Fri 19 Oct
Glasgow Warriors v Ulster 20:00 (local) 14:00 Houston
Castres v Northampton Saints 21:00 (local) 14:00 Houston
Sat 20 Oct
Scarlets v Leinster 13:35 (local) 07:35 Houston
Benetton Treviso v Toulouse 14:35 (local) 07:35 Houston
Saracens v Racing Metro 92 16:40 (local) 09:40 Houston
Connacht Rugby v Harlequins 18:00 (local) 12:00 Houston
Exeter Chiefs v Clermont Auvergne 18:00 (local) 12:00 Houston
Biarritz v Zebre 19:00 (local) 12:00 Houston
Sun 21 Oct
Cardiff Blues v Toulon 12:45 (local) 06:45 Houston
Munster v Edinburgh 12:45 (local) 06:45 Houston
Leicester Tigers v Ospreys 15:00 (local) 09:00 Houston
Montpellier v Sale Sharks 16:00 (local) 09:00 Houston
Sorry, no time to give a complete commentary.
So I got Saints wrong but Ulster right.
Leinster to just beat Scarlets by 5
Toulouse to beat Treviso by 21
Sarries to beat Racing..by 5
Quinns to beat Connacht by 18
Clermont with 13 internationals to finally win by a decent amount...by 15. Although I really like Exeter.
Biarritz to easily beat Zebre with Z scoring a double at least..and will win by 35
Preview: Glasgow v Ulster
Glasgow Warriors have announced their side that will face Ulster in their Heineken Cup Pool clash on Friday.
Townsend's starting XV for the game in part depends on the
outcome of the Tommy Seymour disciplinary hearing being held in Dublin
today.
The winger was cited in the aftermath of the Northampton game for an alleged dangerous tackle on the Saints player Vas Artemyev.
IRB Regulation 17 states that a cited player is not eligible to play until the disciplinary process has been concluded, and as such Seymour has not been named in the Warriors team at this stage.
Should Seymour be cleared to play, he will start the game on the right wing. If he is not cleared to play, Byron McGuigan will make his Heineken Cup debut in that role.
Elsewhere in the backline, Peter Murchie will start at outside centre, Sean Lamont missing out with the facial injury he suffered at Northampton and which is still subject to further assessment. Alex Dunbar will line up on the left wing.
There are two changes up front, Tom Ryder getting the nod over Tim Swinson at lock and Chris Fusaro coming in for John Barclay at openside flanker. The Warriors welcome back Rob Harley, who has been missing since the start of September with a knee injury.
"Whatever happens with Tommy's hearing, our team tomorrow night will be strong and more than capable of delivering the right result, said Townsend.
"With a number of injuries in the backs, we've had to do some rejigging, but both Alex Dunbar and Peter Murchie have plenty of experience in the positions they'll be playing and, like the rest of the team, have gone really well in training this week."
Meanwhile, number eight Nick Williams and scrum-half Ruan Pienaar have been included in Ulster's starting line up.
Stephen Ferris has failed to recover from a back injury so impressive youngster Iain Henderson retains his place at blindside flanker, as Mark Anscombe made just two changes to the starting XV.
Williams has recovered from a rib injury picked up in the PRO12 win over Connacht a fortnight ago and will start the game at number eight in place of Mike McComish, who is named on the bench.
Pienaar showed his class in scoring the vital bonus-point winning try as a replacement last week against Castres and will start at scrum-half. Paul Marshall, who had ably deputised for the Springbok during the Rugby Championship, scored two tries in a man-of-the-match display against the French side, highlighting Ulster's strength in depth.
Indeed, Mark Anscombe admits it was a tough decision on the number 9 jersey.
"Paul played outstanding last week and he showed what he is capable of with a man of the match performance. But we're in the position where we have two fantastic options at scrum-half," said Anscombe.
"Ruan came on and showed what a quality player he is with his distribution and try and the end. We have to select the team to win specific games and that's what we've done for this weekend. Rugby is an 80 minute game and it's important to have someone like Paul, who can come on and make an impact."
Anscombe's reign as Ulster coach has been characterised by squad rotation but there has been a more settled look about the team in recent weeks.
"We're getting more and more players back from injury and it is allowing us to get close to a full strength team. We now just have a couple of players missing so it's looking quite promising," he commented.
Glasgow have beaten the Ulstermen in just one in their last five encounters. This is the first Heineken Cup tie to be played at Scotstoun since Ulster visited the ground to play Glasgow & District in October 1997.
The teams:
Glasgow: 15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Byron McGuigan, 13 Peter Murchie, 12 Peter Horne, 11 Alex Dunbar, 10 Ruaridh Jackson, 9 Henry Pyrgos, 8 Ryan Wilson, 7 Chris Fusaro, 6 Josh Strauss, 5 Al Kellock (capt), 4 Tom Ryder, 3 Mike Cusack, 2 Dougie Hall, 1 Ryan Grant.
