European Rugby Challenge Cup: Dragons, London Irish, Connacht and Cardiff all in action Saturday

Saturday's European Rugby Challenge Cup billing sees four matches, with London Irish and Connacht both in action.

Cardiff Blues put their unbeaten cup record on the line against fellow high-flyers London Irish.

The Blues, who won the title in 2010, have won all five of their previous games in this tournament having already beaten Grenoble and Rovigo in this season's competition.

However, they face an Exiles side who are seasoned-campaigners in the Challenge Cup, finalists in 2006, and have started this season's competition in even better form than the Blues.

Their 70-14 win over Rovigo is the biggest result in either European competition so far this year and was enough to keep them ahead of Cardiff, top of Pool 1.

Cardiff Blues: 15 Adam Thomas; 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 Cory Allen, 12 Gavin Evans, 11 Richard Smith; 10 Gareth Anscombe, 9 Lloyd Williams; 1 Gethin Jenkins, 2 Matthew Rees (capt), 3 Adam Jones; 4 Filo Paulo, 5 Josh Turnbull; 6 Macauley Cook, 7 Ellis Jenkins, 8 Josh Navidi
Replacements: 16 Kristian Dacey, 17 Sam Hobbs, 18 Craig Mitchell, 19 Rory Watts-Jones, 20 Manoa Vosawai, 21 Lewis Jones, 22 Gareth Davies, 23 Dan Fish

London Irish: 15 Andrew Fenby; 14 Alex Lewington, 13 Eoin Griffin, 12 Shane Geraghty (capt), 11 Topsy Ojo; 10 Chris Noakes, 9 Scott Steele; 1 Tom Court, 2 David Paice, 3 Geoff Cross; 4 Sean Cox, 5 Kieran Low; 6 Jebb Sinclair, 7 Blair Cowan, 8 Ofisa Treviranus
Replacements: 16 Richard Palframan, 17 Johnny Harris, 18 Leo Halavatau, 19 Dan Leo, 20 Luke Narraway, 21 Darren Allinson, 22 Eamonn Sheridan, 23 Tom Homer

French fancy

Connacht will look to continue their excellent Challenge Cup record against French opposition when they host Bayonne in Galway.

The Irish province have won eight of their nine fixtures against teams from across the Channel and will want that sequence to continue in a tightly-contested Pool 2.

All four sides have one win and one defeat to their name, meaning the upcoming double-headers could go a long way to deciding who ends up in the knock-out stages.

Connacht head into the clash buoyed by their Pro12 win over the Scarlets last weekend, but Pat Lam's men have plenty of injury problems to contend with.

Connacht: 15 Mils Muliaina; 14 Danie Poolman, 13 Bundee Aki, 12 Dave McSharry, 11 Matt Healy; 10 Jack Carty, 9 Kieran Marmion; 1 Denis Buckley, 2 Tom McCartney, 3 Rodney Ah You; 4 Mick Kearney, 5 Quinn Roux; 6 John Muldoon (capt), 7 Eoin McKeon, 8 George Naoupu
Replacements: 16 David Heffernan, 17 Ronan Loughney, 18 Finlay Bealham, 19 Michael Swift, 20 Willie Faloon, 21 Caolin Blade, 22 Craig Ronaldson, 23 Darragh Leader

Bayonne: 15 Martin Bustos Moyano; 14 Pierre Sayerse, 13 Lalakai Foketi, 12 Saimoni Vaka, 11 Jon Elissalde; 10 Matthieu Ugalde, 9 Bastien Duhalde; 1 Lucas Pointud, 2 Simon Labouyrie, 3 George Jgenti; 4 Dewald Senekal (capt), 5 Lisiate Fa’aoso; 6 Baptiste Chouzenoux, 7 Clement Ancely, 8 Thibault Visensang
Replacements: 16 David Roumieu, 17 Florian Lapeyrade, 18 Paul Bruno, 19 Mark Chisholm, 20 Christophe Loustalot, 21 Guillaume Rouet, 22 Clement Otazo, 23 Jean Monribot

Finely poised

Pool 3 is finely poised after Newport Gwent Dragons failed to back-up their shock win over Stade Francais with defeat at home to Newcastle Falcons and they now travel to Romania to face Bucharest.

