By Mark H
June 22 2006

Falcons ended up with old and new faces in today's European Challenge Cup draw, and will look forward to two trips to France and one to Italy in the coming months.

Top seeded for the competition, as a result of Gloucester's success in May, Falcons found that as last season, Brive will be one of the visitors to Kingston Park, stirring memories of last October's 51-19 victory over them, whilst we'll all be hoping for a repeat of the 24-17 victory in Brive that clinched a top two seeding.  Les Brivistes finished ninth in the Top 14 season just passed, the second year in succession they've finished there, and have recruited (among many others) Terry Fanolua from Gloucester and the pacy Nicolas Le Roux from Worcester for next season so far.  Five players have left the club though, bound for Pro D2 side Lyon.

The second French team in newly promoted Montauban, who won Pro D2 with four games to spare having been relegated the season before.  The visit there may give Falcons supporters the chance to take in extra rugby action, with Toulouse, Agen and Castres (Heineken Cup) and Albi (ECC) all nearby.  Montauban's summer spending has seen Pablo Lemoine and Shaun Hegarty join from Stade Francais and Biarritz respectively, whilst former Sarrie winger Denis Cech has renewed his contract.  With a proposal of only one team being relegated from the Top 14 in 2007/08, Montauban may well prioritise staying up rather than this competition.

The third team is Petrarca Padova, sixth in the Italian Super 10, and the lowest ranked of the Italian qualifiers.  It was a hard season for them, with only 32 points coming from their 18 games, and finishing 24 points behind fifth placed Viadana.  They've played 37 European Challenge Cup and Shield matches previously, winning 11 and drawing three, with their best wins ironically coming away from home.  Having had the considerable pleasure of sitting with their supporters for a Six Nations game in Rome, I can assure you all that however their team are doing, the locals will be giving it some welly both on and off the pitch!

The full draw is (seeded teams named first):-

POOL 1: Newport Gwent Dragons, Bayonne, Bristol Rugby, Bucuresti.
POOL 2: Glasgow Warriors, Narbonne, Saracens, GRAN Parma.
POOL 3: Newcastle Falcons, Brive, Petrarca Padova, Montauban.
POOL 4: Connacht Rugby, Montpellier, Bath Rugby, NEC Harlequins.
POOL 5: ASM Clermont Auvergne, Worcester Warriors, Viadana, Albi.

Elsewhere, pool one looks to be up for grabs for whoever takes it seriously; Saracens will have a battle but should win pool two; pool four looks a cracker, with at least one of the competition favourites guaranteed to go out early; and pool five sees Albi and their enigmatic head coach Eric Bechu play their first European games, whilst Aurelien Rougerie's Clermont will battle with Worcester for the top spot, although both should qualify.

Exact weekends of who plays who should be confirmed by Friday 7th July, but the dates are:-

ROUND 1: 20 / 21 / 22 October, 2006

ROUND 2: 27 / 28 / 29 October, 2006

ROUND 3: 8 / 9 / 10 December, 2006

ROUND 4: 15 / 16 / 17 December, 2006

ROUND 5: 12 / 13 / 14 January, 2007

ROUND 6: 19 / 20 / 21 January, 2007

QUARTER-FINALS: 30 / 31 March / 1 April, 2007

SEMI-FINALS: 20 / 21 / 22 April, 2007

CHALLENGE CUP FINAL – 19 / 20 May, 2007