CHAMPIONS CUP ROUND 2 | PREVIEW & PREDICTIONS

[@alrsajrichards]

So nice to listen to someone who really loves rugby talk about it and express his excitement for the game. Love your commentary!!

[@etienneherve396]

100% agree. He knows deeply what he's talking about and with as a cherry on the cake, a slight piece of french flair... love this guy! Hold on mate! ;-)

[@Macron87]

I’m a Sharks fan living in London. Two of us are spending £300 on train tickets, £150 on a hotel and £180 on match tickets to watch them play Leicester. And then, if Sharks send their B team, what a waste of money that will be. The format is a complete joke.

[@viehanvanrheedevanoudtshoo6205]

You are not wrong...

[@adamsummers6922]

Yeah would be very unfortunate to spend all that money to watch a B team. You can't blame the sharks if they do that however. Is a big ask of the players to turn around in 7 days along with the travelling. With it being so easy to progress to the R16 there is no real incentive either. The logistical issue with the SA teams will never go away in this competition unfortunately though. Don't see a solution unless they relocate their home games to somewhere in Europe, Spain or Portugal for example. However, i can't see that happening as its unfair for the supporters in SA.

[@papachinizo]

@@adamsummers6922 Like you say, its a huge ask for the guys to have to travel that much - even if they played ONE pool game in Europe, it would save them so much !

[@DoddyIshamel]

180 for 2 match tickets wtf?

[@davidwalker2402]

Wow €30 to go watch Leinster at the Aviva against top 14 second place Claremont. No wonder English grounds are always empty.

[@mesiafabiano-ur7bb]

1st man in the best rugby show

[@eamonlyons8069]

Rest In Peace Tom Voyce. 2x Heineken Cup winner.

[@Stan_Thirteen]

On the home/away aspect, away wins still matter to get home seedings in knockouts. So if teams really want to go far then they should target certain away games as well. So in theory there should be more competitive matches in this format. The issue is there are too many games and the SA Europe trips are too far to turn around week to week continuously.

[@Zveebo]

Yep, that’s why the teams that are in it to win it don’t hold back on away games. Stade Toulousain pretty much always bring a fully packed team on the road with them, for instance - even if they’re playing someone like Exeter.

[@jameswyatt4443]

Making teams travel between South Africa and Europe for back to back weekends is diabolical. A lot of the Sharks players would have played for the Boks, flown back to Durban for the game against Exeter, then immediately to Leicester, then back to Durban for the next week in the URC. That’s unacceptable scheduling.

[@EggchasersRugby]

Not sure what the alternative is (until there's a full global calendar sorted of course). Other than SA teams not being involved, and for all the issues, don't want that!

[@kieranoconnor4334]

Munster are facing an uphill battle at Castres.....there is no doubt. But that can be when Munster perform...historically anyways. Fingers crossed the new management have revived the 'Battling Munster ' mentality.

[@EggchasersRugby]

Stand Up and Fight!

[@TomMcGuinness-vg2bj]

Watch Brian Gleason starting at 8. He will be the man of the match.

[@briancurtis5796]

Munster team Munster: Mike Haley; Calvin Nash, Tom Farrell, Alex Nankivell, Thaakir Abrahams; Jack Crowley, Craig Casey; Dian Bleuler, Niall Scannell, Stephen Archer; Fineen Wycherley, Tadhg Beirne (C); Peter O’Mahony, John Hodnett, Brian Gleeson. Replacements: Diarmuid Barron, Dave Kilcoyne, Oli Jager, Tom Ahern, Alex Kendellen, Paddy Patterson, Rory Scannell, Jack O’Donoghue.

[@briancurtis5796]

Great to see him start but where is Coombs did I miss something?

[@harry258]

@@EggchasersRugby last time munster played castres in france, it was so brutal, there was reports of eye gouging in the bottom of the rucks and punches thrown

[@hughneil7212]

Excellent, I hate to say it but I think you are pretty spot on with that. I am on a flight to Marseilles tomorrow morning, on my way to Toulon and would love you to be wrong on that one, never seen Warriors in France before, but I expect you are probably right. When you read out that list of Toulouse players, I had goosepimples, what a squad.

[@EggchasersRugby]

Win, lose you will have a blast! What an experience!

[@justsceptic3085]

at the end cassoulet for everybody...

[@stephgagnoulet3133]

🔴⚫😉

[@cathalsheehan9596]

Really looking forward to seeing Brian Gleeson for Munster. Probably the best player I’ve ever seen at u20 level for Ireland, to be the best player in an u20 side featuring Sam Prendergast & Gus McCarthy as a u19 player is no mean feet!

