Champions Cup 2020/2021 General Thread

thomond2006

thomond2006 wrote: »

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=116724766&postcount=331

I love Bargain Alerts!

Offer posted for Now TV's Sport Extra pack which includes BT Sport. 3 months for €30 and that's your European rugby viewing sorted.
You can split it with someone else too as you can watch on two devices simultaneously. I just got it there now.

When I go to sign up I see a 17euro p/m deal and when I go through the motions I don't see anywhere to enter a code, how did you sign up?

Edit - seems you have to be signed in, but I can't sign in because I don't have an account, and to get an account it looks like you need to pay something.

Former Former Former

Rudy Gentle Ringleader wrote: »

When I go to sign up I see a 17euro p/m deal and when I go through the motions I don't see anywhere to enter a code, how did you sign up?

Edit - seems you have to be signed in, but I can't sign in because I don't have an account, and to get an account it looks like you need to pay something.

No, you can register for an account before you pay anything.

thomond2006

It's a bit awkward alright.

My Account > Manage Account > NOW Membership > Enter that code when prompted > You pay €30 up front for a three month period (Don't forget to cancel before the end of that period!)

That worked for me!

Exclamation Marc

thomond2006 wrote: »

It's a bit awkward alright.

My Account > Manage Account > NOW Membership > Enter that code when prompted > You pay €30 up front for a three month period (Don't forget to cancel before the end of that period!)

That worked for me!

Quick tip, you can cancel straight away if you don't want to take the risk as you'll still have access til the end of June.

Ludikrus

Will there be highlights or delayed coverage of the games on anywhere?

icdg

VM Two, Sunday 11:05pm.

yerrahbah

At least this is clarified going forward

https://twitter.com/MarkPalmerST/status/1376895291958394882

yerrahbah

yerrahbah wrote: »

At least this is clarified going forward

https://twitter.com/MarkPalmerST/status/1376895291958394882

Am not mad on the closed door aspect to part 2 there.

Deleted User

Deleted User wrote: »

Am not mad on the closed door aspect to part 2 there.

what alternative is there? there's no room in the calendar for any game to be rescheduled.

crisco10

Amira Flaky Teenager wrote: »

what alternative is there? there's no room in the calendar for any game to be rescheduled.

Coin toss on live TV.??

Paul Smeenus

The Inbetween is mine wrote: »

Once they entered the fray it was always on the cards

Cardiff are saying that the SA teams will have to prise their Champions Cup place from their cold, dead hands, and are well within their rights to do so.

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-news/cardiff-blues-fight-moves-ditch-20285432

Squidgy Black

Paul Smeenus wrote: »

Cardiff are saying that the SA teams will have to prise their Champions Cup place from their cold, dead hands, and are well within their rights to do so.

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-news/cardiff-blues-fight-moves-ditch-20285432

Yeah it'd be an absolutely bananas decision to expand the CC to include them at the cost of a team who has already qualified through the tournament that's concluded. Changing the qualification criteria after the fact is just piss poor planning.

Dave_The_Sheep

They're dead right, too.

Amira Flaky Teenager

Amira Flaky Teenager wrote: »

what alternative is there? there's no room in the calendar for any game to be rescheduled.

At least establish and publish some of the criteria impacting the decision if just one team were to progress. Prob not enough time now anyway.

scott1974

thomond2006 wrote: »

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=116724766&postcount=331

I love Bargain Alerts!

Offer posted for Now TV's Sport Extra pack which includes BT Sport. 3 months for €30 and that's your European rugby viewing sorted.
You can split it with someone else too as you can watch on two devices simultaneously. I just got it there now.

Has anyone used the "Day Membership" option on Now TV?
Is it a one off option or can you use it a few times?

Larbre34

I was under the impression the Welsh regions were already cold and dead as regards competitiveness in Europe.

Former Former Former

scott1974 wrote: »

Has anyone used the "Day Membership" option on Now TV?
Is it a one off option or can you use it a few times?

Yeah, you can buy it as many times as you like, but it's the least cost-effective way to do it unless you literally want it for 24 hours.

yerrahbah

The European finals are no longer set for Marseille this year, the venue(s) are yet to be decided.

Marseille to now the venue for the 2022 final, with London being the venue for the 2023 final

I bought my tickets for Marseille in May 2019 :eek:

https://twitter.com/ChampionsCup/status/1377259911869034502

Legion2008

Squidgy Black wrote: »

Yeah it'd be an absolutely bananas decision to expand the CC to include them at the cost of a team who has already qualified through the tournament that's concluded. Changing the qualification criteria after the fact is just piss poor planning.

