{"id":5353,"date":"2026-01-08T00:46:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T00:46:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/?p=5353"},"modified":"2026-01-08T00:46:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T00:46:14","slug":"how-wales-sides-can-secure-knockout-rugby-in-champions-and-challenge-cups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/?p=5353","title":{"rendered":"How Wales’ sides can secure knockout rugby in Champions and Challenge Cups"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

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At the start of the European campaign, Dragons’ trip to Benetton on Saturday would have seemed a write-off but now, thanks to three wins in four, they travel with hope.<\/p>\n

Filo Tiatia’s men are fresh from victories against Lyon, Connacht and Scarlets plus a battling performance in a 22-19 defeat by Cardiff, when they were pushing at the death.<\/p>\n

That run looked highly unlikely after Dragons slumped to a 41-17 loss at then winless Perpignan in their Challenge Cup opener.<\/p>\n

Dragons then stunned Lyon 23-21 after trailing 21-6 in the final quarter and that means one more win could be enough for qualification.<\/p>\n

If Dragons upset the odds at Benetton \u2013 who are fresh from a home loss to Edinburgh \u2013 then they will have a shot at earning a home knockout tie when hosting Newcastle in round four.<\/p>\n

More likely is a must-win versus Red Bulls, who are bottom of the Prem but could arrive in Newport with three Challenge Cup victories, in a game that kicks off the final weekend.<\/p>\n

Dragons have been strong at Rodney Parade in 2025-26 but have been poor travellers for years, so home advantage could be key and anything they can get from Parma would be welcome.<\/p>\n

Dragons fixtures<\/b><\/p>\n

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    \n
  • \n

    Benetton (away) – Saturday, 10 January (17:30 GMT)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  • \n

    Newcastle (home) – Friday, 16 January (20:00 GMT)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n


    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    At the start of the European campaign, Dragons’ trip to Benetton on Saturday would have seemed a write-off but now, thanks to three wins in four, they travel with hope. Filo Tiatia’s men are fresh from victories against Lyon, Connacht and Scarlets plus a battling performance in a 22-19 defeat by Cardiff, when they were<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5354,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rugby"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5353"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5353\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}