My South African darkhorse for this season's Champions Cup - Andy Goode

The opening weekend of the Champions Cup is one of the highlights of the rugby calendar and these early rounds are absolutely pivotal if anyone is to break the French stranglehold on the trophy.

Some people would have you believe that the pool stage is less important or meaningful nowadays, given that the odd team tends to sneak through with just one win, but that could not be further from the truth.

Whereas in football’s Champions League the knockout stages are played out over home and away legs and Paris Saint-Germain have won the title in the past couple of seasons despite having only actually won half of their group games, that is so much harder to do in the Champions Cup.

The eventual winners have gone through the entire pool stage undefeated every campaign since the format was altered back in 2020 and it really is that significant given that it ensures home advantage or home country advantage throughout the big one-off occasions.

It’s hard to look past the usual suspects of Bordeaux and Toulouse from the Top 14, Northampton and Bath from the PREM and Leinster and Glasgow from the URC in terms of likely winners but I’m backing the Stormers to have a big year.

They’ve never been past the quarter-finals but had the best away record in the URC last season and the arrival of Siya Kolisi, Cheslin Kolbe and Wilco Louw might just help a little bit when it comes to the big games.

It might not sound like a big call to predict that a team full of Springboks and World Cup winners might have a successful stint but this is the fifth season of South African involvement in the competition and none of their sides have made it to a semi-final.

Everybody knows the challenges they face but discussion over their inclusion will only continue to grow if that record continues and I think John Dobson’s men might have the bit between their teeth to set a few records straight.

It’s still ridiculously hard for teams outside those big two teams from each domestic league to compete on two fronts and sides like Leicester, Gloucester and Pau, to name just a few, will look at tough schedules on paper and be happy just to make it through to the knockout stages despite looking pretty strong at the moment.

Saracens are the other team I think could make a big splash, despite not making a semi-final since before the salary cap scandal and missing out on the PREM play-offs in the last two campaigns.

They might struggle in their January trip to the Stade Ernest Wallon but I can see them winning their other three pool outings and the likes of Jamie George, Owen Farrell, Maro Itoje and co will still fancy their chances in a tight winner takes all clash in the spring.

We’ve spent almost a decade talking about Leinster’s quest for a fifth star and they have been runners-up in four of the last five seasons but they seem to be going under the radar a bit this time around.

That’s probably only due to an underwhelming start domestically and an inability to win the big dance but they’re almost certain to be in the mix come May when we’re down to the final four and Glasgow look a good bet to make it to that late stage for the first time ever.

The tweaks made to bring in the bonus point system from the Top 14 and reward only the top three teams in each pool with qualification, the final four knockout stage spots going to the teams with most points regardless of which pool they’re in, should make it even more competitive.

And, there’s the small matter of a World Cup at the end of this season, which is certainly relevant from a player’s perspective as games in this competition, especially at the business end, are the best opportunity to prove yourself outside of the international arena.

Let’s face it, sometimes it’s difficult to get a run of games for your national team regardless of your domestic form but I’m certain the performances of Henry Pollock, Alex Mitchell and Fin Smith against Leinster and Bordeaux helped get them selected for the 2025 Lions tour.

From an English perspective, in particular, anyone starring for a PREM team that goes deep into this competition will be hard for Steve Borthwick to ignore when it comes to selection for the World Cup warm-up games next summer.

That is very much at the back of the mind though as to lift this trophy will rank among the highlights and best memories of any player’s career, whether you ask an old has-been like me or someone like Jamie George, who has won over 100 caps for his country.

Even for the French lads who have dominated this competition for the last six years and for whom the Top 14 is such a behemoth, some of the celebrations they’ve enjoyed after lifting the Champions Cup will be what they remember most when they look back on their careers.

I would wager that even someone as decorated as Kolisi or Kolbe would like a taste of that action and the Stormers’ trip to the Stade Chaban-Delmas in Round 2 looks mouth-watering but I can see them winning their other three games to earn a decent enough seeding.

Securing home advantage deep into the knockout stages is so important though as we saw with Toulouse last season when they lost at both Glasgow and Saracens in the pool stage, which meant they had to travel to Bordeaux in the quarter-final.

So, it might seem like an expanded knockout stage means less important pool games but the evidence is to the contrary and if you want to be lifting silverware in May, you really do have to be ready to go from the off.

Watch out for the Stormers and back-to-back winners Bordeaux, of course, but I can’t see anyone touching Antoine Dupont, Romain Ntamack, Jack Willis and co in these opening four rounds and Toulouse are my pick to make it a magnificent seven titles in Lyon at the end of May.