Parker Pen Challenge Cup update - Round 2

Who will win?
By Chris Randall
December 11 2002

After some surprises in the results from last weekend, just who will be playing whom in the Quarter Finals of the Parker Pen Challenge Cup?

The top half of the draw last weekend played out like this:-

Bridgend 28 Bath 26
Treviso 27 Newcastle 8
Montauban 19 Borders 16
Sarries 16 Colomiers 6

And the bottom half of the draw:-

Quins (a big round) 0 Stade Francias 26
Pontypridd 37 Leeds 23
Narbonne 42 Connacht 27
London Wasps 43 Bordeaux-Begles 6

The bottom half of the draw looks fairly easy to call at the moment, at
least to the QF stage.

I can't see Quins making up 26 points against
Stade Francais on french soil and I don't think Wasps will throw away a 37 point advantage over there either.

Ponty should have enough to see off Leeds, though it could be interesting if the Tykes hit the ground running.

The Connacht game is a possibility depending how well Narbonne travel, but they should also have enough in hand to take the game (but with the
French, who can tell?).

In our half of the draw things are a lot closer.

The shock result must have been Treviso v Newcastle; not the fact Newcastle lost, but by the margin. The Falcons are a different proposition at Kingston Park but if their
confidence is low, Treviso may hold on for an aggregate victory.

Which should mean a tip to Treviso for us Sarries fans in January. We have a
good record in France (beating both Toulouse and Bordeaux in recent years) and I think we will win on Saturday.

The other two games are too close to call but I'll have a go anyway, Bath should be able to turn over a two point defecit at the Rec against Bridgend and Borders should be able to overturn their defecit of three points when they return to Scotland to play Montauban.

However, both the away teams have a penalty
goal or less seperating them so these games should be fiercely contested.

So come Monday 16th December, the quarter finals of the PPCC should look like this:-

Treviso v Sarries
Borders v Bath

Stade Francais v Wasps (should be a cracker!)
Ponty v Narbonne

Which leaves us in line for a Sarries v Wasps/Stade Francais final!