There are no Irish teams in them, so hardly worth mentioning!
Might as well think about the Wee Cup too.
Bristol v Bordeaux
In a fight between Bears and Beagles, there can only be one winner, and I’m afraid it’s not the lovable hounds.
Racing 92 v Saracens
French home advantage to edge it.
Exeter v Toulouse
Probably another close one, but French inability to play away to lose it.
Toulon v Leicester
How did the Tiggers make it this far? They won’t get any further.
On the telly
Friday 25th September
| Bristol v Bordeaux | 19:45 | BT Sport 2 |
Saturday 26th September
| Racing 92 v Saracens | 12:30 | Channel 4 / BT Sport 3 |
| Exeter v Toulouse | 15:30 | BT Sport 3 |
| Toulon v Leicester | 20:00 | BT Sport 3 |
Monday 28th September
| Harlequins v Wasps | 19:45 | BT Sport 1 |
Tuesday 29th September
| Northampton v Sale | 17:30 | BT Sport 1 |
Wednesday 30th September
| Bristol v Leicester | 17:30 | BT Sport Extra |
| Exeter v London Irish | 17:30 | BT Sport Extra |
| Worcester v Saracens | 17:30 | BT Sport Extra |
Ovally Balls 
Kolbe is ridiculous
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Absolute cracker of a try from Toulouse.
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And Exeter respond just before HT. 14-11.
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35-7 at HT.
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Exeter are so good at that pick and drive, Edinburgh would have coughed up about seven penalties and turnovers from that many phases
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French commentators moaning about that TMO decision….
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Some lovely French-flair rugby from Toulouse, but Exeter turn it over just short of the try-line.
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Exeter showing some flair of their own, but it gets intercepted and knocked on.
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That’s it!
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And another try for Exeter! That’ll probably be the match. 26-11 before conversion.
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Another good try for Toulouse.
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Well done Exeter, great win. I thought the Exeter pack were really good, no particular standouts, just a great collective performance
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phew!
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And that’s it! 28-18. A good match for the neutral.
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The French commentators seemed impressed with Slade, Slade.
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Some of the Exeter players are in tears. Well done to them.
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Bizarre MotM (SotM?) trophy.
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Finn v Hoggy and the rest in the final.
If you’re Scottish
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Final at Ashton Gate, apparently. It will be great to see Hoggy against Finn in the final. I would have loved it if they (and Jonny) had got there with Glasgow, but that was never going to happen and that’s why they left.
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Thaum – don’t know why they just don’t call it Player of the Match, rather than Star.
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The Heineken logo has a star
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Speaking of Heineken, I make that Aspall’s o’clock
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Too many Scots!
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Slade during that game Warbs kept talking about how Exeter could really use a poacher at the breakdown and I immediately thought you could do worse than sign up Hamish Watson
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Great game for me – I love watching Toulouse and I really wanted Exeter to win.
Jo Simmonds is so calm at 10 and sells a dummy like a good ‘un.
Great game from Kaino too.
Chuffed for Harry Williams -not often a tight head gets two tries in a game.
I think Racing are the more mature side so they should win. Exeter may have had to put too much into this one.
We’ll see – they continue to surprise!
Thaum – French commentators always love a back who looks suave and unhurried – France invented them!
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Ticht – joking or not, you are right (but I’ve lost track of what type of players are favoured by the current rules.
However, “too many Scots”!
Armand and Ewers are ageing but integral to Exeter’ style. With a player like Watson, would he or the team, have to change to accommodate him?
I’d prefer a Curry, I think!
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Ticht – just thinking on……………….I think Exeter play to suck in the opposition rather than look for Scottish-style mayhem (yet to be a winning formula). They are really quite structured and try to play a simple game at high intensity.
Also and on a different note both Bristol and Exeter show they can outlast an opponent over 80 minutes, fair play to them.
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I’ll be honest, I’m sad it won’t be an all English final but I’m glad Exeter are there.
I’m predicting a similar if closer scoreline.
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Craigs – is that you volunteering to write the ATL for the weekend of the final? ;-)
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Nice try Toulon!
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Toulon taming Tiggers.
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Not watching this match, so please keep us informed.
Good to hear that the prediction rate looks to be panning out at 100%. *smugface*
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Tiggers with a try just before half time, but Toulon still lead 20-11. Pitch is bloody awful. Commentators claiming Leicester should be better because they have loads of England internationals – just before one of them (Ford) kicks the ball dead.
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Good scrum from Tiggers, and Ford knocks over the penalty. 20-14 now.
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There’s that England international George Ford again. Leicester get a penalty within reasonable range. Instead they go for the corner and Ford kicks it dead.
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Another try Toulon!
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Yellow for Lavanini. Not a surprise.
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Lavanini gets a yellow, to the surprise of no-one.
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Another try for Toulon! Also a high tackle in the middle of the Toulon attack. All stemmed from a loose Ford kick. Not been his best night. Not been Leicester’s best night. Mind you, it could also be that Leicester just aren’t very good.
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Sergio gets a yellow for collapsing a maul! Scott almost over but can’t get the ball down!
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Harry Potter scores a try! (Insert some sort of ‘magic’ joke here….)
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Leicester try disallowed for a (very marginal) forward pass. It wouldn’t have made any difference anyway.
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I just read this great quote, from Wynton Marsalis’ “A Life In Music”
Some time ago, the tenor saxophonist Frank Foster was playing a street concert from the Jazzmobile in Harlem. He called for a blues in B-flat. A young tenor began to “play out” from the first chorus, playing sounds that had no relationship to the harmonic progression or rhythmic setting.
Foster stopped him.
“What are you doing?”
“Just playing what I feel”
“Well, feel something in B-flat, motherfucker.”
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Toulon win 34-19 and it was pretty comfortable in the end really. Brizzle will give them a far stiffer test.
So, two England vs France finals.
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Cheers for the commentary!
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*blogkill*
Mind you, a lovely sunny day and no rugby on!
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Thaum – yeah go on then. When do you need it?
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Yee-ha! Well, the match is the 17th, so maybe by the previous Thursday, please?
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Thaum – okally dokally
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Ticht, hope it’s not too personal a question. But the new avatar – is that you? If so, a thousand recommends to your new cosmetician.
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