European Challenge Cup
Battle lines emerge for knock-out stages
Scrum.com
January 25, 2009
A general view of a European Challenge Cup ball, October 9 2008
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Teams: England | France | Ireland

The quarter-final line-up for this season's European Challenge Cup is taking shape with the final pool match set to decide the remaining qualifier.

London Irish's emphatic victory over Rovigo ensured they claimed top seeding for the knock out stages and with it home advantage. Northampton's success over Toulon saw them cement second seeding with Saracens also ensuring a home tie with a big win over Mont de Marsan.

Worcester Warriors' hammering of Padova saw them leap-frog Brive to secure fourth seeding and with it the final home advantage. The French club had previously beaten Parma to book their quarter-final place and will now take on the Premiership side in the last eight.

Elsewhere, Bayonne's narrow victory over Viadana ended the Italian side's hopes of progressing and confirmed Connacht's place in the last eight.

On Sunday, Newcastle's big win over El Salvador was enough to see them progress as one of the best runners-up while Bristol's bonus point win against Montpellier was enough to pip Bourgoin to the last quarter-final berth.

  • Click here for the final standings

    For the quarter-final round, the pool winners are ranked 1-5 in terms of the number of points earned. The runners-up are ranked 6, 7 and 8. Teams ranked 1-4 have home advantage.

    Ranking:
    1. London Irish
    2. Northampton Saints
    3. Saracens
    4. Worcester Warriors
    5. Brive
    6. Newcastle Falcons
    7. Connacht
    8. Bourgoin

    Quarter-Final draw:
    London Irish v Bourgoin
    Northampton Saints v Connacht
    Saracens v Newcastle Falcons
    Worcester Warriors v Brive

    The matches will be played April 10/11/12.

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