If leinster play like they did yesterday they won't have to look forward to playing in croke park, all the pressure is on them, o gara has his team in Cork this week , my money is on them to overpower leinster and reach another semi
@johnmc3862 yes agree they have but lost two consecutive finals and well we all know too well that irish teams self destruct in cup matches, hope I'm proved wrong this year but o gara brought his team to Cork for the week to prepare which should worry leinster, the player's are good enough on the field, not sure about what's going on in their heads though! 😳
Gosh Tim has become part of my routine weekly like sliced bread and jamon. Always on the edge of my seat for Tim’s videos and only just got idea that he has his own podcast? How come he never advertises? I had to hear from a fan in another forum. I’ll try to find it as I enjoy his words but Tim if you are listening don’t be too shy. If you are on the airwaves let the fans know. I’ll check on apple
Most likely Leinster vs Toulouse or Bordeaux in final. Nothing to add on the superior strength of Leinster and Toulouse in Europe, but Bordeaux is impressive this year and could make surprises.
love is something you cannot spread too thick, especially with such a reasoned approach... how ever could one 'love' violence, save within the 'royal' confines of a game that thrives upon just this. Superb, Tim... love your comments, your opinions and your knowledge...
just and FYI if Leinster make the semis it's actually going to be played in Croke Park as the Aviva is having the pitch worked on for the Europa League final or something.
I agree the organization of pools can be improved. Thanks for another great video ! And I agree with your predictions even if I really hope La Rochelle win !
Good weekends rugby, Northampton game was pick of the bunch with two teams absolutely smashing into each other and nothing in it for much of the 1st half. Leinster and Toulouse both look so strong, interesting to see how next weekend goes, could be a French heavy semi finals. Hope Quins and Saints can do a job but there is so much quality at this stage its a big ask.
Well when the competition format was at its best it was 24 teams in 6 groups of 4 with home and away fixtures. If they stay with these pools of 6, then eliminate 4 more sizes and have 4 group winners bye into quarters.
I think there is a problem, with the ticketing system in Cape Town. Tried to buy some month's in advance, it says sold out. When you turn on the Tele, stadium is only 30% full?!
They may allocate tickets to visiting teams in advance and some people maybe decided not to turn up like season ticket holders due to the high wind weather. Always check on the morning of a game too.
@@bunnychowmuncher don't think that is the case. Look at the Edinburgh game and previous one , said sold out a month in advance?! Just remember, it is only a booking once paid for.the stadium can take 60000?
Hey Tim, love the videos. Any chance you could do a video on what a global calendar would look like? Just not sure how it works. Cheers, keep up the good work
Leinster v Toulouse Final The only game yet to be played which could genuinely go either way. Both at home all the way to final Leinster eagerly awaiting an off colour La Rochelle for satisfying retribution and too experienced for a travelling Northampton in semi Toulouse to outplay an inexperienced Exeter and then a gallant Bordeaux in the semi. Who will gain the first ever sixth star on their jersey?? That answer above my paygrade Eggchaser Territory!🙄🙄
Was at my first ever champs cup game at Loftus Pretoria on the weekend.Good fun. It will still take a couple years i think for us in SA to really get into and appreciate the cup. The buy in to the URC is increasing. But it is disappointing having second string teams being sent out quite regularly. I know the SA sides are also guilty of this. Not sure what the solution is.
At the risk of sounding delirious/delusional in a weeks time…COME ON YOU QUINS!!!! (Even though I know the odds are against them, I carry the hope of Bristanbul and the Premiership Final close to my heart) In the other cases, I think it’ll be Toulouse, La Rochelle and Saints. La Rochelle because O Gara has their number in these situations, and Saints because home advantage for them with a South African team will be massive; won’t hand them the win, but it’ll give them a head start like it did with Munster today in terms of their energy.
One legged knock out rounds is silly if the venue isn’t neutral. Two legs or neutral venues are needed. Less teams at the group stages to help with the fixture congestion and also boost the competitiveness from the start.
