Ahead of this weekend’s Heineken Champions Cup quarter-finals, CLICK HERE for preview information including fixtures, match officials and performance data.
Also, CLICK HERE to access the 2020/21 Heineken Champions Cup Digital Tournament Guide with detailed current and historic information and statistics.
Quarter-finals Stats
• Home clubs have a 76% success rate from the 96 tournament quarter-finals which have been played to date.
• Sunday’s showdown against ASM Clermont Auvergne at Stade Marcel-Michelin will be Toulouse’s 18th quarter-final appearance and they have never been defeated at this stage of the tournament by another French club.
• The last time Exeter Chiefs and Leinster met was in the 2017/18 pool stage when Leinster won both matches before going on to lift the trophy in Bilbao.
• If selected for the quarter-final matches, Stuart Hogg of defending champions, Exeter Chiefs, and Racing 92’s, Maxime Machenaud, will make their 50th tournament appearances.
• Clermont have played in 10 quarter-finals to date, and of their five defeats, four have been by French clubs – Racing 92 twice, Castres and Toulouse.
• La Rochelle and Sale Sharks, who clash at Stade Marcel Deflandre on Saturday, met twice in last season’s pool stage with the home club winning on each occasion.
• Sale’s one previous quarter-final appearance was in 2006 when they were defeated by Biarritz Olympique.
• Bordeaux-Bègles and Racing 92 will be going head-to-head for the first time in European competition.
• This will be La Rochelle’s first Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final at home. In their one previous appearance in 2018, they lost 29-17 at Parc y Scarlets.
After a nine-hour drive across Southern Europe, Ireland’s Sive Brassil is aiming to plot a course for Tokyo as she steps up her bid for Olympic qualification over the next fortnight.
Brassil and her Irish team-mate Arthur Lanigan-O’Keeffe left Budapest after competing at the opening event of the UIPM 2021 Pentathlon World Cup season and drove straight to Sofia for the next two legs of the competition.
Taking place from 7-11 April and 15-18 April, the two competitions in Bulgaria will have a big influence on the outcome of the UIPM Olympic World Ranking, with only two further events to follow before the rescheduled Games this summer.
Brassil, 27, finished 18th in Budapest and now sits 23rd in the Olympic rankings, with a World Cup Final and World Championships still to come after the double-header in Sofia.
In the circumstances, everything has gone largely to plan so far this season for the Galway pentathlete, and a three-strong Irish support team will be on hand in the Bulgarian capital to keep her on track.
The race to qualify for Tokyo is intense, but Brassil is feeling better about her prospects of reaching that coveted first Olympics after her first competition in 13 months.
“We had a long trip to Sofia – we drove straight from the competition in Budapest, through Serbia, for about 9 hours until we reached Sofia,” said Brassil. “It has been great so far, there was a training camp on so I got to do some quality fencing sessions with some of the other nations.
“There were aspects of my competition that I was very pleased with. Unfortunately, the horse riding let me down in the final. Other than that, I had one of my best fencing results and I managed to put together strong back-to-back performances in the swim and Laser Run. It was a solid start with room to improve.
“I think the standard is always high in an Olympic year, so this year is no different. I was quite anxious before the start of the competition but it felt so good to get back into the swing of things.
“This week I’m just looking to continue my form from the first competition and hopefully have a bit more luck with the horses!”
With Natalya Coyle sitting out these two competitions having already qualified for the Olympics, Brassil returns to action tomorrow (11 April) in the women’s qualification round, with Lanigan-O’Keeffe taking part on Thursday (12 April).
Both are intent on reaching the finals and then backing up a good performance with another strong showing next week.
“It is certainly a challenge to have so many competitions in a short space of time, but I know that all the training and hard work is done so it’s about recovering as well as I can in between the competitions,” said Brassil.
“I have great support out here in Sofia with my coaches, Martina McCarthy and Andrey Fedotov, helping me with my training. We’re also very lucky to have Ciara McCallion as our physio on this trip, keeping us in one piece!”
