A Friday-night thriller will be the first half of the weekend’s action, with the European Challenge Cup Final being played out under the lights of the Principality Stadium.
It’s been an entertaining European Challenge Cup campaign, filled with twists and turns and fireworks expected as Bath take on Lyon to kickstart a bumper weekend with two mouth-watering finales.
Bath have a rare opportunity in their sights, having already won the Premiership Rugby Cup and secured a home Premiership semi-final as runaway leaders for the season.
Victory in Cardiff will move them one step closer to what would be a simply unbelievable treble-winning season.
For Lyon, a mammoth performance in the Welsh capital would salvage their lacklustre season in the Top 14, where they sit 11th, it would take an almighty effort, but it’s Europe – expect the unexpected.
Bath Rugby v Lyon Olympique Universitaire Rugby
When: Friday, May 23 at 20:00 BST
Where: Principality Stadium, Cardiff
Where to watch: Premier Sports (UK & IRE), SuperSport (South Africa), BeIN Sports (France), EPCRTV (Worldwide)
Form
It’s been the dream season for Bath, runaway leaders in the Premiership and securing their home semi-final early has afforded the side the luxury of being able to rest their key stars, meaning they will be all steam ahead for their Challenge Cup Final.
They suffered a tough defeat to the Bristol Bears a fortnight ago while resting some key players, but returned to winning ways with big wins against the Newcastle Falcons and high-flying Leicester Tigers, who may be one of their main challengers in the Premiership down the stretch.
Their road to a Challenge Cup Final has been by no means strenuous, with big wins over Edinburgh, Gloucester and Pau providing little contest.
Lyon, on the other hand, have been made to work a little harder for their spot in the final with some tight wins over Racing 92, Ospreys and Sharks on their way to Cardiff.
They’re winless in their past three Top 14 contests, coming up short in narrow losses to Stade Francais, Pau and Clermont Auvergne and certainly don’t have the domestic form of their opponents on Friday night.
Ted Hill reveals how Johann van Graan is getting Bath ‘back on zero’ for treble charge
Key match-ups
While the form of the French side will give little for their fans to get excited about, statistically, Lyon have been the most dominant side in the Challenge Cup this year.
A key battle will be in the ten jersey with both fly halves pivotal in creating for their sides and making chances that will be required for European glory.
Scottish and British & Irish Lions fly-half, Finn Russell has been instrumental in his side’s successes this season. The 32-year-old has a knack for creating something out of nothing, and his ability to control the tempo of the game is supplemented by frequent miracle passes and audacious 50-22s.
Léo Berdeu has been a standout for Lyon with pinpoint accuracy off the boot. He’s leading the competition in conversions and points scored, having converted 15 tries and racked up 64 points.
Fine margins often define European finals with both fly halves needing to be razor sharp off the boot and Russell needing to find a better kicking percentage than he’s mustered this year.
Where the game could be won or lost?
As mentioned earlier, Lyon will need to make the most of any opportunities they get to put points on the board, and if Bath start quickly, they will need to make sure they keep the Treble hunters at arm’s length.
The French side will know the size of their pack could help them win collisions up front, but the Bath forwards have come into their own and are well-rested ahead of Friday night.
Their maul and attack has been ruthless with Bath hooker, Tom Dunn a joint leading try-scorer in the competition with four tries to his name and a remarkable 64.3% of his carries have been over the gainline.
Whoever wins the set-piece battle will earn valuable go-forward in Cardiff.
And it’s not only Dunn whose carried hard and done the dirty work for Bath. Their back row was on fire in their semi-final win over Edinburgh, with Miles Reid and Sam Underhill making more carries than any other player, and the latter winning two turnovers and crashing over for a try.
On the other hand, Lyon has favoured kicking the ball with 937 kick-in-play metres per game, more than any other side this season. Tom de Glanville and Bath’s back three will need to be tidy under the high ball.
The teams
Bath: 15 Tom de Glanville, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 13 Max Ojomoh, 12 Will Butt, 11 Will Muir, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Ben Spencer (c), 8 Miles Reid, 7 Sam Underhill, 6 Ted Hill, 5 Charlie Ewels, 4 Quinn Roux, 3 Will Stuart, 2 Tom Dunn, 1 Beno Obano
Replacements: 16 Niall Annett, 17 Francois van Wyk, 18 Thomas du Toit, 19 Ross Molony, 20 Guy Pepper, 21 Tom Carr-Smith, 22 Ciaran Donoghue, 23 Alfie Barbeary
Lyon: 15 Davit Niniashvili, 14 Vincent Rattez, 13 Josiah Maraku, 12 Theo Millet, 11 Ethan Dumortier, 10 Léo Berdeu, 9 Baptiste Couilloud, 8 Arno Botha, 7 Beka Saginadze, 6 Dylan Cretin, 5 Mickael Guillard, 4 Theo William, 3 Jermaine Ainsley, 2 Camille Chat, 1 Jérôme Rey
Replacements: 16 Guillaume Marchand, 17 Hamza Kaabeche, 18 Irakli Aptsiauri, 19 Félix Lambey, 20 Liam Allen, 21 Maxime Gouzou, 22 Martin Page-Relo, 23 Martin Meliande
Date: Friday, May 23
Venue: Principality Stadium, Cardiff
Kick-off: 20:00 BST (19:00 GMT)
Referee: Hollie Davidson (Scotland)
Assistant Referees: Gianluca Gnecchi (Italy), Eoghan Cross (Ireland)
TMO: Mike Adamson (Scotland)
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Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/bath-v-lyon-preview-instrumental-russell-to-spark-treble-hopefuls-as-underdogs-aim-to-salvage-lacklustre-season-in-challenge-cup-final