Right, weekend sorted: best tickets for Bordeaux to beat Quinn’s on Saturday, then to the Bordeaux club house to watch Leinster make a genetic/cultural quarterfinal choke. Roaring piss up, hopefully watching saints win. Sunday morning brunch and then drive down to Ernest wallon for lunch and got best seats for Toulouse to continue the youngsters at Exeter’s education. Home, jump in the pool, 27 degrees in the garden. Slight headache. Blinding weekend ahead.
You’re correct saints played and lost to DHL Stormers At Cinch during the 6 nations so without home nation internationals ( was a friendly / exhibition match which in the end was more like a baa baas game - shirt switching rolling subs
Sorry Tim, but you're mistaken about the LA Rochelle kicker missed all his kicks at that end of the field, and quite badly. That's why they were 0 at half. The other end seemed much friendlier to the kickers.
New format does not work, we’re seeing 60/70/80 point wins in this format since teams can afford to play 2nd string teams since they only have to win one game. I don’t recall seeing any blowout wins in the old group stage by the margins we’re seeing now
i agree there’s got to be some way of preventing this stuff. It’s poor for fans who aren’t aware of this and pay to go watch their team essentially just turn up because they have to and roll over for the 80
Some cracking games and both my Teams Chiefs &Quins were great.Tolouse must be favourites but could Saints get to the Final? Probably not so money on Leinster.😊
Personally I enjoyed the Northampton v Munster best. Mainly as a tigers fan I’ll support all the English teams . So bias really but not saw much of saints lately and was impressed. What skill displayed in the Toulouse game though . But jack Willis getting his hands under the ball was sensational defending.
An interesting thing to point out is that there is a very real chance that France has 3 of the 4 semi-finalists and that both Ireland and South Africa have none. Which is weird given that neither national teams are lacking in depth. However I do believe the Bulls and Leinster will win, Northampton just doesn't quite cut it in my opinion and La Rochelle hasn't had the greatest season, and the energy they spend in SA plus de the travel should give the edge to Leinster.
It’s not rocket science: the French have 8 teams that qualify for the tournament while South Africa and Ireland only have two each. They have to compete with one another (and three other nations) to get their teams into the tournament. The maximum number of teams they could ever get to qualify would be four, exactly half the number of French teams. It’s simple mathematics.
@@jacquescoetzee47 France has more teams that qualify because there are a lot more competitive French teams. If the rugby leagues in other coutries were as good as the top 14 from top to bottom they would have the same amount of teams competing. Based on the quality of its national championship, France should stand out in terms of depth, but the World Cup showed pretty much the opposite. So beyond the simple maths, there are real interesting questions.
@@thomaslequesne5475 No, France have more teams qualifying because that’s the nature of the competition. The top 8 teams of each respective tournament qualify for the Champions Cup. Seeing as their tournament is entirely comprised of French teams, they will always have 8 French teams in the Champions Cup irrespective of their competitiveness. South Africa and Ireland on the other hand only have a maximum of four teams each that are eligible. Realistically they’ll only ever have 2-3 teams each that will ever qualify. It has nothing to do with competitiveness and everything to do with the format.
they should mix the groups for the top 16 bottom 4 of group 1 play top 4 of pool 2 and vica versa. tha t will lead to none of the teams playing each other twice, but you still get teams of the same country playing each other.
I dont see that. Bulls are a good side....better then Stormers and Leinster were far to good for them. This LR side doesn't look as strong as in the last 2 years. Leinster by 20
@@dn822 Neither does Leinster. Any team who has as replacement props Healy and Al'alatoa don't inspire me with much confidence. Ross Byrne was dreadful on Friday and should be dropped in favour of Harry Byrne or Frawley. A 20 point winning margin for Leinster would be nice but I can't see it happening. A one score game with five minutes to go is where the LR bench vs the Leinster bench will make the difference between winning and losing.
@@dn822stormers still 7-1 vs bulls la rochelle play a game that can beat leinster the bulld got a few lucky win at home they are not necessarily better than the stormers
I'm not going to pretend like i know why Pretoria was empty but... Maybe it's because they knew it was a weak lyon side??(as you said)... Maybe it was because the game was so early?? We've just come from a big easter weekend, so maybe people are broke🤷🏽. Could be many things. I'm not too sure it's because the tournament hasn't gained interest yet.
