Looking Ahead to the Knock-Out Rounds

Gg			Pts		J		G		N		P		P.		C.		+/-		BO		BD
1	Racing Metro 92		69		17		15		0		2		466		128		338		6		2
2	Bourgoin		61		17		13		0		4		419		197		222		6		3
3	Clermont		60		17		13		0		4		475		213		262		6		2
4	Stade Français		57		17		12		0		5		422		193		229		7		2

Group 2

1	Grenoble		67		17		15		1		1		465		154		311		5		0
2	USAP		62		17		13		0		4		431		187		244		7		3
3	Montpellier		59		17		12		0		5		409		186		223		6		4
4	Toulon		54		17		11		0		6		438		211		227		7		3

So now everyone starts to look at the other pools to work out who will play who in the first knock-out round of 16, the 8^th as the French call it. Almost certainly we will be heading to Lyon to play Toulon. That will be a clash of cultures if ever there was one.

To whet the appetite, I worked out the other possible matches, with one round left to play of course.

Racing Metro – Toulon

Bourgoin – Montpellier

Perpignan – Clermont

Grenoble – Stade Francais

Toulouse – Bordeaux

Colomiers – Pau

Tarbes – Bayonne

Brive – Agen

This will probably only make sense to the rugby connoisseur/romantic but it makes quite exciting reading. I make no apologies for getting ahead of myself. If you’d told me in September that I would be in April getting excited about the final stages I would have groaned doubtfully.

If I were Stuart Barnes, Miles Harrison and Lazenby himself then I’d be getting excited about the month of May. I have no intention of heading back to a summer in Edinburgh wondering what might have been and letting our glory day in the sun pass us by.

On another note, my scrum-half friend – not our captain who sometimes plays centre – will be joining Brive next season. Having been at Racing since he was a little boy, the club haven’t offered him anything for next season so he is forced to seek pastures new. His lineage is part of French rugby and Racing royalty, wears a lot of Eden Park clothing, if that’s a hint, and impressively manages to laugh off suggestions of nepotism. Definitely one I’ll be keeping in touch with.