mogliano.
If Stade Francais maintain their winning ways in Pool 5, then they too will be on their way to the knockout stage, however, the Paris club will find it extremely tough when they take on French rivals, Grenoble, at Stade Lesdigiuères on Saturday.
As the pool stage reaches its conclusion, the outcome of Pool 2 remains the hardest to call. With the slimmest of margins separating Worcester and Perpignan, Worcester are currently in first place by virtue of a superior points difference as not all clubs have yet played their pool opponents twice.
However, if Worcester and Perpignan are still level at the conclusion of the pool stage when all clubs have played their pool opponents twice, then Perpignan would qualify by virtue of scoring three tries to Worcester’s one in the matches between the clubs.
Vital ERC European ranking points are also at stake for Amlin Challenge Cup clubs throughout the pool and knockout stages of the tournament. A pool winner is guaranteed two ranking points, with a further two for qualification for the semi-final, and two more available for the competition winner.
The ERC European ranking points system rewards and incentivises clubs which consistently perform at the highest level in European competitions.
Round 5 Notes
– Going into Round 5, Bath Rugby have the only maximum 20-point total of the 44 clubs in both ERC tournaments. Bath have also never lost at home in the Amlin Challenge Cup winning all of their 17 matches to date
– Four clubs – Gloucester Rugby (Pool 1), London Wasps (Pool 3), Bath Rugby (Pool 4) and Stade Francais Paris (Pool 5) – remain unbeaten
– Richard Haughton’s try for Perpignan in Round 4 makes him the joint-leading try scorer in the tournament with 20 alongside Alexandre Bouyssie of Bordeaux-Bègles
– The Round 3 and 4 fixtures attracted a total of 96,966 fans – the highest total for the back-to-back games in the tournament’s history
– The total attendance for 17 seasons of the Amlin Challenge Cup is set to break through the 4 million mark in Round 5. The figure currently stands at 3,999,471 fans