Challenge Cup victory can start golden era for Bath, says Lawrence Dallaglio
An EPCR Challenge Cup victory can be the springboard to a golden era as Lawrence Dallaglio knows only too well – making Bath's trip to Cardiff this Friday a huge opportunity.
Advertisement
Finn Russell and co will hope to bring home the second part of a treble when they take on French side Lyon in the Challenge Cup final at Principality Stadium, live on Premier Sports 1, with a Premiership Rugby Cup victory having already ended Bath's 17-year wait for silverware.
They are also heavy favourites to take the Gallagher Premiership crown that narrowly escaped them last season, having already clinched top spot and underlined their position with a thumping win over second-placed Leicester Tigers at the weekend.
For Dallaglio, who is part of a 15-strong Premier Sports TV punditry team delivering the Investec Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup for Premier Sports, the new broadcasters of international club rugby's premier competitions, feels the Final gives Bath a chance to exorcise some demons from last year's heart-breaking Premiership final loss to Northampton Saints.
That day, even after Beno Obano's first-half red card, they were only denied by a late Alex Mitchell try.
Advertisement
And former England and Wasps No.8 Dallaglio recalled how victory in the Challenge Cup back in 2002 – coincidentally against Bath – was the catalyst for his club's extended run of success.
He said: 'I hate constantly making parallels with my own playing career. But when Wasps embarked on our golden period of success, it all started with the Challenge Cup final.
'Ironically, it was a fixture against Bath in the final that kicked us off. We won that and then went on to win our first Premiership final against Gloucester as well.
'Bath have targeted the Premiership and been the front-runners all season, they have been outstanding in terms of their consistency, but this is a golden opportunity for them to get another trophy in the cabinet. And for them to prove themselves that they are capable of winning these things.
Advertisement
'Having the better team for most of last year's final, even being down to 14 men, they still missed out. They will want to rectify that and win this. If you are going to go on and win the Premiership, there is value in these sorts of games in giving you the confidence that you have got what it takes to win the one-off knockout occasions.'
They face a Lyon team that has plenty of star power, including standout Georgian full-back Davit Niniashvili, while they beat Owen Farrell's Racing 92 in the semi-finals.
But fresh from a pair of league defeats that has hurt their chances of reaching the Top 14 play-offs, Dallaglio believes that Bath rightly go into the game as favourites, particularly with the proximity of the Welsh capital to the Rec.
He added: 'Whenever you take on a French side on a neutral ground away from France, you fancy your chances. The fact it is in Cardiff, and Lyon coming off the back of two defeats, I fancy Bath to be strong favourites.
Advertisement
'For me it feels like a home game – for Bath and Northampton (who play Bordeaux-Bègles in the Investec Champions Cup final on Saturday, also live on Premier Sports 1). They have got to take full advantage of that. They will feel more comfortable than their opponents.'
Premier Sports is the home of Investec Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup with 80 games live throughout the competition including this weekend's Finals on 23 and 24 May live from Principality Stadium, Cardiff. Visit: www.premiersports.com to sign-up for all the action from URC, Top 14, MLR, Japan League One and EPCR rugby at just £11.99 per month.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
Lottie Woad wins Scottish Open, her first LPGA event as a member
