Home Or Away Order - No Big Deal

Bath Rugby will take on star-studded Montferrand in the first leg of the Parker Pen Challenge Cup semi-finals on the weekend of 9 / 10 /11 April with coach John Connolly unconcerned with which order the two legs are played.

"Being home first is fine with me," he said. "I am happy with that. Anyway, when you're playing the team twice, the balance of home advantage always equals out over the two legs.

"Montferrand are a good side, a very expensive side with lots of talent and they've been going well lately after stuttering at the start of the season.

"However, with the Six Nations Championship coming up - and everything that entails in terms of injuries and form - we will have to see who will make it for the semi-final deadlines. Anything can happen between now and mid-April."

And Mark Evans, the NEC Harlequins Head Coach, echoes the "it makes no difference" sentiment on the order of home advantage.

"It doesn't make much difference to us whether we are at home first or away," he said. "We have done it both ways so far this season - we were at Montauban first then home to Brive in the quarter-finals.

"Connacht are having a great year in all three competitions they have competed in - they have knocked out some good sides like Béziers and more recently Narbonne so we will have to pay them the respect they deserve.

"We're doing well in the Premiership but it's great for the fans and the players to have another good Cup tie to look forward to later in the season.

"But there's a long way to go before then - we've got five league games to play before the semi-finals so we'll think about it again when the time comes."