Challenge Cup: Connacht Factfile

CONNACHT RUGBY

Galway Sportsground (capacity 5,000)
College Road
Galway

Tel: 00353 (0) 91 561568
Fax: 00353 (0) 91 560097

Connacht Rugby Website

Chief Executive – Gerry Kelly
Director Of Rugby/Coach – Michael Bradley
Team Manager – Tim Allnutt
Team Captain – Andrew Farley

Home Jersey: Green/Black/White; Home Shorts: Black; Alternate Jersey: Black; Alternate Shorts: Black

2007/08 EUROPEAN CHALLENGE CUP POOLS –

Pool 1 – Bath Rugby, Albi, Overmach Rugby Parma, Auch
Pool 2 – Montauban, Worcester Warriors, Gran Parma, Bucurest
Pool 3 – Connacht Rugby, Brive, Newcastle Falcons, Cetransa El Salvador
Pool 4 – Bayonne, Sale Sharks, Petrarca Rugby, Montpellier
Pool 5 – Rugby Calvisano, Castres Olympique, Leeds Carnegie, Dax

CONNACHT’S 2007/08 EUROPEAN CHALLENGE CUP FIXTURES –

Round 1 – November 9, 2007 – Brive (away)
Round 2 – November 16, 2007 – Cetransa El Salvador (home)
Round 3 – December 7, 2007 – Newcastle Falcons (home)
Round 4 – December 16, 2007 – Newcastle Falcons (away)
Round 5 – tbc – Cetransa El Salvador (away)
Round 6 – tbc – Brive (home)

ROUND ONE FIXTURES –

Thursday, November 8:

Pool 4 – Sale Sharks v Montpellier, 7.45pm, Carlo Damasco (Italy) (Sky Sports/France 4)

Friday, November 9:

Pool 2 – Montauban v Gran Parma, 6.30pm, Neil Patterson (Scotland)
Pool 3 – Brive v Connacht Rugby, 7.30pm, Andrew Small (England)
Pool 4 – Bayonne v Petrarca Rugby, 7.30pm, Rob Debney (England)
Pool 5 – Leeds Carnegie v Castres Olympique, 8pm, James Jones (Wales)

Saturday, November 10:

Pool 1 – Auch v Bath Rugby, 8.45pm, Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland) (Eurosport France)
Pool 1 – Overmach Rugby Parma v Albi, 3pm, Andrew McPherson (Scotland)
Pool 2 – Bucuresti v Worcester Warriors, 2pm, Jerome Garces (France)
Pool 3 – Cetransa El Salvador v Newcastle Falcons, 4.30pm, Stefano Mancini (Italy)

Sunday, November 11:

Pool 5 – Rugby Calvisano v Dax, 3pm, Dean Richards (England)

Full 2007/08 European Challenge Cup Fixtures

2007/08 CONNACHT SQUAD:

Andrew Browne – Lock – Born: 21/01/87; Height: 6ft 5in; Weight: 15st 3lb
Sean Carey – Full-Back/Winger – Born: 01/11/87; Height: 6ft; Weight: 13st 1lb
Liam Casserly – Back Rower – Born: 22/07/86; Height: 6ft 1in; Weight: 15st 10lb
Mel Deane – Centre – Born: 16/01/75; Height: 5ft 9in; Weight: 14st 9lb
Tim Donnelly – Out-Half – Born: 12/06/80; Height: 5ft 7in; Weight: 12st 8lb
Gavin Duffy – Full-Back/Centre – Born: 18/09/81; Height: 6ft 2in; Weight: 14st 4lb
Andy Dunne – Out-Half – Born: 18/10/79; Height: 5ft 9in; Weight: 13st 3lb
Peter Durcan – Out-Half – Born: 12/07/76; Height: 5ft 11in; Weight: 12st 10lb
Andrew Farley – Lock – Born: 21/08/80; Height: 6ft 5in; Weight: 17st 8lb
Adrian Flavin – Hooker – Born: 06/06/79; Height: 6ft; Weight: 16st 7lb
John Fogarty – Prop – Born: 18/10/77; Height: 5ft 10in; Weight: 15st 10lb
David Gannon – Lock – Born: 11/02/83; Height: 6ft 6in; Weight: 16st 7lb
Alan Gaughan – Utility Back – Born: 21/04/88; Height: 6ft; Weight: 13st 9lb
John Hearty – Centre – Born: 05/09/83; Height: 6ft; Weight: 14st
Ronan Loughney – Prop – Born: 01/11/84; Height: 6ft 1in; Weight: 17st 11lb
John Lyne – Prop – Born: 04/04/82; Height: 6ft 2in; Weight: 18st 1lb
Keith Matthews – Centre – Born: 10/06/82; Height: 5ft 11in; Weight: 14st
Mike McCarthy – Back Rower – Born: 27/11/81; Height: 6ft 4in; Weight: 18st 1lb
Brian McGovern – Prop – Born: 29/01/86; Height: 6ft 1in; Weight: 18st 1lb
Conor McPhillips – Winger/Scrum Half – Born: 09/02/81; Height: 5ft 8in; Weight: 12st 12lb
Joe Merrigan – Hooker – Born: 17/11/84; Height: 6ft; Weight: 15st 1lb
Kevin Morgan – Prop – Born: 14/05/83; Height: 6ft 3in; Weight: 19st 13lb
Robbie Morris – Prop – Born: 20/02/82; Height: 6ft 2in; Weight: 18st 12lb
Matt Mostyn – Full-Back – Born: 10/09/74; Height: 6ft 2in; Weight: 15st 1lb
Conor Muldoon – Hooker – Born: 07/06/86; Height: 6ft 1in; Weight: 17st 4lb
John Muldoon – Back Rower – Born: 30/11/82; Height: 6ft 4in; Weight: 16st 9lb
Johnny O’Connor – Back Rower – Born: 09/02/80; Height: 5ft 10in; Weight: 15st 10lb
Conor O’Loughlin – Scrum Half – Born: 16/07/82; Height: 5ft 10in; Weight: 12st 8lb
Ray Ofisa – Back Rower – Born: 24/02/79; Height: 6ft 4in; Weight: 16st
Colm Rigney – Number 8 – Born: 24/04/78; Height: 6ft 4in; Weight: 17st 6lb
Danny Riordan – Full-Back/Winger – Born: 25/09/84; Height: 5ft 11in; Weight: 13st 12lb
Michael Swift – Back Rower – Born: 18/10/77; Height: 6ft 5in; Weight: 18st 10lb
Tom Tierney – Scrum Half – Born: 01/09/76; Height: 5ft 11in; Weight: 14st 4lb
Ofisa Treviranus – Winger – Born: 31/03/84; Height: 6ft 2in; Weight: 15st 6lb
Alipate Tuilevuka – Utility Back – Born: 11/07/80; Height: 6ft 3in; Weight: 15st 10lb
Brett Wilkinson – Prop – Born: 29/11/83; Height: 6ft; Weight: 18st 3lb
Aidan Wynne – Centre – Born: 26/05/87; Height: 5ft 11in; Weight: 14st 6lb
Darren Yapp – Centre/Winger – Born: 19/02/75; Height: 6ft 1in; Weight: 15st 6lb

EUROPEAN RECORD –

1996/97: beat Padova 34-12 (h), lost to Dunvant 9-26 (a), lost to Northampton 11-31 (h), lost to Toulon 10-44 (a), beat Orrell 30-18 (h)

1997/98: beat Northampton 43-13 (h), lost to Nice 16-20 (a), beat Begles-Bordeaux 15-9 (a), beat Nice 28-25 (h), beat Begles-Bordeaux 22-15 (h), beat Northampton 20-15 (a), Q-F lost to Agen 27-40 (a)

1998/99: beat Newport 31-12 (a), beat Perigueux 29-28 (h), beat Rovigo 21-20 (a), lost to Narbonne 26-38 (h), lost to Caerphilly 8-39 (a), lost to Racing Club de France 14-19 (h)

1999/00: lost to Ebbw Vale 9-32 (a), lost to Steaua Bucharest 20-30 (a), beat Toulon 27-13 (h), lost to Toulon 15-41 (a), beat Steaua Bucharest 41-7 (h), lost to Ebbw Vale 19-42 (h)

2000/01: lost to Beziers 14-16 (h), lost to Neath 0-45 (a), lost to Montferrand 21-58 (a), lost to Montferrand 3-12 (h), lost to Beziers 9-10 (a), beat Neath 13-11 (h)

2001/02: beat Narbonne 18-6 (h), beat Roma Olimpic 20-10 (a), lost to Sale Sharks 30-33 (h), lost to Sale Sharks 6-44 (a), beat Roma Olimpic 61-13 (h), lost to Narbonne 22-34 (a)