It's officially Lottie Woad Summer on the LPGA. The 21-year-old Englishwoman won the Scottish Open on Sunday, becoming the first person to win her initial LPGA event as a member since 2018. It comes on the heels of her Irish Open win as an amateur earlier this month and a tie for third-place at the Evian Championship. Those two results, on the Ladies European Tour and in the fourth major of the season, respectively, earned the 2024 Augusta National Women's Amateur winner her LPGA card. Advertisement She is now a major contender for the AIG Women's Open next week at Royal Porthcawl in Wales. Woad came into Sunday's final round at Dundonald Links with a two-shot lead and fired a pair of birdies on the front nine, but Hyo Joo Kim was 5 under through 11 holes to tie Woad at 19-under-par. Woad answered with birdies on holes Nos. 13 and 14, and watched as Kim bogeyed back-to-back holes to fall off the pace. Woad finished her final-round 68 with a birdie on No. 18. She shot 67-65-67-68 over four days, playing almost flawless golf. She had at least five birdies in each of her rounds, and had three total bogeys (and no doubles) during the week. She's from Farnham in Surrey, and enrolled at Florida State in 2022. Her breakout came two years later, with the ANWA win, NCAA runner-up finish and a top-10/low amateur finish at the Women's Open. Jin Young Ko was the last LPGA pro to earn a win in her first start as a member. Rose Zhang won the 2023 Mizuho Americas Open in her first event after turning professional, but she did not yet have her tour card. The Scottish Open was originally scheduled to be streaming only in the United States on NBC Sports, but the LPGA worked with NBC to get two hours of the final round broadcast on CNBC.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
American Vermette victorious at Hardline Wales finals day
American Asa Vermette has won the 2025 Red Bull Hardline Wales event in Machynlleth. Vermette, who came second at Hardline Tasmania earlier this year, was competing in the Welsh event for the first time. The 18-year-old becomes the youngest rider to win the Welsh competition. The Junior World Champion clocked a time of 2:24.477, improving on his qualifying time by 4.586 seconds. "It's insane, I did exactly what I wanted to do all week," said Vermette. Shrewsbury's Charlie Hatton finished second following a stellar World Cup season, just 1.681 seconds behind the winner. Hatton said: "I'm absolutely over the moon to be honest. "The emotions here are so high. I don't think I've ever had such an adrenaline spike after finishing a ride. "A podium at Hardline is always a good Sunday." Last year's champion Ronan Dunne finished in third place despite sustaining a puncture in the top section of the seeding run. "After winning Hardline last year, I definitely wanted to do it again, but it was nice to come away with a podium," said Dunne. "Hats off to Charlie and Asa, they both ripped it." Course co-creator and Hardline pioneer Gee Atherton finished in the top 10, taking ninth place over Chilean Felipe Agurto. The 40-year-old becomes the oldest competitor in the competition's history. And mountain bike internet sensation Matt Jones had difficultly in his run, but managed to make it down the mountain and finish the course. Jones was one of the only riders in attendance who does not race World Cups regularly. He told BBC Sport Wales: "I just about completed it, I ended up crashing twice in one run, which honestly just shows how gnarly it was. "I'm particularly unfit compared to these guys who are halfway through a World Cup season, but I made it happen." Ferguson makes Hardline Wales history Scottish rider Louise Ferguson made history on Saturday by becoming the first female rider to qualify for Sunday's final of Hardline Wales. In the event's 11 years, a female rider has never completed the course in full - mainly due to the scale of the jumps and challenging terrain. On Sunday she then became the first woman to do a full finals run and complete the course. The 29-year-old won Rider of the Week, which is given to athletes who have been the most supportive and helpful on the course throughout the week of practice. "I'm just so buzzing, I love downhill but Hardline is next level," Ferguson told BBC Sport Wales. "I feel really proud, just to put a run together." Welsh-based rider Kaos Seagrave completed his run, making it to the bottom despite a crash off the final jump. Although Seagrave crossed the finishing line, he was disqualified after riding outside the course parameters during the top section of his run. "I pulled a bit off the jump," said Seagrave. "As soon as I pulled I knew it was going to go wrong. "I got disqualified at the top, but still completed the run so I'm stoked."


