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London Irish fly-half Paddy Jackson
London Irish will be looking to extend their impressive sequence of results against Section Paloise in the EPCR Challenge Cup at Stade du Hameau on Saturday night.
The clubs have met on six occasions in the competition, with the Gallagher Premiership side winning five of those encounters, including a 26-17 victory in their Round 2 clash last season.
Kick-off in the Pool C tie is at 20:00 UK time and the match can be watched on beIN SPORTS.
Other key facts:
- Section Paloise have won four of their last five games in the competition – but their solitary defeat in that run came against London Irish last season.
- London Irish are set to play their 100th game in the Challenge Cup, joining Connacht Rugby (127), CA Brive (119), Newcastle Falcons (119) and Agen (100) on that milestone.
- Section Paloise were one of just four teams to record a 100% scrum success rate in the Challenge Cup last season, alongside Connacht, Glasgow Warriors and Northampton Saints. They won 11/11 scrums on their own feed.
- Paddy Jackson, the London Irish fly-half, assisted six tries during the Challenge Cup last season, more than any other player. In fact, only one other player (John Cooney – 4) managed to assist more than two tries in 2020/21.
⏪ Saturday sees the return of the @ChallengeCup_ as we make the trip to France to face Section Paloise!
Check out four of the best snaps from when we played them at the BCS last year!
Time for a European adventure 🇪🇺🛫#ThrowbackThursday pic.twitter.com/R1vpJV7iSS
— London Irish (@londonirish) December 9, 2021
Key quote:
Ollie Hassell-Collins (London Irish wing): “We feel we’ve got some real momentum at the moment. We need to carry that into Europe now and see where it takes us. We want to be fighting on all fronts, go full throttle and keep building that momentum.”
London Irish hooker Agustin Creevy
Agustin Creevy’s fine run of form continued in Pool C of the EPCR Challenge Cup as he helped London Irish to a 33-17 win over Section Paloise at Stade du Hameau on Saturday night.
The Argentinian hooker crossed the line twice, either side of half-time, with Rory Jennings converting both.
Olly Cracknell scored two more late on, converted by Paddy Jackson, and added to an early penalty try, Irish marked their 100th game in the competition in style.
Mind the language 🤬
That desn't take anything away from @agustincreevy collecting his second try of the game for @londonirish ✌️#ChallengeCupRugby pic.twitter.com/PScVrzI1ki
— EPCR Challenge Cup (@ChallengeCup_) December 11, 2021
In response, Alexis Levron converted his own try as well as scoring a penalty for the hosts – and he also converted Jordan Joseph’s late close-range consolation.
Pau have now won four of their last six games in the competition with both their defeats coming against Irish.
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