[@janniekock8103]

Hi. I am from South Africa and just subscribed to your great channel. Been watching for months, but just want to say thank you for great content. PS, saw last night you cover Paarl Interschools. I am from Paarl Gym playing interschools and Louis Koen was our first team 10. Like to chat with you about those great times

[@EggchasersRugby]

Thanks you 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

[@TheBullhannigan]

Castres is pronounced 'Cass - treh', so only the last S is silent, basically. Other French words are a bit of a mystery sometimes, but that one's actually pretty simple. I teach spoken English, and most English words are a bloody nightmare for most foreign students to pronounce. Love the channel, but your spelling of Irish names needs improvement. I met TADHG Furlong on Tuesday, actually. Leinster to win a tasty match up on Saturday? Hopefully

[@EggchasersRugby]

Merci

[@TheBullhannigan]

@EggchasersRugby de rien mon ami. Tadhg Furlong is a lovely lad, a softly spoken country gentleman, you might be unsurprised to hear. He said he'd be back in business in January. Keep up the good work, Tim, and Happy Christmas 🎄

[@pierrelouisdefoug]

As a french i mostly heard people pronounce it « Castr » as he said.

[@TheBullhannigan]

@pierrelouisdefoug mais oui parce que les Anglophones sont nul avec des langues etranges, en general. English speakers over-compensate for French silent letters and subtle word endings by just not pronouncing whole sections of words. Ah sure lookit, as we say here in Ireland, what are ye gonna do.

[@glennvanzyl4066]

Quick question should the Jaguars from Arg be in the comp since Wales and Italy are not delivering. I know the logistics got a lot of impact, but if you want to make a comp strong then why not. It's just my thought

[@briancurtis5796]

To my mind, Munster are better off going for 4 try bonus ( kick to the corner instead of managing the scoreboard) and looking for the win after that instead of playing for a win and hoping to get a bonus there after. If we came home with a loosing bonus and a 4 try bonus you’d be very happy with your days work!

[@eoinh3816]

Fair play to Lancaster lol, not even hiding the father son selection bias. Is the Championship just a ridiculously high quality league you can be let go by Ealing but start at 10 for Racing in the European cup?

[@clementbatut4053]

Especially considering how good Gibert was last week. To be honest though Lancaster Jr hasn't been the worst racing92 player, still a very odd choice, racing92 seems finally about to click and you change a very good half to make room for your son.

[@etiennela4870]

As a Frenchman living in Scotland, Glasgow Toulon will definitely be the one to watch… I’d be happy with either to win, but I’ll go for Glasgow to edge it, they’re just on 🔥at the moment

[@MorgMorg-uf6ps]

Its gonna be 🔥 in Pretoria on saturday...Heat Wave🥵

[@EggchasersRugby]

Enjoy the water (and beers and brandy!)

[@johnhorrocks7314]

Thanks Tim, enjoy the matches & ‘quins match live

[@blackfrisbee6050]

Couldn’t disagree with you more on the Ulster game I think Ulster at home, yes they’re not brilliant but they are certainly capable of causing an upset but if they do lose they won’t lose by +18

[@TheFreestyler3333]

I’m a UBB supporter and I agree with you, Bordeaux will miss 2 important players (Jalibert playing 10 and Buros playing 15). Moreover, the last 3-4 games where not as spectacular as the 9th first games in Top 14. The forwards are not in their best shape (lot of penalties given during the melee, or missed line-outs). I still can see a win by UBB but not a huge one.

[@Camcolito]

Ulster sent a B team to Toulouse.

[@stephenljbyrne]

Leinster fan here I agree I think Ulster are in with a big shout

[@Lochvey]

Leinster v Clermont, Munster v (anyone who wanted it) was the hay day of European rugby. Before the English (not English rugby fans, but the mad men running the union in the RFU) decided they wanted to destroy the magic of European rugby was the epitome of the cup. We ruined the perfect rugby spectacle when when we left the four team group. Hope we go back to it.

[@TheMatthewLoder]

Sharks are sending a B+ team some good players still coming but the main boks are back home it looks like from Monday training and who was seen on the flight, think it’s highly risky as our other home game is against Toulouse and then Bordeaux away after that

[@Zveebo]

I do think there’s quite a bit of rose-tinted glasses going on about the old format. Yes, there were some good clashes at times, but often by the later rounds, there was no chance of teams progressing and so you had effectively dead rubbers which nobody cared about. They’re not the games that people remember, but they definitely were there!