Over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend Student Sport Ireland has received confirmation of the postponement of the 2021 FISU World University Games in Chengdu, China. The International University Sports Federation (FISU), the Federation of University Sport of China (FUSC) and the Organising Committee of Chengdu 2021, announced that the games which had been planned for August 2021, will take place in 2022 with the dates to be released in the coming months.
The decision was reached due to the ongoing global COVID-19 situation and the international travel restrictions in place at present. Many of the elite athletes have been able to train, however it has been very restricted, with a lot of sports facilities on campuses around the world closed for long periods over the past twelve months. Furthermore, the FISU Executive Committee felt the likely improvements in the public health situation over the next year would be such that an event in 2022 would be considerably more likely to offer the formative experience that FISU aims to deliver. This approach is fully aligned with FISU’s goal of positively shaping the leaders of the future through their experience of international university sport.
The decision from FISU, FUSC and the Organising Committee is aiming to protect the safety and health of all people involved including athletes and the citizens. FISU, FUSC and the Organising Committee will continue to promote the preparation and ensure successful FISU Games.
There was a local winner of the 2021 BoyleSports Irish Grand National at Fairyhouse as the Dermot McLoughlin trained Freewheelin Dylan landed the race in style under a perfect ride from Ricky Doyle.
This was a first time success in the race for both trainer and jockey, with Freewheelin Dylan a massive priced winner at 150/1. Doyle told BoyleSports after the race: “I cannot believe it. The outsider of the field. I just couldn’t wait to ride the horse in the race, not caring what chance I had but I knew the spin I would get, and I couldn’t wait for it. It’s unbelievable and to be fair to Dermot, he left it up to me. I had a dream ride the whole way around.”
BoyleSports traders have reported it wasn’t as good a result for the book as many would expect with Freewheelan Dylan winning at 150/1 but it was a nail-biting finish with Run Wild Fred at 8/1 trying his best to close the gap. The sponsors paid 7 places in the race with punters getting each-way value for Freewheelin Dylan, Run Wild Fred, Enjoy D’allen, Latest Exhibition, Sempo, Off You Go and Coko Beach.
Sarah Kinsella, spokesperson for BoyleSports said: “It was a good result for local trainer Dermot McLoughlin and jockey Rickey Doyle as they landed the BoyleSports Irish Grand National with Freewheelin Dylan. We had excellent turnover on the race but the winner was perhaps not as good a result as many would think when they see a 150/1 winner. We laid plenty of smaller bets around 66/1 earlier in the day but the guaranteed price meant the winner was paid out at 150/1. We are delighted for the connections and very proud to be sponsors of this iconic race with a lovely story to come out of today’s result.”
The Irish underage international joined Brighton from Bohemians in January.
Evan Ferguson first came to public attention in the summer of 2019 when he came on as a substitute – and assisted a goal – against Chelsea in a pre-season friendly. He was just 14 years of age at the time.
Months later, still only 14, he made his senior competitive debut for Bohemians in a League of Ireland fixture against Derry City. His appearance that day was subject to much controversy as he became the youngest player to ever appear in a League of Ireland match.
Since joining, the striker has played 9 games in the PL2, scoring 3 goals in the process.
Yesterday, he scored two goals against a Liverpool u23 side which included Welsh international Ben Woodburn and a number of highly-rated prospects. Unfortunately for Ferguson and Brighton though, Liverpool showed their quality in the end and ran out 3-2 victors.
His first goal demonstrated his anticipation and finishing ability as he latched onto a misplaced back-pass, moved in on goal and struck superbly into the top left-hand corner.
His second goal came after an excellent team move. After a succession of quick passes, the ball found it’s way out to Ayo Tanimowo on the wing who proceeded to cross into the box and find Evan Ferguson who was in the right place at the right time to provide the finish.