New York Times
2 hours ago
- New York Times
Wrexham's busy transfer window: Record deals, Eriksen approach, clearout needed too
It has been difficult to keep up with Wrexham's recruitment since their return from tour Down Under a week ago. Transfer record broken… twice? Tick. First foray into the European market? Tick. Ambitious approach for big-name Premier League star? Tick. Beating a host of Championship clubs to an in-demand free agent? Tick. International striker on the radar? Tick. Advertisement These are heady days, indeed, for a club who, until Ollie Palmer's arrival for £300,000 in January 2023, had not broken their club transfer record fee for almost 45 years, when signing the incomparable Joey Jones from Liverpool. Jones' return to The Racecourse Ground in 1978 came just a couple of months into Wrexham's first ever season in the old Second Division, the level to which they will return next month. The presence of such an inspirational figure, who passed away last week at the age of 70, helped the Welsh club navigate these previously uncharted waters to secure a 15th place finish, still the highest in their history. Phil Parkinson's task almost five decades on is to do similar, albeit in an era where the gulf between the third and second tier has rarely seemed as wide. Hence the sudden flurry of activity after the return from Australia and New Zealand last Monday that has yielded four new faces and the breaking of the club transfer record twice to sign, first, left-back Liberato Cacace from Empoli for an initial €2.5million (£2.16m) and then midfielder Lewis O'Brien from Nottingham Forest. In between those two landmark additions, George Thomason, who captained Bolton Wanderers least season, became only the third seven-figure signing in Wrexham's history and Josh Windass joined on a free after his contract at Sheffield Wednesday had been cancelled by mutual consent amid the financial problems engulfing the Yorkshire club. Wrexham want more. A striker — Sheffield United's Kieffer Moore has been discussed — and a central defender are on a shopping list that, earlier in the summer, briefly contained Christian Eriksen, the Denmark international recently released by Manchester United. A desire to continue playing at the top level meant the approach was rebuffed, though Eriksen's representative, Martin Schoots, did subsequently admit to Mail Sport that Wrexham were a 'hugely impressive project'. Whether those overtures towards Moore lead to the Wales international joining before the season's opener at Southampton on August 9 remains to be seen. Ruben Selles, the Sheffield United manager, was non-committal when asked about the 32-year-old's future after leaving him on the bench for Saturday's 4-1 friendly win over Chesterfield. Advertisement What isn't in doubt, however, is how the patient approach has paid off for Wrexham in this window. All six summer signings — striker Ryan Hardie was signed from Plymouth Argyle and Wales international goalkeeper Danny Ward joined after his Leicester City deal expired before the trip Down Under — were the result of talks that began weeks, if not months, earlier. For instance, Windass and O'Brien, the two most recent additions, were deals that were well down the road before Parkinson and his squad flew out to Melbourne on Sunday July 6. A huge amount of work, including the manager's famous test of character in prospective signings, had been conducted before jetting off. Contact was then maintained throughout those two weeks on the other side of the world, with Parkinson, director Shaun Harvey and chief executive Michael Williamson all on early morning calls to the UK and Europe to keep moves on track. The persistence paid off last week as Wrexham's squad was given a much-needed Championship flavour to go with the current excessive numbers that are a direct consequence of the club's rapid rise with the three-year contracts offered on the back of clinching promotion back to the EFL in 2023 still having a year to run. EFL rules for the 2025-26 season state Championship clubs can register up to 25 players, including goalkeepers (under-21s are exempt). As it stands, even after the departures of Paul Mullin, Will Boyle, Luke Bolton and Luke McNicholas, Wrexham have 30. With two more key additions wanted — and the possibility Parkinson will want to further refresh in other positions — a sizeable clear out is inevitable. As for who goes only time will tell. Wrexham have eight senior strikers on the books (including Jake Bickerstaff, who has recently been on trial at Cheltenham Town) along with another eight central midfielders and four left wing-backs. Advertisement Regardless of whether Parkinson goes with the 3-5-1-1 formation that served Wrexham so well during last season's run-in or the box-midfield setup seen Down Under, whereby two attacking midfielders push on to support the lone striker as two others anchor the midfield, these numbers are unsustainable. Getting players out the door won't be easy. Wrexham pay well and promotion to the Championship is likely to have meant a further wage rise across the squad. As a result, some on the fringes may have to be paid to leave. Others may strike deals on transfer fees to allow the purchasing club to offer wages more on a par with what Wrexham pay as a Championship club. In many ways, this transfer window has the feel of the first at Wrexham under Parkinson after his appointment on July 1 2021. An overhaul was required then, as shown by 10 new faces, including Mullin and Ben Tozer, eventually arriving in the two months leading up to deadline day. Gelling so many signings into a cohesive unit is never easy. So it proved with Wrexham a lowly 13th going into November during that first full season under the ownership of Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney and still seventh in mid-February, by which time Palmer, Tom O'Connor and Callum McFadzean had been added. Only once those January window additions had been made did Wrexham truly hit their stride. A second place finish was followed by heartache in the play-offs against Grimsby Town with promotion from the National League following a year later after further investment. It's likely to be a similar story this time around, with three full transfer windows required to truly get Wrexham in a position where a concerted push for the Premier League can be made this time next year. Until then, bridging that considerable gap between League One and the Championship has to be the order of the day. The recruitment of the past week, plus the promise of more to come, has put Wrexham in a position to do just that.