Newport Gwent Dragons begin their European Challenge Cup campaign on Friday when they kick off at home to Bayonne.
The Challenge Cup is the second tier European competition and since its introduction in 1996 it may have had several name changes and changes in format but one thing is certain it has continued to grow in prestige.
The format of the competition sees 20 top-flight teams from six countries compete in five pools of four. The five pool winners and three best-placed runners up qualify for the knock out stages.
Previous winners of the tournament include Montferrand, Pau, Harlequins, Sale Sharks, London Wasps and Gloucester. This season continues to see some of the top names of rugby compete such as Narbonne, Saracens, last season's Heineken Cup semi finalists Bath and previous Heineken Cup winners Brive.
The Dragons have drawn Bristol, Bayonne and Bucuresti in their group and below is a preview on Friday's opponents Bayonne.
Bayonne are currently experiencing a miserable season and they sit bottom of the Top14 Championship.
This season has continued much in the same vein for the side from the Basque country and it was anything but a success for them and they were minutes away from relegation until Castres pulled a result out of the bag in Pau.
With eleven games gone in this season's Top14 competition the team from the south of France have managed only three wins the first coming in round six of the tournament and was a 25-20 win over Montpellier. They beat second in the table Clermont 24-13 and a fortnight ago defeated Agen 19-15. They have scored a total of 163 points in the competition and conceded 298. Last weekend they squandered a 9-0 half time lead over Toulouse and with the visitors scoring 20 unanswered points they lost their eighth game in the championship. Centre and captain Richard Dourthe landed three first-half penalties before Toulouse clicked in the second half.
Last season Bayonne reached the quarterfinals of the Challenge Cup competition before losing handsomely to London Irish.
Discipline is an area that let Bayonne down last season with Pila Fifita banned three times, and Thierry Cléda also banned for his part in brawl during the match against Perpignan. However, both have subsequently left the club and moved to pastures new but unfortunately they have also lost Sebastian Roque and Vincent Noutary two very influential players. There are, however, several incoming players who should make an impression most notably Italian fly half Ramiro Pez and ex-Biarritz back-rower Marc Baget.
Captain and no.8 Louis Massabeau is an athletic and disciplined player who holds his pack together and leads by example. Other ones to watch are new signings Baget and Guillaume Bernad who are both young players ready to make an impression on the league this season after peripheral roles at their previous clubs, while in the backs, Juan Martin Berberian, ex-Perpignan, is a huge centre very much in the Scott Gibbs mould of destructive runners
