WHO’S WHO IN EUROPE

TIGERS RIVALS

Spotlight on the two teams providing opposition in the preliminary round.

The new format for the European Challenge Cup this season pits all teams into one pool in the preliminary stage, with Tigers facing the unusual challenge of back-toback games against French opposition in the shape of Brive and Bayonne.

Both teams returned to the Top14 with promotion in 2018-19 and have been rare opponents for the Tigers - with just one competitive fixture against Brive and none against their French colleagues.

Brive

The new TOP14 season began back at the start of September after the suspension of the 2019-20 campaign after just 17 rounds, and Brive opened with a three-tries-to-one victory against Bayonne.

Scores were shared by Enzo Herve, Setareki Bituniyata and former Exeter Chiefs forward Mitch Lees which, combined with seven kicked penalties, pushed them to a 42-23 winning start and the highest score in the opening weekend.

A narrow defeat at Bordeaux-Begles followed, but Brive bounced back on home turf at the Stade Amédée-Domeneche to beat Pau, who were among Tigers’ pool rivals in Europe last season.

That gave them a steady two-from-three start with a squad including summer signings Valentin Tirefort, Florian Dufour and Fijian full-back Setariki Tuicuvu from elsewhere in French rugby.

Samoan back row Brandon Nansen was signed from the Dragons and prop Pietro Ceccarelli arrived from Edinburgh in the other squad changes.

There is a Leicester Tigers link too with Wesley Douglas, a graduate of the Tigers academy, moving from Beziers, while Stan South was part of the Exeter Chiefs squad last season when they won the Heineken Champions Cup.

Departures ahead of the new season included veteran Samoan prop James Johnston, who had experience with four Premiership clubs, and the Scotland international Alex Dunbar.

Following that bright start, points have proved harder to find for a team noted for its big forward pack and quick backline.

Left without a fixture in Round 4, the winning run at home was ended by a Toulouse side who racked up a 36-16 victory, and then lost at Montpellier before a second home defeat against Clermont Auvergne.

Brive also lost at Toulon and La Rochelle either side of a narrow loss against Racing 92, but then landed a first away win of the campaign, beating bottom-of-the-table Agen 15-6 last weekend.

Fly-half Thomas Laranjeira kicked all of the points with a dropgoal and four penalties as they enter the Challenge Cup period with 14 points from their 10 games played.

The former European champions scored a home-and-away double over Stade Francais in the pool stages of the Challenge Cup last season, but did not progress to the knockout stage after two defeats to Bristol Bears and a narrow loss to Zebre in Italy.

They have played more games in the Challenge Cup than any of this season’s other entrants and have made 13 appearances in the last eight.

Bayonne

Rugby arrived in the Basque country in the late 19th Century and the Bayonne club, located in the south-west corner of France, enjoyed early success with a first league title win in 1913.

This season, Aviron Bayonnais had an even won five, lost five record in the opening 10 rounds before a 20-24 defeat at home to high-flying Toulouse last weekend.

After an opening-day loss at Brive back in October, they recorded a 21-19 win over Clermont Auvergne back at the Stade Jean Dauger and then beat Stade Francais in Paris before a loss at home to La Rochelle in Round 4.

Lyon inflicted a heavy defeat a week later, but Bayonne bounced back with a 26-15 win over Agen for their second away win in three trips at the start of the season.

Impressive wins over Montpellier and Toulon, and defeats to Bordeaux-Begles and Racing 92 followed before the contest with Toulouse last week as Bayonne reach this break in the league action sitting in ninth place with 21 points.

New arrivals in the squad this season include a trio of Australians - John Ulugia from Clermont, Hugh Pyle from Stade Francais and Izaia Perese who arrived after a stint with Brisbane Broncos - plus New Zealand Sevens representative Joe Ravouvou. Georgian lock Konstantin Mikautadze was in Montpellier’s Heineken Cup squad with Leicester’s Nemani Nadolo last season.

They failed to progress from a pool including eventual finalists Toulon, Lyon and London Irish in last season’s Challenge Cup, their 13th campaign in the tournament.

CUP FIXTURES

Teams are drawn in one pool but do not face opposition from their own country in the preliminary stages, which is why Brive and Bayonne will play against Tigers and Zebre rather than against each other.

ROUND 1

Agen v London Irish Leicester Tigers v Brive Newcastle Falcons v Cardiff Blues Ospreys v Castres Olympique Pau v Worcester Warriors Stade Francais Paris v Benetton Rugby Zebre Rugby Club v Bayonne

ROUND 2

Bayonne v Leicester Tigers Benetton Rugby v Agen Brive v Zebre Rugby Club Cardiff Blues v Stade Francais Paris Castres Olympique v Newcastle Falcons London Irish v Pau Worcester Warriors v Ospreys

ROUND 3

Agen v Benetton Rugby Leicester Tigers v Bayonne Newcastle Falcons v Castres Olympique Ospreys v Worcester Warriors Pau v London Irish Stade Francais Paris v Cardiff Blues Zebre Rugby Club v Brive

ROUND 4

Bayonne v Zebre Rugby Club Benetton Rugby v Stade Francais Paris Brive v Leicester Tigers Cardiff Blues v Newcastle Falcons Castres Olympique v Ospreys London Irish v Agen Worcester Warriors v Pau