As a Pretorian myself the game is just to early in the afternoon. Would've loved to be there but it is at a time where most people in Pretoria is still busy with other stuff. Also although it has been cooling down a little bit, Pretoria is scorching hot that time of day.
Final Bulls v LAR. And LAR will not be in the position to bully them like they did against Stormers. To me that was the game of the wrekend and ofcourse, I am biased. Talking about low numbers watching, my theory: rugby overload, paid tv like in our SA situation where DSTV and Supersort monopolised our national sport keeping a huge chunck of supporters away from the game. Not the format of rugby. Diehard fans will watch any game. For instance my focus will now be on the bulls our traditional enemies although I am in Gautang the last 49 years and still supporting WP or Stormers.
Dude you don't know the logistics around Pretoria. We ha e big schools there and it was there derby games. These school games attract 25k people, and it was the same time as the bulls vs Lyon game. UK schools don't even attract so.much people to their school derbies. Anyways the sa teams make the Comp stronger, just look how good the urc is. Premiership rugby is dying out in UK, how many clubs went down 3 i think.
All the southern hemisphere teams seem to always have a different feel to their support in union. NZ, Australia, SA, all feels very 'American,' style. Not tied at all to local culture/feel of a town or city like it is in England and France, for example. It feels odd to me too, when you see empty stadia like that. Weird to have money to build huge stadia, but no fans to sit in them.
@@toma411 Nonsense. The Stormers exemplify the Western Province, they’re very much emblematic of their locale. Every one of the players was either born there or is a product of their region. The same goes for every South African club. They take great pride in their region and play their own radically different styles. The French teams on the other hand are filled with a bunch of foreign mercenaries that jump from one team to the next for big salaries. How you can look at their team sheets and say they have a stronger connection to the region when most can’t even speak the language is beyond me.
SORRY - Not only TNT Sport...I had my own "broadcast issues". Clearly a camera malfunction, apologies.
"How much you love rugby" is why I never miss a video. Never change! Can't wait for you to come to South Africa and enjoy some of the culture. Cheers!
Pau Connacht was great from the Challenge Cup. Hugely entertaining.
Flament's assist deserved a special mention!
If Leinster win the semi will be in Croke park. Would be fantastic.
So Exeter will have nothing to lose…in Toulouse!
😂 Wouldn't enjoy supporting a team with the name To Loose.
If Leinster win next weekend, the semi final won't be in the Aviva stadium, I'll be in Croke Park.
If leinster play like they did yesterday they won't have to look forward to playing in croke park, all the pressure is on them, o gara has his team in Cork this week , my money is on them to overpower leinster and reach another semi
@@Kenny-zn6dlCroke park will be a massive incentive for them. Leinster have already beaten LR this season, away.
@johnmc3862 yes agree they have but lost two consecutive finals and well we all know too well that irish teams self destruct in cup matches, hope I'm proved wrong this year but o gara brought his team to Cork for the week to prepare which should worry leinster, the player's are good enough on the field, not sure about what's going on in their heads though! 😳
Flament's ball handeling is crazy for Toulouse last try
It sure was a crazy hand move at full speed.
Come on you Quins! Fingers and toes crossed for an upset in Bordeaux!!!
You mean the Bordeaux that spanked Saracens, who spanked quins a couple of weeks ago?
It's not impossible. But bordeaux means business with its backline. Can't wait to see it.
Wonderful program 🙏
Gosh Tim has become part of my routine weekly like sliced bread and jamon. Always on the edge of my seat for Tim’s videos and only just got idea that he has his own podcast? How come he never advertises? I had to hear from a fan in another forum. I’ll try to find it as I enjoy his words but Tim if you are listening don’t be too shy. If you are on the airwaves let the fans know. I’ll check on apple
Most likely Leinster vs Toulouse or Bordeaux in final. Nothing to add on the superior strength of Leinster and Toulouse in Europe, but Bordeaux is impressive this year and could make surprises.
love is something you cannot spread too thick, especially with such a reasoned approach... how ever could one 'love' violence, save within the 'royal' confines of a game that thrives upon just this. Superb, Tim... love your comments, your opinions and your knowledge...