Kildare jockey Neil Callan and Mighty Giant had an all-the-way victory in today’s Group 2 The Chairman’s Trophy (1600m) at Sha Tin, Hong Kong.
The Ricky Yiu-trained runner, a market outsider against four opponents, claimed the HK$4.5 million feature race under a daring front-running ride from the forty-two-year-old Irish rider.
Southern Legend was runner-up, with More Than This back in third.
The victory was a third Chairman’s Trophy success for Callan following his previously wins on Beauty Only in 2016 and 2018.
Commenting on today’s win, the Kildare man said:
“It means a lot, everybody knows my situation but all I want to do is keep working hard, keep riding winners here in Hong Kong and the bigger winners, the better.
The New Zealand-bred Power gelding broke evenly from stall two, heading to the front at the 1100m mark. From there, the five-year-old was never headed on his way to a gritty half-length success under a fierce Callan drive.
First win at Pattern level
The win was Mighty Giant’s seventh from 15 starts. It was his first at Pattern level, however. He was previously placed third behind today’s favourite Waikuku in February’s Group 1 Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup (1400m).
Explaining his tactics for his 21st winner of the season, Callan said:
“At the corner, I just took a little tug on him. I knew he was going to give me a kick. The kick was his winning move. He just got two lengths on them and maintained it from the 200 metre mark.”
After finishing a distant last, favourite Waikuku was found with blood in his trachea post race. The former John Oxx-trained horse won a Group 1 on his last start.
On Wednesday, Neil Callan will have the status of his current Hong Kong licence reviewed. He will appear before the Licensing Committee in relation to his conduct during a Stewards’ inquiry last February.
Latest Exhibition tops the 30 runners declared for Easter Monday’s BoyleSports Irish Grand National at Fairyhouse.
Instead of contesting Sunday’s Grade 1 The Underwriting Exchange Gold Cup Novice Chase, the eight-year-old will now run in the Easter Monday spectacular. Paul Nolan’s horse will carry top-weight of 11st 10lbs and will be joined in race by his stable companion Fitzhenry.
Denise Foster will be represented by Coko Beach, Escaria Ten, Run Wild Fred and Roaring Bull. Champion trainer Willie Mullins has five contenders: Agusta Gold, Brahma Bull, Dragon D’Estruval, Robin De Carlow and Salsaretta.
The Joseph O’Brien-trained Sempo will be joined in the line up by fellow Piltown hopes Home By The Lee, Top Moon and Mortal. Tom Mullins runs both Court Maid and Scoir Mear.
The Big Dog, trained by Peter Fahey, the Robbie Burns-trained Off You Go, Barry Connell’s Espanito Bello, the Denis Hogan-trained Moyhenna and the Ciaran Murphy-trained Enjoy D’Allen will also take their chance.
Tiger Roll not declared
Dual Aintree Grand National winner Tiger Roll is not among the declared runners. The Gigginstown Stud-owned horse will instead contest the Aintree Bowl next week in Liverpool
Commenting on the decision to skip the BoyleSports Irish Grand National, the sponsor’s Leon Blanche:
“We have given cash back to anyone who backed Tiger Roll this week. We are thrilled with the final list of entries.”
Latest Exhibition has taken over as marginal favourite at 6/1. It looks like a wide-open contest with a €400,000 prize fund up for grabs.
The ground at Fairyhouse is currently yielding with a mainly dry forecast, but selective watering has commenced.
TG4, RTÉ, Racing TV and ITV will show action from Fairyhouse over Easter weekend.
When you start researching Cannabidiol, you should certainly get ready to soak in a huge amount of significant information. There are just so many things that you need to know about this substance and so many products that you should get acquainted with. Today, we are going to get you acquainted with one particular type of CBD that you might or might not have heard of already, but that is certainly worth hearing about.
Upon diving into this topic, you will certainly come across a huge amount of different CBD products. Concentrates will be among those products and concentrates are exactly what we are talking about today. There are a few things that make these special and kind of superior to the other products and it’s about time you learned that. This is especially true if you are thinking about starting to use CBD, because you’ll need to decide which form to start taking and concentrates might just be to your liking.