It means they trail Dean Richards' men by three points in second-place heading into the crucial double-header weekend.

Bucharest fell to a 49-13 defeat in Round One to Newcastle but almost pulled off what would have been the shock of the year against Stade.

Bucharest: 15 Luke Samoa; 14 Robert Neagu, 13 Catalin Dascalu, 12 Florin Ionita, 11 Ionut Botezatu; 10 Florin Vlaicu (capt), 9 Florin Surugiu; 1 Constantin Pristavita, 2 Otar Turashvili, 3 Silviu Vasiliu; 4 Johan Van Heerden, 5 Petre Neacsu; 6 Alexandru Mitu, 7 Sean Morrell, 8 Razvan Ailenei
Replacements: 16 Alexandru-Claudiu Oancea, 17 Mihai Dico, 18 Vlad Badalicescu, 19 Onal Ageacai, 20 Vali-Catalin Mototolea, 21 Grigoras Diaconescu, 22 Andrei-Daniel Ilie, 23 Marian Apostol

Newport Gwent Dragons: 15 Rhys Jones; 14 Tom Prydie, 13 Ross Wardle, 12 Ashley Smith, 11 Matthew Pewtner; 10 Jason Tovey, 9 Richie Rees; 1 Brok Harris, 2 T Rhys Thomas, 3 Dan Way; 4 Cory Hill, 5 Andrew Coombs; 6 James Thomas, 7 Nic Cudd, 8 Lewis Evans (capt)
Replacements: 16 Elliot Dee, 17 Phil Price, 18 Lloyd Fairbrother, 19 Matthew Screech, 20 James Benjamin, 21 Jonathan Evans, 22 Dorian Jones, 23 Hallam Amos

Bouncing back

Lyon will want to bounce back from their 18-9 defeat to Bordeaux on the opening day of the season by claiming the advantage in the back-to-back fixtures.

These games will decide who kicks-on towards the quarter-finals with just a point separating the sides in Pool 4.

Both sides have been beaten by pace-setters Edinburgh so far, but they have also claimed victories against struggling London Welsh.

Bordeaux-Begles: 15 Romain Lonca; 14 Paulin Riva, 13 Charles Brousse, 12 Thibault Lacroix, 11 Blair Connor; 10 Lionel Beauxis, 9 Baptiste Serin (capt); 1 Laurent DelBoulbes, 2 Benat Auzqui, 3 Francisco Gomez Kodela; 4 Jan Andre Marais, 5 Berend Botha; 6 Bertrand Guiry, 7 Jean-Blaise Lespinasse, 8 Marco Tauleigne
Replacements: 16 Clement Maynadier, 17Jefferson Poirot, 18 Benjamin Sa, 19 Adam Jaulhac, 20 Matthew Graham, 21 Louis Madaule, 22 Yann Lesgourgues, 23 Lucas Blanc

Lyon: 15 Jerome Porical; 14 Franck Romanet, 13 Paul Bonnefond, 12 Thibaut Regard, 11 Mosese Ratuvou; 10 Lachie Munro, 9 Mathieu Loree; 1 Sami Mavinga, 2 Vincent Colliat, 3 Horace Pungea; 4 Mickael De Marco, 5 Simon Christian Njewel; 6 Eugene Nzi (capt), 7 Steevy Cerqueira, 8 Didier Tison
Replacements: 16 Cameron Mapusua, 17 Bogdan Balan, 18 Anthony Roux, 19 Joe Tuineau, 20 Frans Viljoen, 21 Adrien Bau, 22 Waisele Seru Sukanaveita, 23 Alexandre Derrien