I agree the competition is really exciting !
Pronounciation wise : it’s Costes pronounced « cost ». And for Roumat you should pronounce the final T.
Merci!
And Bayonne is pronounced Bi onne xx
To be fair sometimes the last lettre of the name or word isn't pronounced in french. It's like russian roulette.
just and FYI if Leinster make the semis it's actually going to be played in Croke Park as the Aviva is having the pitch worked on for the Europa League final or something.
I agree the organization of pools can be improved. Thanks for another great video !
And I agree with your predictions even if I really hope La Rochelle win !
Sure glad you love rugby as much as you do Tim😉, following since the rwc and love the channel. Keep all the good stuff coming man 👌
Good weekends rugby, Northampton game was pick of the bunch with two teams absolutely smashing into each other and nothing in it for much of the 1st half. Leinster and Toulouse both look so strong, interesting to see how next weekend goes, could be a French heavy semi finals. Hope Quins and Saints can do a job but there is so much quality at this stage its a big ask.
Well when the competition format was at its best it was 24 teams in 6 groups of 4 with home and away fixtures.
If they stay with these pools of 6, then eliminate 4 more sizes and have 4 group winners bye into quarters.
Imo Bordeaux/Toulouse v leinster
Merci Tim, encore une autre video
I think there is a problem, with the ticketing system in Cape Town. Tried to buy some month's in advance, it says sold out. When you turn on the Tele, stadium is only 30% full?!
They may allocate tickets to visiting teams in advance and some people maybe decided not to turn up like season ticket holders due to the high wind weather. Always check on the morning of a game too.
@@bunnychowmuncher don't think that is the case. Look at the Edinburgh game and previous one , said sold out a month in advance?! Just remember, it is only a booking once paid for.the stadium can take 60000?
Hey Tim, love the videos. Any chance you could do a video on what a global calendar would look like? Just not sure how it works. Cheers, keep up the good work
Leinster v Toulouse Final
The only game yet to be played which could genuinely go either way.
Both at home all the way to final
Leinster eagerly awaiting an off colour La Rochelle for satisfying retribution and too experienced for a travelling Northampton in semi
Toulouse to outplay an inexperienced Exeter and then a gallant Bordeaux in the semi.
Who will gain the first ever sixth star on their jersey??
That answer above my paygrade
Eggchaser Territory!🙄🙄
I reckon the finals will be Leinster and Toulouse which will be a heck of a match 😊
Essentially france v Ireland
Was at my first ever champs cup game at Loftus Pretoria on the weekend.Good fun. It will still take a couple years i think for us in SA to really get into and appreciate the cup. The buy in to the URC is increasing. But it is disappointing having second string teams being sent out quite regularly. I know the SA sides are also guilty of this. Not sure what the solution is.
At the risk of sounding delirious/delusional in a weeks time…COME ON YOU QUINS!!!! (Even though I know the odds are against them, I carry the hope of Bristanbul and the Premiership Final close to my heart)
In the other cases, I think it’ll be Toulouse, La Rochelle and Saints. La Rochelle because O Gara has their number in these situations, and Saints because home advantage for them with a South African team will be massive; won’t hand them the win, but it’ll give them a head start like it did with Munster today in terms of their energy.
One legged knock out rounds is silly if the venue isn’t neutral. Two legs or neutral venues are needed. Less teams at the group stages to help with the fixture congestion and also boost the competitiveness from the start.
Right, weekend sorted: best tickets for Bordeaux to beat Quinn’s on Saturday, then to the Bordeaux club house to watch Leinster make a genetic/cultural quarterfinal choke. Roaring piss up, hopefully watching saints win.
Sunday morning brunch and then drive down to Ernest wallon for lunch and got best seats for Toulouse to continue the youngsters at Exeter’s education. Home, jump in the pool, 27 degrees in the garden. Slight headache.