[@bunnychowmuncher]

They need to have the CC/EPCR after the Top14, URC and Premiership are done and make it purely knockout with the correct end of season rankings.

[@ndl6178]

Hi, Tim would love to know what you think of Rugby Pass to 100 list.

[@T2Lam10]

He’s gonna lose half of his subscribers if he delves too much into it. He’ll basically agree with the top 5 and its order and you know who will be pissed off…

[@michaelramsay-fraser7076]

Tim, have you seen the EPRC 'team of the week'? Any thoughts?

[@simphiwe_stb]

ready for the weekend

[@ucanprofit]

Getting to Castre tomorrow was too difficult. But I already got Northampton tickers.

[@k0bra3eak40]

Stormers basically have this season as a write off, most injuries are gonna be a while

[@papazoulou9326]

10:10 As long as Serin isn't injured, Toulon has the potential to be a convincing dark horse.

[@olivierarnaud-freaud6369]

Your first pronunciation of castres is correct :-)

[@chrisfairfield1198]

Hi, love the channel. Obviously I know you’re an England fan, but do you have a favourite club?

[@EggchasersRugby]

No team as such. But a big soft spot for London Irish.

[@chrisfairfield1198]

@ did I hear rumblings that they might be able to come back ? Or are they lost to the archives now?

[@Eric-1924]

Already a 'play off' match for some teams, like LT, Bulls, EC, SS, etc, and even more so for Stormers who lost at home.

[@bellawright6073]

Think the URC are at a disadvantage because of the travelling

[@cashel77]

Leinster only played Clermont in semi final away in France in 2012. Didn’t meet them in the pool stages in 2011/12 season.

[@EggchasersRugby]

They played them in the Pool stages later that year. So they did play them 3 times in 1 year, but different seasons. In my defence, it was 12 years ago, memory is hazy :)

[@markkane1632]

The 2012 semi-final between Leinster & Clermont was an absolute nail-biter - Clermont hammering away at our line at the end, thought they got over but Gordon d’Arcy had dislodged the ball from Fofana I think. Clermont won both pool games against us the following season (Clermont is an amazing away trip to make) and Leinster didn’t make it out of the group but won the Challenge Cup (2013).

[@kev63inuk]

No junior kpoku for Racing ? Believe he’s started great for his french club in 8 starts this season. If he’s holding his own there surely he good enough for six nations. ? Forget his age and he plays in France cmon. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

[@ritchiebirnie6124]

Glasgow for the win

[@alexandermehegan5129]

I Love the Prem 🌹 but think you're off with your Win Predictor Timbo - Most Prem Teams, Not All, don't show enough "Bite + Fight" against the Top Teir Club Sides and it's not the salary cap that causes this IMO it's Heritage and Privilege. Some SA + Top 14 Players have Fought long + hard to get their seat at the Top Table - that can't be said of many of our best home grown players. U can't train to be a Double Hard B**stard !!!

[@EggchasersRugby]

Exeter 2020 Saracens 2019 Saracens 2017 Saracens 2016 English teams have won it 4 times in the last 9 years. What changed in the last few years (when English teams have still done well - 2 semi finalists last year) is money. Salary cap dropped massively, and performances dipped too.

[@michaelvdunne]

Since the ENGLISH decided to RUIN & RUN this fantastic competition into the ground by making at total dogs dinner of the draw. Why because the French and Irish were winning it too often. Many clubs were making a fair bit of DOSH MONEY. The home and away system was excellent one week after the other. The return gameS had great spice in THEM. Remember the game in Limerick when O’Gara had to kick a conversion to win the pool by ONE point on score difference. Only the ENGLISH make a total BAGS OF THIS FABULOUS COMPETITION.

[@EggchasersRugby]

I think you'll find the french had quite a large part to play in the demise also. They pushed for a different format etc.

[@shauncoetzer1]

Pollard my Goat

[@eoinh3816]

Reckon Toulon will put Glasgow back in their box, this weekend. A team that can do well in the URC but absolutely nowhere near good enough to win Europe, like Scotland at international level

[@finh6798]

I will remember this comment, oh ye of little faith

[@dennism5731]

Absolutely !!!

[@RalphdArc]

Bit harsh ...... i do agree though . Toulon's backs are fire

[@edconway8599]

They’re not just good enough to do well in the URC they’re the URC champions. With playoff wins against the stormers bulls and Munster

[@Logies_right_hand]

At least Scotland has been further than the QF’s in a WC unlike the Anti-climactic Pikeys

[@antoinedescours2459]

you mean Jacques Ouillisse ?

[@EggchasersRugby]

haha. Desole! My mistake, apologies