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Arguably the most mouth-watering tie of the round takes place at the Madejski Stadium on Sunday as Pool 5 leaders London Irish entertain Parisian giants Stade Francais. - 06/12/2013 23:45
London Irish head into the final two rounds of pool action knowing that qualification for the quarter-finals is out of their hands.
The Exiles were in control of their own destiny prior to their Round 4 trip to Paris but that luxury now lies with Stade Francais thanks to Antoine Burban’s late, bonus-point score at the Stade Jean Bouin.
Burban crossed with two minutes remaining in the French capital to ensure it is Stade who will qualify for the quarters if they and Irish finish level on points at the end of Round 6 courtesy of the fact that they picked up more match points in their head-to-head encounters.
The two teams are currently neck and neck on 14 points at the top of Pool 5 and it would it be a major surprise if either side were to slip to a defeat in Rounds 5 or 6. Pole position is likely to be decided on who can claim the most bonus points on top of two more wins over the coming week-and-a-half, with Stade hosting I Cavalieri Prato before travelling to Lusitanos, while London Irish welcome the Portuguese to Reading prior to a trip to Italy. Irish picked up maximum points in their first two rounds of action and a repeat would pile the pressure on last season’s beaten finalists.
London Irish won the reverse of this fixture 67-6 in Lisbon in October and there is little to suggest things will be any easier for the tournament newcomers this time around. Irish scored nine tries at the Estadio Universitario de Lisboa, although Lusitanos will take heart from the fact that they trailed just 13-8 after 35 minutes.
Irish have endured a frustrating season domestically but they return to continental competition on the back of a morale-boosting 22-9 win over Worcester Warriors last weekend.
Lusitanos are yet to pick up a point in the their maiden campaign, with their defeat to London Irish preceded by a 61-3 loss at Stade and followed by 40-22 and 30-19 defeats to Prato last month.
London Irish finished their Amlin Challenge Cup campaign on a high with a seven-try victory over I Cavalieri Prato in Italy. - 18/01/2014 16:22
London Irish made it unlucky 13 for Lusitanos at the Madejski Stadium as they put the tournament newcomers from Portugal to the sword.
The Exiles, who had won the Round 2 fixture 67-6 in Lisbon in October, took just two minutes to get the scoreboard moving again with Guy Armitage getting the first of those 13 tries before former Scarlets wing Andrew Fenby took centre stage.
The 28-year-old Welshman grabbed his hat-trick of tries in the space of 17 whirlwind minutes, going over in the 10th, 14th and 27th minutes.
Referee Claudio Blessano then awarded the Exiles a penalty try before Tom Fowlie got the next before the break.
There was more of the same in the second half as Jebb Sinclair breached the visitors defence and Bryn Evans brought up the half century at better than a point a minute as Lusitanos were cut to shreds.
Kieran Low, Declan Danaher, Tom Homer and Armitage – who had got the first – got the 12th before it was left to Fowlie to complete the rout with the final try.
The Exiles travel to Stadion Enrico Chersoni to tackle I Cavalieri Prato in Round 6 but it is Stade Francais Paris who will qualify for the quarters if they and Irish finish level on points at the end of the group stages courtesy of the fact that they picked up more match points in their head-to-head encounters.
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