There are certainly a lot of significant things that you absolutely need to know about CBD concentrates. Today we are looking into some of those. Hopefully, that will help you understand exactly what these are and how they work, which will consequently help you decide whether you’d like to try them out or not. So, let us take a look at some of the facts that make CBD concentrates stand out from the crowd of all the other Cannabidiol products and check why giving them a try could be the perfect idea for you.
Most Potent Form Of CBD
When buying Cannabidiol products, you are probably interested in getting one that will be rather effective and help you treat whatever it is that you are trying to treat. This is why you will probably start searching for some powerful and strong types of CBD, so as not to worry about whether the products you get will actually work or not. The stronger these are, the higher your chances of getting rid of unpleasant symptoms right away.
Well, here’s some amazing news for you. CBD concentrates are the most potent for of Cannabidiol that you can find out there. These contain a huge amount of Cannabidiol and people sometimes even mix them with water with the aim of dulling down the potency. Yet, everyone loves the fact that these are so strong, especially since it means that you won’t need to buy new products every now and then, since these will last for a long time, given the fact that a small amount is enough to provide you with the relief you need.
I have briefly mentioned above that these will last a rather long time, since you won’t be needing huge amounts in order to get the necessary relief. Yet, what good would it do you to have this product in your home for a long time if it will actually expire a short while after you open it? Well, rest assured that this is not something you need to worry about when CBD concentrates are in question.
To put things simply, their shelf life is certainly quite long. In fact, it is much longer than the shelf life of some other CBD products. This is another reason why these concentrates are so popular, because you get to pay for them now and then use them for so long that you will probably forget when it was that you actually bought them in the first place. A long shelf life allows you to store your product without worrying that it will go bad.
Can Be Consumed In Numerous Ways
People certainly like having options and I’m not referring only to the large selection of different CBD products here. I’m actually referring to the idea that even one product can offer several different options when it comes to the consumption method. Well, CBD concentrates are definitely among those products that offer said options.
To put things simply, these concentrates can be consumed in several different ways, which allows people to choose the method that suits them best. They can be inhaled, or melted and then infused into other products such as oils, creams and similar. They can be dabbed, vaporized, smoked or simply added to certain other products that you are using. The fact that you can choose among so many options is exactly what makes CBD concentrates extremely popular these days.
You might be wondering now what the best option for you could be, but here’s the thing. This is not a question that I can answer for you and it will probably not be a question that you can answer until you have tried out a few different methods. Simply put, the best thing to do is try out a few different methods until you have found the one that you like the most and that works best for you.
It’s Safe
Given the fact that CBD concentrates are so strong and potent, you might be concerned about their safety. Well, there is absolutely no need to. These products are carefully made to contain only natural ingredients that are good for your health and safe for your consumption. The only thing is, you certainly do need to ensure that you are taking the right dosage, because playing it safe is certainly the best thing to do.
There are still Rainbow cup fixtures this season, but Connacht once again failed to win a knock-out game, this time against a second-string Leicester team.
Connacht has not won a knock-out game since their victory in the Pro14 final in 2016 and Andy Friend has yet to taste success outside Champions Cup qualification.
The game for Connacht was lost in the first half when they conceded 2 tries when Leicester was only playing with 14 players. They battled in the second half and had a kick to go ahead but Jack Carthy missed the shot. But every time Connacht looked like they might lead their defense crumbled.
Leicester ran in seven tries and withstood a gutsy Connacht response to edge a captivating game and reach the last eight of the Challenge Cup.
Tigers trailed to Kieran Marmion’s try but Tigers hit back, Charlie Clare bundling over and Guy Porter crossing.
Clare was sin-binned but Matias Moroni raced away after an interception and Zack Henry jinked in for a 24-11 lead.
