Pool 3

European Form

Newcastle Falcons

This is Newcastle’s 7^th season in the ECC.  They have a very good record in this competition. 

In the six previous appearances they have reached the semi-finals no less than three times and the quarter-finals twice more.  In 54 games, they have won 37.  They have also been in the HC twice, played 13 games and won 7; they reached the quarter-finals in 2004/5 where Stade Francais demolished them 48-8.

In the 1997/8 season they came out of a pool with the likes of Perpignan and Biarritz, beat Castres in the quarter-final (44-0) before going down to Agen 12-9 in the semi-final.  In 2000/1 they overcame Mont de Marsan in the quarter-finals before once again suffering a narrow defeat (17-12) away from home, this time at NEC Harlequins.  Last season they beat Connacht 23-3 in the quarter-finals before yet again going down to a narrow defeat in the semi-finals, this time 22-27 at home to London Irish.

Their two quarter-final appearances were in 1999/0 when they lost at Pau (36-20) and in 2002/3 when Saracens beat them 60-42 over two legs.  The poorest season was 2003/4 when they went out in the 2^nd Round to Clermont (28-23 over two legs).

Brive

Brive have to be considered one of the form teams in this season’s competition, with a very good pedigree.

They won the HC in 1996/7 winning all 7 of their games in the process - a feat only repeated by Toulouse in 1995/6 (who only had 4 games in that inaugural year).  They were in the HC again in 1997/8 when they again reached the final but lost out to Bath by the narrowest margin (19-18).  They have not been in the HC since.

Brive have played in the ECC six times, reaching the semi-finals twice and the quarter-finals three more times.  In all, they have played 42 games and won 25 of them.  Their two semi-final appearances were in 1998/9 (losing 26-23 at Bourgoin) and 2004/5 (losing 50-43 over two legs against Pau).  Their three quarter-final appearances were in 2000/1 (lost 13-20 at home to NEC Harlequins), 2003/4 (again losing out the NEC Harlequins 61-44 over two legs) and 2005/6 (comprehensively beaten 46-13 at Gloucester who ran in 7 tries).

Petrarca Padova

Another Italian team with a fairly poor record in ERC competitions.  They have played twice in the HC, winning just one of 12 games.  Their form in the ECC/Shield is nearly as bad: 11 wins and 3 draws in 37 games.

When the ECC has been played in a pool format (1996/7 through to the 2001/2 seasons, and again last season and this), Petrarca have had no success, never getting out of the pool stages.  In seasons that the competition has been played on two-legged knock out basis, they have also faired badly.  In 2002/3, 2003/4 and 2004/5 they have been knocked out of the ECC at the first round (by Leeds Tykes,  Colomiers and Beziers).  Relegated to the Shield competition, they have fared better: a semi-final in 2002/3 (lost 54-43 over two legs against Caerphilly); a quarter-final in 2003/4 (lost 43-24 over two legs against Montpellier); and another quarter-final in 2004/5 (lost 86-22 over two legs against Leeds Tykes).

Montauban

Newly promoted to the Top14 in France, Montauban make their forth appearance in the competition.  To date, they have played 16 games and won 9 of them.  Their high point was the 2002/3 quarter-final that they lost 48-45 to Bath over two legs.  I suspect that survival in the Top14 will be more of a priority for this team.

Head to Head

Newcastle Falcons met Brive in the pool stages of last seasons competition.  They won 51-19 at home and 17-24 at Brive (75-36 on aggregate).

There have been no other meetings between these four teams in ERC competitions.

Summary

Conclusion

This would seem like a fairly clear-cut pool.  With a strong English team (Newcastle Falcons) and a strong French team (Brive), these two should easily top the pool. 

I cannot see a newly promoted French team, or a poor Italian one, progressing past the pool stage.

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