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Overview
Season so far
Tournament record
Worcester Warriors and Castres Olympique know that a win for either side would secure their spot in the Challenge Cup quarter-finals when they meet on Friday night at Sixways.
Castres Olympique are three points ahead of their pool rivals Worcester but know they could be overtaken by the English side as well as Dragons with a defeat.
Key facts
- Worcester and Castres met for the first time in Round 1 with the TOP 14 side prevailing 17-9 at Stade Pierre-Fabre.
- Worcester are unbeaten in 10 pool stage home games in the Challenge Cup, their last such defeat came against TOP 14 opposition however.
- Castres have just two victories from eight away games against Premiership opposition in the Challenge Cup, beating Bristol and Bedford in 1996 and 1999.
- Worcester are the only side not to have made 500 tackles so far, totalling 487 in their five games.
- Worcester’s Jamie Shillock is the joint top point scorer thanks to four tries, 18 conversions and two penalties.
All to play for in Pool 1 🤯😍
It's going down to the wire as @CastresRugby, @WorcsWarriors and @DragonsRugby are all still in contention for a QF place 🙌#ChallengeCupRugby pic.twitter.com/gnCPQ13PkY
— Challenge Cup (@ERChallengeCup) January 13, 2020
Rory Kockott of Castres celebrates
A breathtaking display from Rory Kockott helped Castres Olympique to a 33-27 victory over Worcester Warriors at Sixways, ensuring the French side would top Challenge Cup Pool 1 in the process.
The visitors were behind for much of the match as Worcester opened up with tries from Jamie Shillcock and Marco Mama.
However, Castres were well up for the fight and responded almost immediately on both occasions with scores from scrum-half Kockott – who racked up 23 points for the visitors – and Wilfrid Hounkpatin.
The hosts would led 20-12 at the break and looked likely to pull away from Castres when Michael Heaney dotted down at the posts after a nice carry from Perry Humphreys, putting them 15 points clear.
⏱74' | 2⃣7⃣ – 3⃣3⃣
LE TRIPLE de @RoryKockott !!!#WORvCAS pic.twitter.com/f17MSh07zQ
— Castres Olympique (@CastresRugby) January 17, 2020
But the Castres response was outstanding again, with Kockott crossing the whitewash for a second time and when Baptiste Delaporte went over on 70 minutes, just one point split the sides.
And it would be the visitors who had the final say with captain Kockott grabbing his hat-trick of tries after the French side continued to pile pressure on the Worcester line.
We will have to wait for the conclusion of Saturday night’s matches till Castres know who they will face in the quarter-finals.
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