Bath and Lyon will contest the European Challenge Cup Final in Cardiff on Friday night and the English club start as the bookmakers favourites.
Bath v Lyon, Friday 23rd May, Cardiff, KO 21:00 (South African time)
Referee: Hollie Davidson (Scotland)
Assistant Referees: Gianluca Gnecchi (Italy), Eoghan Cross (Ireland)
TMO: Mike Adamson (Scotland)
Weather Forecast – Cardiff (we understand the roof will be closed for the final).
Bath:
Bath booked their place in the final with a 39-24 victory away to Edinburgh in the semis. Their only home play off so far came in the quarters when they thrashed Gloucester 61-26 whilst their Round of 16 visit to Section Paloise saw them come out on top 49-24.
Bath joined the Challenge Cup after failing to make the cut in their Champions League pool. They won 1 and lost 3 of their matches to finish fifth behind Clermont, Benetton, Stade Rochelle and Leinster.
Bath have dominated this season's Gallagher Premiership. They top the standings with a record of 14 wins and 3 defeats which puts them 15 points clear of second placed Sale Sharks with 1 round of the regular season to go before the play offs.
Lyon:
Lyon booked their ticket to Cardiff with a 29-15 home win over Racing 92 in the semi's and they now look to repeat their triumph of 2022 when they also lifted this trophy.
They were also in Wales for a quarter final clash with the Ospreys at Swansea which they edged 20-18. In the Round of 16 Lyon knocked out last season's Challenge Cup winners the Sharks with a 34-21 home win.
In the Challenge Cup pool stage Lyon won 3 and lost 1 of their matches. They started with a 37-26 home win over Cardiff and followed up with a 21-19 victory over Zebre in Parma. Their only defeat came away at Connacht (52-24) and in their final pool game they thrashed the Cheetahs 68-21.
In the Top 14 Lyon are 11th with a record of 10 wins, 2 draws and 12 defeats .
Team News
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
The Betting
Updated 22 May 22h23
Bath -11.5 points at 9/10
Lyon +11.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
Posted 21 May 16h09
There was -10.5 Bath early in the week but money has come for the home team and there is now -11.5 on offer.
I will wait for teams and points lines (its under the roof) before posting a bet.
Posted 22 May 22h32
I like Bath here and am tempted by the -11.5.
I also fancy points though and the last 2 EPCR finals have had 62 and 58 points in them.
The roof is closed and the points line is 54.5.
I am going to inflate the price and will back Bath to win the game with at least 55 points in total.
Get my weekend betting newsletter in your inbox - https://bit.ly/gftgnewsletter - I am aiming to get this one out early Friday morning
BET: Result and Total, Home and over 54.5 at 12/10 at Hollywoodbets
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
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