Replacements: 16 Finlay Gillies, 17 Ofa Fainga'anuku, 18 Gordon Reid, 19 Tim Swinson, 20 Rob Harley, 21 John Barclay, 22 Scott Wight, 23 Niko Matawalu.
Ulster: 15 Jared Payne, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Darren Cave, 12 Paddy Wallace, 11 Andrew Trimble, 10 Paddy Jackson, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Nick Williams, 7 Chris Henry, 6 Iain Henderson, 5 Dan Tuohy, 4 Johan Muller (c), 3 John Afoa, 2 Rory Best, 1 Tom Court.
Replacements:16 Rob Herring, 17 Callum Black, 18 Adam Macklin, 19 Lewis Stevenson, 20 Mike McComish, 21 Paul Marshall, 22 Luke Marshall, 23 Craig Gilroy.
Date: Friday, October 19
Kick-off: 20:00
Venue: Scotstoun Stadium
Referee: Mathieu Raynal (France)
Pete says. Too easy. Win for Ulster who are playing brilliantly. By 5 as it will rain and Warriors will be trying much harder.
Preview: Castres v Northampton
Ryan Lamb returns to the Northampton
Saints fly-half berth for Friday's Heineken Cup clash against Castres at
Stade Ernest Wallon in Toulouse.
There are two changes to the starting XV that got Saints'
campaign off to a winning start last Sunday against Glasgow as Stephen
Myler shifts from 10 to full-back in the place of James Wilson while
Lamb takes over the pivot role.
There is one change to the bench with the addition of Scott Armstrong to the replacements.
With just a five-day turnaround between the Round 1 and 2 clashes Saints director of rugby Jim Mallinder says that the English side has a tough challenge ahead of them.
"The tournament scheduling has not been particularly kind to us in the first two rounds, and having just five days to prepare for a tough match is certainly not ideal," he said.
"Having played Castres in both of our last two Heineken Cup campaigns we have an idea of what to expect - some big runners, strong set piece work and accurate goal kicking.
"We also know how difficult Castres are to play at home. They have not lost in front of their own fans this season, and even though the game is in Toulouse they will still be very difficult to beat.
"However we are going to France in good spirits after showing our character last Sunday to fight back and secure a bonus point win, and we will be doing everything we can to get the positive result we want."
Northampton Saints will be looking for revenge after suffering a 41-22 away defeat to Castres in last season's Pool stages which ended the 2011 finalist's hopes of reaching the knock-out stages.
Castres may have struggled against Ulster in Belfast last week but the French side have won 17 of their 26 European games on home soil.
But the hosts have won just one of their last 10 Heineken Cup matches - against Saints.
Meanwhile, Castres have been struck by a triple injury blow as full-back Brice Dulin (thigh), centre Max Evans (ribs) and loose forward Yannick Caballero (ankle) are all unavailable.
Rugby Union betting odds
The teams:
Castres Olympique: 15 Romain Teulet, 14 Romain Martial, 13 Paul Bonnefond, 12 Seremaia Bai, 11 Marcel Garvey, 10 Rémi Tales, 9 Rory Kockott, 8 Antonie Claassen, 7 Piula Faasalele, 6 Jannie Bornman, 5 Christophe Samson, 4 Iosefa Tekori, 3 Anton Peikrishvili, 2 Brice Mach, 1 Mihaïta Lazar..
Replacements: 16 Marc-Antoine Rallier, 17 Yannick Forestier, 18 Michaël Coetzee, 19 Matthias Rolland, 20 Daniel Kirkpatrick, 21 Pedrie Wannenburg, 22 Romain Cabannes, 23 Marc Andreu,
Northampton Saints: 15 Stephen Myler, 14 Ken Pisi, 13 George Pisi, 12 Dom Waldouck, 11 Vasily Artemyev, 10 Ryan Lamb, 9 Lee Dickson, 8 Rhys Oakley, 7 Tom Wood, 6 Phil Dowson, 5 Courtney Lawes, 4 Samu Manoa, 3 Brian Mujati, 2 Dylan Hartley (c), 1 Soane Tonga'uiha.
Replacements: 16 Mike Haywood, 17 Alex Waller, 18 Paul Doran Jones, 19 Mark Sorenson, 20 GJ Van Velze, 21 Martin Roberts, 22 Tom May, 23 Scott Armstrong.
Pete says. Yes this is a strong castres team and Rory Kockott will be on target for penalties and YES Castres very rarely lose at home and YES it will be pissing down with rain and YES castres are favourites. But they are dull and cannot score tries. And YES the conditions will not be conducive to tries. BUT SAINTS need to win this just on the basis of the incredible talent of their pack. They are not just grunts. I like Saints and I think they will beat the odds by winning abroad.
Saints by 3
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