Eoghan Masterson, Alex Wootton and Paul Boyle scored but Clare, Harry Wells and Jasper Wiese tries saw Tigers through.
Leicester will face Newcastle at Mattioli Woods Welford Road in the quarter-finals, the Falcons having recovered from a 14-point deficit to defeat Ospreys.
The home side’s progress looked like being relatively straightforward after a blistering first-half display saw them outplay, outmuscle and out-think an experienced Connacht side to run in four tries in a breathless 20-minute spell.
Irish led when Marmion raced in on the left after some neat handling and a fine break from near halfway, but two tries in four minutes changed the game.
Clare touched down from the first of a series of well-worked mauls for his second try in two matches and Porter’s first Tigers score in his 15th appearance helped build a 12-5 lead.
A daft late challenge by Clare saw him sin-binned soon after, but the hosts withstood some heavy pressure and their superior physicality, mixed with some intelligent kicking, saw them cross for two more tries.
Sloppy handling by the Irish province allowed Porter to gather a misplaced pass, speed away and send in Moroni and the fourth score followed when a high Johnny McPhillips kick caused panic and Harry Potter’s deft pass found Henry, who weaved through.
Carty’s second penalty reduced the deficit to 24-11 at the break and the gap was soon within a score when Masterson broke away, dummied Henry and dived over.
Masterson went over after a classy dummy and Wootton’s 11th try of the season from a glorious pass by Caolin Blade got the visitors to within a score as a familiar lack of discipline and heavy penalty count threatened to ruin Leicester’s chances
But Tigers responded once again, winning good field position to enable Clare to power over.
And although Boyle’s stylish score put the result in doubt, Wells added the sixth Tigers try and the exceptional Wiese bulldozed over to ease the hosts over the finishing line.
Leicester: Henry; Potter, Moroni, Scott, Porte; McPhillips, B Youngs (capt); De Bruin, Clare, Heyes, Henderson, Lavanini, Martin, Wallace, Wiese.
Irish international Callum Robinson scored twice this afternoon as his West Bromwich Albion side dismantled Chelsea on their way to a 5-2 win.
Unfortunately, his compatriot Dara O’Shea was forced off in the 24th minute with an injury. The injury is not thought to be of major concern. Nevertheless, it’s still a blow given O’Shea’s impressive form over the international break.
Chelsea opened the scoring through Christian Pulisic in the 27th minute but just minutes later, Thiago Silva was sent off on his return to action which was possibly a determining factor regarding the outcome of the match.
Matheus Pereira scored two goals in quick succession just before half-time to make it 2-1 to West Brom going into the break.
One might have thought that Chelsea would come out firing in the second half and find a way to take all three points. That wasn’t the case, however.
Callum Robinson scored his first of the night in the 63rd minute with a stunning – and powerful – half volley from just inside the box.
Mbaye Diagne then scored another for West Brom just minutes later before Mason Mount pulled one back for Chelsea in the 71st minute to make it 4-2.
Callum Robinson all but wrapped up the three points with his second goal in the 91st minute. He was played in by an accurate through ball from man of the match Matheus Pereira and he never panicked in front of goal, deftly chipping the ball over Edouard Mendy to make it 5-2.
Robinson has only scored five goals in his Premier League career. Amazingly, all of which have came against Chelsea. He scored another brace earlier this season in a 3-3 draw against The Blues – who were then under the guidance of Frank Lampard. Prior to that, he scored a singular goal against them for Sheffield United in the 2019/20 season.
The match finished at 5-2 in what was a much-needed win for Sam Allardyce and a surprise loss for Thomas Tuchel.
In fact, it was Thomas Tuchel’s first loss in charge of Chelsea. The German manager had gone an incredible 14 games without losing prior to this afternoon’s match.
Chelsea must now put their Premier League disappointment behind them with an important Champions League first leg coming up against Porto on Wednesday.
The Portuguese side will be no pushovers, having eliminated a Cristiano Ronaldo-led Juventus in the round of 16.
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