Blinding weekend ahead.
Stormers beat Saints in a mid-season friendly. Teams were hugely changed, was a fun game of Rugby though.
We aren’t playing Stormers though…they are out 😂
@@NickWarne-bx3kv yeah, i replying to Tim on the video who said he remembered Saints playing Stormers recently but couldn't remember the score
You’re correct saints played and lost to DHL Stormers At Cinch during the 6 nations so without home nation internationals ( was a friendly / exhibition match which in the end was more like a baa baas game - shirt switching rolling subs
Sorry Tim, but you're mistaken about the LA Rochelle kicker missed all his kicks at that end of the field, and quite badly. That's why they were 0 at half. The other end seemed much friendlier to the kickers.
Fortunately Connacht vs Pau in the challenge cup was excellent. 40-30 win for Connacht, from 30-19 down
Could you imagine the UEFA Champions League losing coverage of a game??? 😂
The greatest sport in the world 😍 yet sometimes so f**king amateur 🤬
Wouldn’t happen too much money.
New format does not work, we’re seeing 60/70/80 point wins in this format since teams can afford to play 2nd string teams since they only have to win one game. I don’t recall seeing any blowout wins in the old group stage by the margins we’re seeing now
i agree there’s got to be some way of preventing this stuff. It’s poor for fans who aren’t aware of this and pay to go watch their team essentially just turn up because they have to and roll over for the 80
Some cracking games and both my Teams Chiefs &Quins were great.Tolouse must be favourites but could Saints get to the Final? Probably not so money on Leinster.😊
Personally I enjoyed the Northampton v Munster best. Mainly as a tigers fan I’ll support all the English teams . So bias really but not saw much of saints lately and was impressed. What skill displayed in the Toulouse game though . But jack Willis getting his hands under the ball was sensational defending.
I think if Leinster get to the semifinal, it will be in Croke Park because Lansdowne Road has UEFA soccer on
8 pools of 3..1 from each conference..home and away fixtures..top 2 to the last 16..there sorted.
Surprised how empty the stadiums were is SA. Thought it was the number 1 sport there?
Only Nots should go thru...
7 games & Paris-Roubaix cycle race (in full)
Maybe safe to say a French team vs an Irish team? Maybe not given La Rochelle’s record and Leinster’s record of choking?
Can we now get some challenge cup content, since we're going into the quarters/semis/finals, pls x
Watching from USA on FloRugby and we got a green screen
An interesting thing to point out is that there is a very real chance that France has 3 of the 4 semi-finalists and that both Ireland and South Africa have none. Which is weird given that neither national teams are lacking in depth.
However I do believe the Bulls and Leinster will win, Northampton just doesn't quite cut it in my opinion and La Rochelle hasn't had the greatest season, and the energy they spend in SA plus de the travel should give the edge to Leinster.
It’s not rocket science: the French have 8 teams that qualify for the tournament while South Africa and Ireland only have two each. They have to compete with one another (and three other nations) to get their teams into the tournament. The maximum number of teams they could ever get to qualify would be four, exactly half the number of French teams.
It’s simple mathematics.
@@jacquescoetzee47 France has more teams that qualify because there are a lot more competitive French teams. If the rugby leagues in other coutries were as good as the top 14 from top to bottom they would have the same amount of teams competing. Based on the quality of its national championship, France should stand out in terms of depth, but the World Cup showed pretty much the opposite. So beyond the simple maths, there are real interesting questions.
@@thomaslequesne5475 No, France have more teams qualifying because that’s the nature of the competition. The top 8 teams of each respective tournament qualify for the Champions Cup. Seeing as their tournament is entirely comprised of French teams, they will always have 8 French teams in the Champions Cup irrespective of their competitiveness.
South Africa and Ireland on the other hand only have a maximum of four teams each that are eligible. Realistically they’ll only ever have 2-3 teams each that will ever qualify. It has nothing to do with competitiveness and everything to do with the format.
Im sure Quins v Glasgow played in the group stages Tim?
