Red Bulls to down Lions

This evening sees Newcastle Red Bulls host The Lions from South Africa in The European Challenge Cup. I'm writing this from Cork as I prepare to watch Gloucester take on Munster later on today so will miss my first Red Bulls home game of the season.

Red Bulls to be too strong

The Lions supporters have named their team as a C team, hardly a glowing reference! Given this, I think the thing is to expect the unexpected but there's one thing I expect and that's any South African side will turn up and be physical. After that though, I expect Red Bulls to take a comfortable victory.

Some rotation

It seems wise given the games coming up that there's been some rotation following the victory in Lyon. Brocklebank, Fletcher and Palframan form the front row with a youthful second row of Oscar Usher and Finn Baker. Tom Gordon, Tom Christie who captains the side and Ollie Leatherbarrow are in the back row. There's a new half back partnership with Sam Stuart and Ethan Grayson. In the centres Cameron Hutchinson and Alex Hearle start. In the back three Elliott Obatoyinbo, Boeta Chamberlain and Christian Wade who I'm going to say will score a hat trick on debut plays. On the bench George McGuigan, Micky Rewcastle and Murray McCallum are covering the front row with Jamie Hodgson and Amanki Mafi covering the back row. James Elliott, Brett Connon and Harrison Obatoyinbo cover the backs.

Ultimately here, Red Bulls will be too strong and should win comfortably.

The problem with this competition

No disrespect to Lions but this is part of the problem with this competition. They played in South Africa last week and next week they're back there. They've sent a squad that on paper looks like they're honouring a fixture they're not massively bothered about, it makes it very difficult to market. I'd prefer to see a bigger push for tier 2 European countries to have representation in this tournament. Spain, Romania, Portugal and Belgium are all progressing internationally and maybe there needs to be a way to develop these countries. I'm sure fans could get on board with trips to Madrid and Lisbon! I understand there'd be concerns about blow out scores but that would have to be part of the process of developing these countries.