My prediction for all 8 Champions Cup Round-of-16 games - Andy Goode

Whether it’s through a natural consequence of the stronger teams having earned higher seedings or certain sides resting stars, it’s hard to make a case for there being any away wins in the Champions Cup Round of 16.

Toulouse and Bordeaux should breeze through realistically against Bristol, who were out of sorts at Principality Stadium last week, and a Leicester team that I think extremely disappointingly will not be at full strength.

It’s not lost on anyone how tough a league the PREM is and how dropping even a couple of points as a result of rotation can be the difference between making the play-offs and missing out but I think Geoff Parling has got it wrong in this instance.

Everyone has to shuffle their pack when it comes to team selection nowadays and there’s a real skill to that as a head coach but Tigers faced lowly Gloucester last week, it looks like they’re going to get a week off next week and then they’re up against Newcastle.

Given those fixtures, there’s no way a Champions Cup knockout match is the right one to rest the likes of Ollie Chessum and Joe Heyes in and start Billy Searle on the bench.

He won’t admit it, of course, but it comes across as an admission that he doesn’t believe his team can win at Stade Chaban-Delmas and it’s an insult to the competition.

Even without Alex Mitchell, Fin Smith, Alex Coles, Trevor Davison, George Hendy, Emmanuel Iyogun and co, Northampton should have enough to see off Castres in the East Midlands and there’ll be at least three English teams in the last eight which is quite the result.

Home advantage might count for a little bit less in the two all-English ties but we see how important a factor it is in the PREM semi-finals with 80% of them being won by the home team on the day so Bath and Harlequins are still the likely victors.

Saracens have big name players, with Owen Farrell, Maro Itoje, Elliot Daly, Jamie George, Rhys Carre and Tom Willis all starting, and can beat anyone on their day as many of those have lifted this trophy before but Bath are playing at a different level right now.

Quins and Sale are both struggling badly domestically, which makes it a trickier one to call but also adds an extra layer of interest as it’s all or nothing for both of them. Lose and their season is all over bar the shouting.

With that in mind, it’s slightly confusing to see Chandler Cunningham-South, Jack Kenningham and Lucas Friday only on the bench.

You always have a feeling that a South African side has the potential to pull out a big result on the road but there hasn’t been any actual evidence to suggest that will be the case and seeing Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu among the replacements for Stormers doesn’t suggest they’ll be the ones to do it in Toulon.

The Bulls have weapons out wide in the form of Canan Moodie and Kurt Lee Arendse, the ultimate clutch man at fly half in Handre Pollard and power up front with Ruan Nortje, Marcell Coetzee, Elrigh Louw and Cameron Hanekom.

That would be enough to back them against most teams but Glasgow bagged a full 20 points in the pool stage, are top of the URC, have already beaten the Bulls at Scotstoun this season and haven’t lost at home for a year.

And, Leinster may not have hit the heights expected of them this campaign but they have all the pedigree and nous necessary in this competition and aren’t likely to give Edinburgh a sniff in Dublin.

Some of the ties will be tight, others less so, but ultimately a full house of home wins in the Round of 16 is a probability for me and I think that is a sign of the strength of the competition rather than a weakness.

There’s some chat about home advantage at the moment with the PREM looking to move the semi-finals to a neutral ground, as is the case in the Top 14, but I think it’s right that teams are rewarded for putting in the work in the pool stage.

The cream rose to the top in those four rounds and it will do so again this weekend, which will set up some absolutely mouth-watering quarter-finals.

France’s finest in Bordeaux and Toulouse will lock horns, as will England’s top two in the form of Bath and Northampton, with the winner of those two meeting in a box office ‘Mini Le Crunch’ of a semi-final.

Leinster will wind up somewhat fortunately facing an out of form Quins or Sale in the quarter-finals but Glasgow against Toulon would be another epic encounter.

Home advantage is huge, it was ever thus, but those benefiting from it have earned the right to do so and I wouldn’t change that. If all eight home sides progress, so be it. It means the Champions Cup is building towards a crescendo and that’s exactly what you want.