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Season so far
Tournament record
Scarlets featured in the Heineken Champions Cup last season
Scarlets host Aviron Bayonnais in their EPCR Challenge Cup opener on Sunday in what is anticipated to be a stern test for the Welsh region.
Bayonne return to the EPCR Challenge Cup this season after winning promotion back to the TOP 14 and have impressed in France’s top flight.
Grégory Patat’s side sit seventh after 12 games, beating Heineken Champions Cup outfits such as Stade Rochelais, Lyon, Stade Toulousain and ASM Clermont Auvergne.
Scarlets, who endured a difficult Heineken Champions Cup campaign last season as they failed to pick up a win and finished bottom of their pool, are currently 15th in the United Rugby Championship (URC) with one victory from nine games.
The Pool B game kicks off at 15:15 (UK & Irish time) and is available to stream on epcrugby.tv and FloRugby.
We all know @scarlets_rugby are DANGEROUS 🔥
How far will they go in #ChallengeCupRugby this season?
Preview 👉 https://t.co/bmdz9BUtpK pic.twitter.com/v4VRkZoi13
— EPCR Challenge Cup (@ChallengeCup_) November 24, 2022
Scarlets
- Scarlets made the fewest turnovers in the Heineken Champions Cup last season, only winning possession proactively on eight occasions.
- They maintained the highest rate of ball retention in last season’s Heineken Champions Cup – finishing on 97% of attacking rucks won.
- In the URC this season, fly-half Sam Costelow has received the most yellow cards (three).
- Sione Kalamafoni has made the most carries (131), contact metres (115), and dominant carry contacts (36) in the URC this season.
Aviron Bayonnais
- Aviron Bayonnais have won four of their last five TOP 14 fixtures, including most recently against last season’s EPCR Challenge Cup winners, Lyon.
- Aviron Bayonnais have played against Scarlets only twice in their history – both in December 2019 – losing twice.
- The Basque club have won just one match in their last eight fixtures on the road.
Steff Evans scores for Scarlets against Aviron Bayonnais in the EPCR Challenge Cup
Scarlets kicked off their EPCR Challenge Cup campaign in style as they thrashed Aviron Bayonnais 39-7 at Parc y Scarlets on Sunday.
The Welsh region ran out comfortable winners in Llanelli with tries from Ryan Conbeer, Dane Blacker, Sam Lousi, Blade Thomson and Steff Evans earning them a bonus-point victory.
Fly-half Sam Costelow notched up a further 14 points for the hosts, while Bayonnais’ only score came courtesy of Thomas Acquier.
Scarlets’ dominance began early on, with two tries in the first ten minutes through Conbeer and Blacker.
𝔽𝕃𝕐𝕀ℕ𝔾 Start 🔥
2️⃣ tries in 9️⃣ minutes for @scarlets_rugby 👏#ChallengeCupRugby pic.twitter.com/lKGF9vehKE
— EPCR Challenge Cup (@ChallengeCup_) December 11, 2022
But when Bayonne hooker Acquier scored while Scarlets No.8 Thomson was in the sin bin, it looked as if the recently promoted TOP 14 side could stage a comeback.
But resistance from the visitors’ defence proved futile; lock Lousi went over just before the break to kill the game off, with Thomson and replacement full-back Evans scoring in the second half add further gloss to Scarlets’ win.
Up next for Scarlets is a match with Toyota Cheetahs in Round 2 on December 17, while Bayonne will host Italian side Benetton Rugby.
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