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.
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