It’s off to France again for Michael Bradley and his hardy Connacht warriors when they face Narbonne in the quarter-final of the Parker Pen Challenge Cup next Saturday.
It’s off to France again for Michael Bradley and his hardy Connacht warriors when they face Narbonne in the quarter-final of the Parker Pen Challenge Cup next Saturday. The return leg will be played a week later.
The journey will be a familiar one for the Connacht men. They went out to play Narbonne at the Parc des Sports et de l’Amite lasr year in Round 2 of the competition. On that occasion they returned having been beaten, 42-27, with a seemingly impossible task ahead of them in the return leg. However, they overturned that result, winning 23-7 to progress to the quarter-final on a +1 points difference.
And now, with wins in Beziers and Pau under their belts, they have shown they have what it takes to win in that most difficult theatre of rugby. Just as importantly, Narbonne will know it as well.
What awaits the winner of this tie is a semi-final meeting with either Harlequins, who won the title in 2001 or Brive, winners of the Heineken Cup in 1997 and beaten semi-finalists in the Challenge Cup in 1999 and in the quarter-final in 2001 (by Harlequins).
The fixtures, dates and kick-off times for the first and second legs
of the
Parker Pen Challenge Cup quarter-finals are:
First Leg.
Saturday 24th January
15.00: NEC Harlequins v Brive
19.30: Narbonne v Connacht
19.30: Beziers v Bath Rugby
Sunday 25th January
15.00: Montferrand v Saracens
Second Leg.
Saturday 31st January.
14.00: Connacht v Narbonne
14.15: Bath Rugby v Beziers
Sunday 1st February
15.00: Saracens v Montferrand
15.00: Brive v NEC Harlequins
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