Warriors tackle Montpellier in the quarter-finals of the European Challenge Cup at Sixways Stadium on Saturday – and we have all the stats as the big match draws ever closer!
The English and French giants will lock horns for a Euro classic and we now have all the information you need thanks to www.statbunker.com/rugby
Current Form
Worcester and Montpellier go into battle at Sixways on Saturday with the winners entertaining Newcastle or Castres in the semi-final.
Worcester are having a good spell at the moment. They beat Gloucester 17-14 last Saturday and are unbeaten in the Guinness Premiership in their last 4 matches, the first time they have ever achieved this.
They are still only 11th in the league table but relegation is now extremely unlikely and they can concentrate their efforts on the European Challenge Cup. They have played 9 league matches at Sixways this season, winning 3 drawing 2 and losing 4.
Montpellier won 17-12 at Castres last Saturday to complete a league double in what could be an unlikely but possible rehearsal for the Challenge Cup semi-final. They sit in 9th position in the French Top 14 having won 8 from 16 played.
They have played 8 league matches away from home this season, losing 6 and winning at Brive and Castres.
Challenge Cup 2007/2008
Worcester qualified for the quarter-final stage as number 1 seeds and winners of Pool 2 amassing 29 points from a possible 30 with 6 wins from 6.
They have scored 36 tries in the competition so far, the most by any team, and only conceded 49 points, the best defensive record of any team.
Shane Drahm has scored 43 points for Worcester in this season’s tournament and Rico Gear and Pat Sanderson have both scored 5 tries each.
Montpellier qualified as 8th seeds and were runners-up to Sale in Pool 4. They won 4 from 6, losing at Edgeley Park and drawing 14-14 with Sale in their final match.
They have scored the lowest number of tries, just 12, the lowest number of points, 114, and they have conceded the most points, 115, from the 8 teams left in the competition.
The 12250 Montpellier attracted to their last Pool game against Sale was the highest crowd in the tournament this season.
Federico Todeschini has scored 29 points for Montpellier in this season’s competition and David Bortolussi 27.
Bortolussi, Frikkie Welsch and Louis Picamoles have all scored 2 tries.
European History
Worcester are playing in the European Challenge Cup for the 4th consecutive season.
They have never qualified for the Heineken Cup.
Their best performance to date was in 2005/2006 when they were beaten by the eventual winners Gloucester in the semi-final.
Having been beaten by Brive in round 1 in 2004/2005, they then went into the European Shield and reached the final, losing 23-10 to Auch.
They played Montpellier home and away in the Challenge Cup in 2005/2006 and beat them both times.
Worcester have entertained French teams 4 times in the Challenge Cup, winning 3 and losing 1.
Worcester’s highest score in the Challenge Cup prior to this season was the 44-8 win against Amatori Catania in 2005/2006. They have now beaten that 3 times this season. 46-0 against Bucuresti, 50-0 at home to G.R.A.N Parma and 66-16 against G.R.A.N Parma in Italy.
In the 41-18 defeat of Montauban this season, Shane Drahm beat his Worcester points record in the competition with 21. He completed the unusual feat of scoring a penalty, drop goal, 5 conversions and also scored a try.
In the G.R.A.N Parma away match this season, Rico Gear set a Worcester record of 4 tries in a European Challenge Cup match.
Shane Drahm has scored 177 points for Worcester in the European Challenge Cup.
Pat Sanderson has scored 8 tries for Worcester in the competition.
Thinus Delport and Craig Gillies have both played in a record 18 of Worcester’s 22 European Challenge Cup matches.
Montpellier are a team making progress and for the first time this season they had 3 players take part for France in the 6 Nations. Francois Trinh-Duc, unfortunately out injured at the moment, the part Vietnamese fly-half, number 8 Loius Picamoles and flanker Fulgence Ouedraogo who became the first player from Burkina Faso to play for France.
Montpellier are playing in the European Challenge Cup for the 6th time and the 5th season in succession.
They have never qualified for the Heineken Cup.
In 2003/2004 Montpellier were knocked out of the Challenge Cup in the first round by Glasgow but went on to win the European Shield beating Viadana 25-19.
Montpellier have finished bottom of their Pool in the last 2 seasons.
This season is the first time they have qualified for the quarter-finals.
They have played away in England in the competition 5 times previously and lost them all.
Last season, Harlequins beat Montpellier 57-10 in the competition, the highest score they have conceded.
With his 27 points this season David Bortolussi has now scored 65 points for Montpellier in the European Challenge Cup beating the previous club record of 54 by Regis Lespinas.
Jean-Victor Bertrand has scored most tries for Montpellier in the competition with 6. In fact he is the leading tryscorer in the history of the European Challenge Cup with 19. He also scored 7 for Grenoble, 5 for Agen and 1 for Narbonne.
Montpellier also have the second highest tryscorer in the history of the European Challenge Cup in their ranks, Sebastien Kuzbik. He has scored 18 tries, 12 for Begles-Bordeaux, 2 for ASM Clermont-Auvergne, 1 for Grenoble and 3 for Montpellier.
Michel Macurdy holds the record number of appearances in the competition for Montpellier with 19.
Francois Trinh Duc is the only Montpellier player to be sent off in the European Challenge Cup, against Connacht last season.
Tickets are still available for this clash! Call 0870 990 5650 today for more information.