I think the issue is that nothing is agreed for next years CC, neither the number of teams from each league nor number of teams in overall CC

Top 3 places in each conference would get a spot typically, along with 6 from England and France, with extra spots for the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup winners if we had 20 spots

It was only this years truncated format that gave 8 spots per league.

Cardiff have no basis for claiming that they've qualified for anything.

RugbyLover123

I heard on the Ruck Rugby podcast there on Monday that Italy have been offered the Champions Cup final on numerous occasions and turned it down. Anyone think of any reason why? I know it’s a different stadium but the finals seem to be always either in London or Cardiff. Even Stade de France hasn’t held it since 2010 IIRC. Was good to have it in Bilbao, but why don’t they try and push it into say Portugal, Germany or dare I say Russia. All developing smaller rugby nations.

liosnagceann75

RugbyLover123 wrote: »

I heard on the Ruck Rugby podcast there on Monday that Italy have been offered the Champions Cup final on numerous occasions and turned it down. Anyone think of any reason why? I know it’s a different stadium but the finals seem to be always either in London or Cardiff. Even Stade de France hasn’t held it since 2010 IIRC. Was good to have it in Bilbao, but why don’t they try and push it into say Portugal, Germany or dare I say Russia. All developing smaller rugby nations.

I was hoping it might go to Amsterdam some say the home of Heineken

Lost Ormond

RugbyLover123 wrote: »

I heard on the Ruck Rugby podcast there on Monday that Italy have been offered the Champions Cup final on numerous occasions and turned it down. Anyone think of any reason why? I know it’s a different stadium but the finals seem to be always either in London or Cardiff. Even Stade de France hasn’t held it since 2010 IIRC. Was good to have it in Bilbao, but why don’t they try and push it into say Portugal, Germany or dare I say Russia. All developing smaller rugby nations.

You need to find venues that want to host it, unions to back the bid for hosting.

Maybe if you get more sides competing from these countries even in challenge cup it may help with getting them to bid to host the finals

Paul Smeenus

Legion2008 wrote: »

I think the issue is that nothing is agreed for next years CC, neither the number of teams from each league nor number of teams in overall CC

Top 3 places in each conference would get a spot typically, along with 6 from England and France, with extra spots for the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup winners if we had 20 spots

It was only this years truncated format that gave 8 spots per league.

Cardiff have no basis for claiming that they've qualified for anything.

Their point is they are going to refuse to give up a slot to an S.A. team.

Podge_irl

RugbyLover123 wrote: »

I heard on the Ruck Rugby podcast there on Monday that Italy have been offered the Champions Cup final on numerous occasions and turned it down. Anyone think of any reason why? I know it’s a different stadium but the finals seem to be always either in London or Cardiff. Even Stade de France hasn’t held it since 2010 IIRC. Was good to have it in Bilbao, but why don’t they try and push it into say Portugal, Germany or dare I say Russia. All developing smaller rugby nations.

Milan was due to hold the HEC final before the whole EPCR fiasco.

The Inbetween is mine

Paul Smeenus wrote: »

Their point is they are going to refuse to give up a slot to an S.A. team.

They bitch so much about Europe being set against them, that everyone benefits except them ...it would be nice to see it actually be true for once.

bilston

Personally I'd rather see the South African sides involved than the Welsh teams putting in half arsed performances and maybe turning up for a game against their beloved Premiership rivals.

That said you can't change the rules after the event.

I'm all for the SA sides competing in Europe, but start from 2022/23, not next season. Let them earn the right...Im sure a couple of their teams will manage to qualify without much difficulty.

thomond2006

I probably wouldn't put them in immediately either. Ideally you'd give them one season in the Proxx first, acclimatise to the travel and new season and make them try to qualify for Europe like everyone else.

wavehopper1

thomond2006 wrote: »

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=116724766&postcount=331

I love Bargain Alerts!

Offer posted for Now TV's Sport Extra pack which includes BT Sport. 3 months for €30 and that's your European rugby viewing sorted.
You can split it with someone else too as you can watch on two devices simultaneously. I just got it there now.

Darn, I missed out on this by one day. Picked it up half price at 17 per month for 3 months.
I got this offer back in 2019 so I thought I might have to juggle cards. But there's no penalty for dipping back in.

thomond2006

wavehopper1 wrote: »

Darn, I missed out on this by one day. Picked it up half price at 17 per month for 3 months.
I got this offer back in 2019 so I thought I might have to juggle cards. But there's no penalty for dipping back in.

