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Leinster And Connacht Add Players For European Games

Leinster And Connacht Add Players For European Games

Four former winners of European club rugby’s elite tournament are included in the list of additional players for the knockout stages of the European Champions Cup and Challenge Cup.

Sean O’Brien and Cian Healy, who have already returned to competitive action following injury, will be in contention for starting places when Leinster host Bath in the first of the Champions Cup quarter-finals at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday, April 4.

Connacht, who are away to Gloucester in the Challenge Cup quarter-finals that same weekend, have selected Tiernan O’Halloran and Eoghan Masterson as additions to their European squad.

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Meanwhile, Frederic Michalak and Craig Burden have been added to the Toulon squad in advance of the European Cup holders’ quarter-final clash with Wasps on Sunday, April 5.

Other big names who could appear during the knockout stages include Juan Martin Hernandez of Toulon, Saracens’ dynamic hooker Schalk Brits, and Piri Weepu, a World Cup winner with New Zealand in 2011 who has moved to Wasps until the end of the season.

In the Challenge Cup, Lee Byrne of the Newport Gwent Dragons and Exeter Chiefs’ former England flanker Tom Johnson are also included in the clubs’ European squads.

Under EPCR tournament rules, teams who have qualified for the knockout stages of the Champions Cup and the Challenge Cup can nominate up to three players for registration to supplement their initial 38-player European squads.

The registrations of players who were nominated by the deadline of midday last Thursday (March 19), are subject to confirmation by the relevant Unions and by EPCR.

The following players have been nominated by their sides as registered players for the knockout stages of the 2014/15 Champions Cup:

EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS CUP –

Clermont Auvergne
Additional player: Arthur Iturria
Position: Second row

Additional player: Charlie Cassang
Position: Scrum half

Bath
Additional player: Beno Obano
Position: Prop

Additional player: Max Lahiff
Position: Prop

Additional player: Tom Homer
Position: Full-back

LEINSTER
Additional player: Cian Healy
Position: Prop

Additional player: Sean O’Brien
Position: Back row

Additional player: Nick McCarthy
Position: Scrum half

Northampton Saints
Additional player: Ah See Tuala
Position: Full back

Additional player: Reece Marshall
Position: Hooker

Additional player: Sam Olver
Position: Out-half

Racing Metro 92
Additional player: Laurent Magnaval
Position: Scrum half

Additional player: Davit Khinchagishvili
Position: Prop

Additional player: Cedate Gomes-Sa
Position: Back row

Toulon
Additional player: Craig Burden
Position: Hooker

Additional player: Frederic Michalak
Position: Out-half

Additional player: Juan Martin Hernandez
Position: Out-half/Full-back

Saracens
Additional player: Schalk Brits
Position: Hooker

Additional player: Kieran Longbottom
Position: Prop

Additional player: Nick Tompkins
Position: Centre

Wasps
Additional player: James Downey
Position: Centre

Additional player: Piri Weepu
Position: Scrum half

The following have been nominated by their teams as registered players for the knockout stages of the 2014/15 Challenge Cup:

EUROPEAN CHALLENGE CUP –

Cardiff Blues
Additional player: Dillon Lewis
Position: Prop

Additional player: Lou Reed
Position: Second row

Additional player: Joaquin Tuculet
Position: Full back/winger

CONNACHT
Additional player: Tiernan O’Halloran
Position: Full-back/winger

Additional player: Eoghan Masterson
Position: Back row

Edinburgh
Additional player: Cornell du Preez
Position: Back row

Additional player: Nathan Fowles
Position: Scrum half

Exeter Chiefs
Additional player: Alec Hepburn
Position: Prop

Additional player: Tom Johnson
Position: Flanker

Additional player: Sam Skinner
Position: Number 8

Gloucester
Additional player: Brendan Macken
Position: Centre

Additional player: Luke Cole
Position: Hooker

Additional player: Steph Reynolds
Position: Wing

London Irish
Additional player: Gerard Ellis
Position: Hooker

Additional player: Nic Rouse
Position: Second row

Additional player: Jamie Hagan
Position: Prop

Newcastle Falcons
Additional player: Sinoti Sinoti
Position: Winger

Additional player: Juan Pablo Orlandi
Position: Prop

Additional player: Tane Takulua
Position: Scrum half

Newport Gwent Dragons
Additional player: Lee Byrne
Position: Full-back

Additional player: Rhys Buckley
Position: Hooker

Additional player: Nick Crosswell
Position: Back row/second row