2002/03: beat Mont de Marsan 26-12 (a), beat Mont de Marsan 47-29 (h), lost to Narbonne 27-42 (a), beat Narbonne 23-7 (h), Q-F lost to Pontypridd 30-35 (h), Q-F lost to Pontypridd 9-12 (a)

2003/04: beat Beziers 18-10 (a), lost to Beziers 11-13 (h), beat Pau 29-7 (h), lost to Pau 6-10 (a), Q-F beat Narbonne 27-18 (a), Q-F beat Narbonne 16-10 (h), S-F lost to NEC Harlequins 22-31 (The Twickenham Stoop), S-F beat NEC Harlequins 23-18 (The Sportsground)

2004/05: lost to Narbonne 11-25 (a), beat Narbonne 40-21 (h), beat Montpellier 56-3 (h), lost to Montpellier 14-19 (a), Q-F beat Grenoble 26-21 (a), Q-F beat Grenoble 19-3 (h), S-F lost to Sale Sharks 18-25 (The Sportsground), S-F lost to Sale Sharks 9-59 (Edgeley Park)

2005/06: beat Amatori Catania 62-17 (h), beat Montpellier 19-13 (a), lost to Worcester Warriors 20-30 (a), beat Worcester Warriors 22-21 (h), beat Montpellier 43-10 (h), lost to Amatori Catania 24-28 (a), Q-F lost to Newcastle Falcons 3-23 (a)

2006/07: lost to NEC Harlequins 18-19 (h), lost to Bath Rugby 19-21 (a), beat Montpellier 26-13 (h), lost to Montpellier 22-35 (a), lost to Bath Rugby 24-36 (h), lost to NEC Harlequins 10-26 (a)

TEAM RECORDS –

Highest Score: 62 (v Amatori Catania, 05/06 (h))
Biggest Margin Of Victory: 53 (v Montpellier, 04/05 (h))
Most Tries In A Match: 10 (v Amatori Catania, 05/06 (h))
Highest Score Against: 59 (v Sale Sharks, 04/05 (a))
Most Tries Against: 7 (v Toulon, 96/97 (a), Montferrand, 00/01 (a), Sale Sharks, 01/02 (a), Sale Sharks, 04/05 (a))
Heaviest Margin Of Defeat: 50 (v Sale Sharks, 04/05 (a))

INDIVIDUAL RECORDS –

Most Points In A Match: 32 (Paul Warwick v Narbonne, 04/05 (h))
Most Tries In A Match: 3 (Wayne Munn v Roma Olimpic, 01/02 (h), Keith Matthews v Amatori Catania, 05/06 (h))
Most Conversions In A Match: 8 (Eric Elwood v Roma Olimpic, 01/02 (h)
Most Penalty Goals In A Match: 6 (Eric Elwood v Nice, 97/98 (h), Narbonne, 01/02 (h), Beziers, 03/04 (a))
Most Drop Goals In A Match: 1 (Eric Elwood v NEC Harlequins, 03/04 (h), Sale Sharks, 04/05 (h); Paul Warwick v Narbonne, 04/05 (h), Montpellier, 05/06 (a), Bath Rugby, 06/07 (a))
Leading Points Scorer: 473 Eric Elwood
Leading Try Scorer: 10 Wayne Munn
Try Hat-Tricks: 2 Keith Matthews, Wayne Munn
Most Points Against: 26 (Charlie Hodgson, Sale Sharks, 04/05 (a))

NUMBERS GAME:

75 – Connacht will become the first team to play 75 games in the European Challenge Cup in the fourth round of the pool stages. They are the only team to have played in all 11 seasons of the tournament

6.3 – In last season’s European Challenge Cup, there were 424 tries scored in 67 matches. That took the overall tally of Challenge Cup tries for 11 seasons to 5,286 – an average of 6.3 per game

900 – There have been 838 European Challenge Cup games to date. The 900th game will be the second quarter-final on the weekend of April 4-6, 2008

EUROPEAN CHALLENGE CUP CHAMPIONS:

2007 – ASM Clermont Auvergne
2006 – Gloucester Rugby
2005 – Sale Sharks
2004 – NEC Harlequins
2003 – London Wasps
2002 – Sale Sharks
2001 – NEC Harlequins
2000 – Pau
1999 – Montferrand
1998 – Colomiers
1997 – Bourgoin

– Statistics courtesy of Westgate Sports Agency