Champions Cup XV of the Week - Round 3
This weekend played host to Round 3 of the Heineken Champions Cup, the beginning of the vitally important December back-to-back games, which often prove crucial to a team’s chances of qualifying for the quarter-finals, and we have selected our form XV from the contests.
By the conclusion of Round 4 in a week’s time, we will have a strong idea of which eight teams are favourite for the knockout rounds and we could also have a good idea of which of them will be securing home quarter-finals, with Racing 92, Toulouse, Leinster, Exeter Chiefs and Ulster having all positioned themselves well so far.
Take a look below at our pick of the players from a busy weekend of European rugby.
- Jean-Marcellin Buttin, Lyon
The French full-back was at his incisive best against Benetton, helping shred the Italian side’s defence as both a counter-attacker and a link-man between the midfield and the wings. His early try got the Top 14 side going and they did not look back, securing a try bonus point and nilling Benetton in the process, with Buttin making a couple of key one-on-one tackles.
Silver – Tom Marshall, Gloucester
Bronze – Jordan Larmour, Leinster
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- Samuel Ezeala, Clermont
The 19-year-old Spaniard provided the moments of class that elevated the Bath vs Clermont game from the doldrums and ultimately gave his side a relatively comfortable win at the Rec. Not only did he grab two tries himself in a frenetic 10-minute period, he also teed up one of his teammate’s scores. Without Ezeala, Clermont would not have left Bath with the bonus point and might not have even left with the win.
Silver – Nikola Matawalu, Glasgow Warriors
Bronze – Teddy Thomas, Racing 92
- Virimi Vakatawa, Racing 92
Vakatawa is as destructive an outside centre to opposition defences as there currently is in world rugby. He tormented the Ospreys as a ball-carrier and playmaker and so many of Racing’s potent attacks on Saturday stemmed from breaks that he made.
Silver – Matt Proctor, Northampton Saints
Bronze – Jonathan Joseph, Bath
- Stuart McCloskey, Ulster
One of, if not the most influential performance of the weekend by an individual, McCloskey was the difference between victory and defeat for Ulster. Harlequins gave Ulster all they could handle in Belfast and were it not for the consistent gain-line advantages that McCloskey brought, and Ulster’s subsequent ability to get on the front foot and attacking a retreating Quins defence, the province would have fallen to a rare home defeat.
Silver – Romain Ntamack, Toulouse
Bronze – George Moala, Clermont
- James Lowe, Leinster
Lowe exploited every bit of space and time that the Northampton defence gave him and was a crucial component in taking the opportunities that presented themselves earlier in the game. He Kept Leinster going blow for blow with Northampton in the first half, which enabled them to then race away after the interval as their class showed and Saints’ focus wavered.
Silver – Xavier Mignot, Lyon
Bronze – Maxime Medard, Toulouse
https://twitter.com/RugbyPass/status/1203640663822213126?s=20
- Adam Hastings, Glasgow Warriors
Scottish playmakers are en vogue right now, whether it’s Hastings guiding Glasgow to an impressive away win in La Rochelle or Finn Russell executing a dismantling of the Ospreys in Swansea. Hastings facilitated his side’s attack with accurate passing on the gain-line and an eagerness to get around the corner of the French side’s defence, whilst also not overplaying his hand, instead opting for control when required.
Silver – Danny Cipriani, Gloucester
Bronze – Finn Russell, Racing 92
- Maxime Machenaud, Racing 92
Machenaud really is the perfect foil to Russel at 10. He is ambitious and skilful enough to go stride for stride with the Scot when Racing are in control of a game, whilst he also knows when to rein it in and slow down the tempo for the good of the team. His accurate goal-kicking is just a further string to his considerable bow.
Silver – John Cooney, Ulster
Bronze – Aled Davies, Ospreys
- Raphael Chaume, Lyon
A consummate and refined scrummaging performance from Chaume, who managed to get the better of Tiziano Pasquali on multiple occasions. With a strong set-piece platform in place, Lyon were able to go to work, with Chaume’s ball-handling helping shift the point of contact and allow the club’s forwards to have success as carriers, too.
Silver – Dany Priso, La Rochelle
Bronze – Joe Marler, Harlequins
- Elia Elia, Harlequins
The Samoan hooker grabbed two tries in a strong set-piece performance from Harlequins in Belfast and he was honestly unlucky to end the game on the losing side. He was typically busy in defence, too, helping prevent the Ulster forwards from getting over the gain-line and giving their backs a solid platform to perform from.
Silver – Luke Cowan-Dickie, Exeter Chiefs
Bronze – Akker van der Merwe, Sale Sharks
- Andrew Porter, Leinster
Leinster’s set-piece work was clean and efficient on Saturday and helped lay the foundation for their competitiveness in the first half and their dominance in the second half. He grabbed a try, too, with a powerful carry close to the ruck, as Leinster exerted their muscle in the tight.
Silver – Demba Bamba, Lyon
Bronze – Finlay Bealham, Connacht
- Niccolo Cannone, Benetton
The 21-year-old lock was a standout player in a poor overall Benetton performance, as the Italian side fell to a 28-0 defeat. Though the PRO14 side were unable to trouble the scoreboard, Cannone did stand out with the physicality of his play and the energy and work rate he brought in defence. He was the busiest Benetton player on Saturday afternoon and more displays like that will do his chances of an Azzurri cap the world of good.
Silver – Scott Cummings, Glasgow Warriors
Bronze – Bryn Evans, Sale Sharks
- James Ryan, Leinster
The lock helped Leinster win the physical contest at Franklin’s Gardens, finding joy and gains as a ball-carrier around the fringes. Similarly, he kept the Leinster defence strong and physical close to the ruck and Northampton’s attacking success tended to come when they moved the ball wide quickly and tried to get outside of Leinster’s defence.
Silver – Franco Mostert, Gloucester
Bronze – Elliott Stooke, Bath
- Kevin Gourdon, La Rochelle
Gourdon was sublime for La Rochelle in their home loss to Glasgow and along with Victor Vito, gave the Scottish side plenty of problems on Saturday afternoon. He was consistently able to evade defenders and keep La Rochelle moving forward, whilst his work rate in defence was amongst the best on show this weekend.
Silver – Nick Isiekwe, Saracens
Bronze – Sebastian Negri, Benetton
https://twitter.com/RugbyPass/status/1203720025061748736?s=20
- Josh van der Flier, Leinster
Similar to Lowe, van der Flier was pivotal in Leinster’s tight first half with Northampton. His turnovers created vital attacking opportunities and he was every bit as clinical in his execution as the likes of Lowe, Henshaw and Larmour were, albeit in a different context. He did the dirty work so that Leinster could kick it up a gear in the second half and deny the prolific attack of the English side.
Silver – Jake Polledri, Gloucester
Bronze – Yacouba Camara, Montpellier
- Matt Fagerson, Glasgow Warriors
It’s a mark of a good competition at No 8 these days if Ulster’s Marcell Coetzee can’t even crack the top three, which is to the credit of Fagerson, CJ Stander and Alex Dombrandt. All three impressed in their own way but with Fagerson’s carrying, speed in the defensive line and contact area work having proven crucial to a rare win for Glasgow away in France, he just pipped the other two to top spot.
Silver – CJ Stander, Munster
Bronze – Alex Dombrandt, Harlequins
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Comments on RugbyPass
Ever so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
24 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
28 Go to comments