There's always an offer in some form. Once you keep an eye on the website, there's never a need to pay full whack.

I expect this offer is to get money upfront before some inevitably cancel once the Premier League is over.

Sheep Shagger

The STB app is your only man...even with the IPTV costs it works out about €60 a year for all the various sports channels and entertainment.

hold my beer

Sheep Shagger wrote: »

The STB app is your only man...even with the IPTV costs it works out about €60 a year for all the various sports channels and entertainment.

Yeah but you're stealing, and not supporting the sport you're watching.

paulie21

https://twitter.com/rugby_ie/status/1377948005530210306?s=19

Eod100

Leinster get a walk over so?

Squidgy Black

Yeah it's been called off now. Walkover given

The Inbetween is mine

Another weeks break before their next game... when your luck is in and all that

sydthebeat

That clermont back line !! *** drool ****


and 3 international replacements on the bench

bennyl10

Toulon not happy.
Saying the positive case was Wednesday, they’ve had none since

And EPCr told them to travel

sydthebeat

bennyl10 wrote: »

Toulon not happy.
Saying the positive case was Wednesday, they’ve had none since

And EPCr told them to travel

... because the EPRC medical board had yet to meet to discuss of the game could go ahead safely... and on foot of the that the Games resolution board had to meet to discuss the possibility of a postponement.

a positive test doesnt automatically mean a walkover

awec

sydthebeat wrote: »

... because the EPRC medical board had yet to meet to discuss of the game could go ahead safely... and on foot of the that the Games resolution board had to meet to discuss the possibility of a postponement.

a positive test doesnt automatically mean a walkover

If it's true though it does seem really stupid.

Under what circumstances would the medical board have let the game go ahead, if 0 further positive cases was not sufficient?

bennyl10

sydthebeat wrote: »

... because the EPRC medical board had yet to meet to discuss of the game could go ahead safely... and on foot of the that the Games resolution board had to meet to discuss the possibility of a postponement.

a positive test doesnt automatically mean a walkover

They were told to travel once all positives were returned on Thursday Friday.
Then they get told Friday morning “actually nope the game is off Cheerio” walkover to Leinster sorry

It’s a shambles

Eod100

Think it's that once there has been a positive result that player could have infected others who may currently not yet be showing as positive. Maybe it's still being worked out of no statement from EPCR yet.

Dave_The_Sheep

Eod100 wrote: »

Think it's that once there has been a positive result that player could have infected others who may currently not yet be showing as positive. Maybe it's still being worked out of no statement from EPCR yet.

They've released this..

Eod100

Dave_The_Sheep wrote: »

They've released this..

Just saw. Seems they're still going with forfeiting game if they're saying outcome of fixture.

The Inbetween is mine

bennyl10 wrote: »

Toulon not happy.
Saying the positive case was Wednesday, they’ve had none since

And EPCr told them to travel

Christ, if that's true the optics are horrific.... the EPCr have potentially put dozens of people at risk in airports hotel etc...not a good look

PTH2009

Leinster gone through to the QF due to Toulon been unable to field a team due to Covid

Hoping for a Munster win tomorrow but we have to be at are very best. So many great memories of HC knockout games in thomond and please god tomorrow will be another one

Sheep Shagger

The Inbetween is mine wrote: »

Christ, if that's true the optics are horrific.... the EPCr have potentially put dozens of people at risk in airports hotel etc...not a good look

**** show...whats the bet they wanted the game to go ahead for commercial reasons and the health aspect came second in their thoughts....

thomond2006

Cardiff are morons.

They get a penalty advantage with three minutes left, in front of LI's posts. It's 34-32 on the scoreboard. They kick the free DG instead of taking the penalty and running a minute off the clock.

LI have enough time to respond and score a winning try. Hopeless clock management by Cardiff.

Boscoirl

Agree. Run down the clock and take the pen. Game over. A DG was a stupid option.

Cracking game though. Better than Leinster would have been

vienne86

thomond2006 wrote: »

Cardiff are morons.

They get a penalty advantage with three minutes left, in front of LI's posts. It's 34-32 on the scoreboard. They kick the free DG instead of taking the penalty and running a minute off the clock.

LI have enough time to respond and score a winning try. Hopeless clock management by Cardiff.

Delighted LI got that - the BT commentators were rooting for Cardiff who were so stupid against 13/14.

Clegg

Dai Young is a decent coach, but I don't think he has the raw materials at Cardiff to make them a decent side. They've some very good players, but the squad as a whole is mediocre