No, Glasgow played Northampton and Exeter
@@chrisnorton4382 Must have been Exeter I got mixed up with then, thanks
they should mix the groups for the top 16 bottom 4 of group 1 play top 4 of pool 2 and vica versa. tha t will lead to none of the teams playing each other twice, but you still get teams of the same country playing each other.
Any idea how to get tickets for final?
On the epcr website, still available
@@kenrehill8775Thanks very much Ken 👍
If Leinster don't perform better at lineouts and scrum and drop Ross Byrne, LR will win this game easily.
I dont see that. Bulls are a good side....better then Stormers and Leinster were far to good for them. This LR side doesn't look as strong as in the last 2 years. Leinster by 20
@@dn822 Neither does Leinster. Any team who has as replacement props Healy and Al'alatoa don't inspire me with much confidence. Ross Byrne was dreadful on Friday and should be dropped in favour of Harry Byrne or Frawley. A 20 point winning margin for Leinster would be nice but I can't see it happening. A one score game with five minutes to go is where the LR bench vs the Leinster bench will make the difference between winning and losing.
@@Hometruths29 I think the only thing here might be a mental block because of what happened the last 2 seasons. ...but let's see. Good luck
@@dn822stormers still 7-1 vs bulls la rochelle play a game that can beat leinster the bulld got a few lucky win at home they are not necessarily better than the stormers
@@Hometruths29Leinster have already beaten them this season, away. They also will probably have a Keenan and Ringrose back.
I'm not going to pretend like i know why Pretoria was empty but... Maybe it's because they knew it was a weak lyon side??(as you said)... Maybe it was because the game was so early?? We've just come from a big easter weekend, so maybe people are broke🤷🏽. Could be many things. I'm not too sure it's because the tournament hasn't gained interest yet.
As a Pretorian myself the game is just to early in the afternoon. Would've loved to be there but it is at a time where most people in Pretoria is still busy with other stuff. Also although it has been cooling down a little bit, Pretoria is scorching hot that time of day.
Final Bulls v LAR. And LAR will not be in the position to bully them like they did against Stormers. To me that was the game of the wrekend and ofcourse, I am biased. Talking about low numbers watching, my theory: rugby overload, paid tv like in our SA situation where DSTV and Supersort monopolised our national sport keeping a huge chunck of supporters away from the game. Not the format of rugby. Diehard fans will watch any game. For instance my focus will now be on the bulls our traditional enemies although I am in Gautang the last 49 years and still supporting WP or Stormers.
Why did the French and English who took over the running of the Heineken cup and make a complete dog’s dinner of it? Arrogance
Who ran it before?
Sorry but SA teams shouldn't be in European competition
And the SA teams need to go from this comp. That Bulls attendance for a knockout cup game was an embarrassment.
Dude you don't know the logistics around Pretoria. We ha e big schools there and it was there derby games. These school games attract 25k people, and it was the same time as the bulls vs Lyon game.
UK schools don't even attract so.much people to their school derbies. Anyways the sa teams make the Comp stronger, just look how good the urc is. Premiership rugby is dying out in UK, how many clubs went down 3 i think.
The Bulls’ attendance was bigger than Stade Francais’ earlier this year against the Stormers, where was the criticism then?
All the southern hemisphere teams seem to always have a different feel to their support in union. NZ, Australia, SA, all feels very 'American,' style. Not tied at all to local culture/feel of a town or city like it is in England and France, for example. It feels odd to me too, when you see empty stadia like that. Weird to have money to build huge stadia, but no fans to sit in them.
@@toma411 Nonsense. The Stormers exemplify the Western Province, they’re very much emblematic of their locale. Every one of the players was either born there or is a product of their region. The same goes for every South African club. They take great pride in their region and play their own radically different styles.
The French teams on the other hand are filled with a bunch of foreign mercenaries that jump from one team to the next for big salaries. How you can look at their team sheets and say they have a stronger connection to the region when most can’t even speak the language is beyond me.
That team should not be in a knock out cup. They are shit. Why would you want to go watch that