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Cream rising to top again in Champions Cup – Andy Goode
The Champions Cup has had its detractors in recent years but it’s still the best club competition in the world and the cream is rising to the top again.
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The new format may mean a couple of teams have made it through to the knockout stages with just one win on the board but it did its job in reducing the number of dead rubbers in the pool stages and getting us an extra round of the serious stuff at this time of year.
I could see the attraction in bringing in an FA Cup style draw from this point on to create even more jeopardy but I do think it’s right that teams are rewarded for their form during the pool games and I like the fact you can map out who will face who in the quarter-finals next weekend.
History tells us you only normally get a couple of away wins out of eight Champions Cup knockout ties, with home sides winning 71 per cent of the time, and my money is on La Rochelle and Bath to be the big winners on the road.
The champions have to travel to South Africa to face the Stormers but the trip to Cape Town isn’t anywhere near as daunting as going to Pretoria with all the issues associated with altitude and they should have won there back in December.
They’ve got even more of their big men back and firing now too and I think the physicality of the likes of Will Skelton, Uini Atonio, Levani Botia, Greg Alldritt and Jonathan Danty will get them over the line.
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Bath may not have quite the same giant humans as La Rochelle but the back row of Ted Hill, Sam Underhill and Alfie Barbeary is enough to cause any team problems and they definitely have the edge over Exeter in the halfbacks with Ben Spencer and Finn Russell.
The Chiefs have surpassed everyone’s expectations so far this season but they’re an extremely young side and a few cracks have just started to show in recent weeks so I think there’ll be an away win at Sandy Park too.
Saracens are normally a team you can back to win on the road in a major knockout game but they were hammered 55-15 in Bordeaux in January and the absence of Owen Farrell is a massive blow to their hopes.
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That is one of as many as five repeat fixtures from the pool stages, which is something that will probably never happen again once the format is tweaked, but I don’t see that as being a major issue at all.
It didn’t look ideal when the Round Of 16 match-ups fell that way at the end of January but we’ve had a break of almost three months since then and now they just feel like intriguing standalone fixtures, with the recent meetings adding a bit of extra spice if anything.
If things go to form, there’ll be a couple more repeat match-ups in the quarter-finals as well. Leinster are odds-on favourites to beat Leicester and that could set up a mouth-watering clash with La Rochelle in Dublin and I think Toulouse will be too strong for Racing so they could be welcoming Bath to the south of France again.
Then I think Northampton will be welcoming the Bulls and Bordeaux hosting Harlequins to complete the quarter-final line-up and, as well as home advantage counting, I think that shows that the cream is rising to the top as it always does in this competition.
The English clubs had a fantastic opening weekend back in December with seven of them winning in the same round of the Champions Cup for the first time ever, despite the fact they had been written off due to the financial issues in the Premiership.
However, things were always likely to even themselves out a bit over the course of four rounds and we have ended up with a very balanced split of six clubs from the Premiership, five from the URC and five from the Top 14 in this year’s Round Of 16.
If it goes the way I think it will, there’ll be at least a couple of teams from each league in the quarter-finals next weekend as well and then it’ll be the teams with the pedigree at this level and the greater power in their game that prevail.
Knockout rugby is a different beast and they used to say defence wins championships, it still does to a certain extent, but nowadays it’s power and physicality that gets you over the line more often than not in big one-off games.
We’ve seen that in the World Cup and Six Nations, as well as in the latter stages of the Champions Cup in the past few years, and you can’t look past the usual suspects of La Rochelle, Toulouse and Leinster on that basis.
It’d be great to see a side like Northampton with their free-flowing attacking game, combined with a bit more pragmatism and steel this season, crash the party but sheer size and experience is likely to count when it comes to the quarters and semis.
There’ll no doubt be some phenomenal rugby this weekend with a bit of South African sunshine and some English endeavour adding to proceedings but expect the French and Irish juggernauts to be the last ones standing in the weeks to come.
Comments on RugbyPass
Great role model.
2 Go to commentsOne significant tell, not a single Waratahs player stopped to whinge to the ref about Finau’s tackle. They got on with playing the game. Great tackle.
8 Go to commentsWouldn’t be a bad move if Ireland pulled into SA with a young side. Particularly in Pretoria. Invaluable experience getting thumped in the bosveld.
54 Go to commentsIreland. The Princess Diana of Rugby. I never cheered so much for a team as i did for the All Blacks in that QF.
54 Go to commentsWill be great to see the Leinster first XV back in action again after their cotton wool time…
1 Go to commentsLooked up Grant Constable on google and reply was doppelgänger for Ben Smith
54 Go to commentsIt is so good that we now all get excited and debate who is best and emotionally get involved. We all back our teams which is great. Up until about 15-20 years ago, NZ was basically on its own, and then Saffa, Aussie and sometimes French and English were there. We now have at least 5-6 really top sides and another 4 who keep improving. This is so healthy. So we should not resort to rubbish comments and unhealthy debate, but rather all be chuffed that the product we watch is not competitive, exciting and often uncertain. It would be so good if World Rugger could find a way to align the rules to professional players as well as spectators. Live rugby games are SO boring as there is SO much down time as we wait for refs and TMOs and whoever else to look at every small event going back endless phases with the hope of eventually find a minute infringement to then decide cancel what was a wonderful try. This is the ultimate cork back in the bottle moment and feels like every balloon is always being popped. Come on- we must be better with the rules.
54 Go to comments“upon leaving said establishment I tripped over a stool knocking some bottles into the air and as I fell I accidently dislodged a police officer’s teaser who was passing by on an unrelated matter there by landing on said taser which caused it to discharge 50,000 watts into me. Out of shock I shouted Ireland are going to win the world cup. Upon waking up I apologised for the distress caused by my Ireland comment. The matter is closed. If you wish to pursue this matter may I remind you what I told Wayne Barnes when he sent me off. I AM A BIG ASS MAN”. Or was it “I AM A BIG ASS, MAN” or was it “I AM A BIG ASSMAN”?
2 Go to commentsThe only championship the Boks hold are: Great value for the incompetence of referees during the RWC Moaning endlessly and champions of spewing utterly ignorant 💩 at all times. Displaying the dangers of a third world education End of.
54 Go to commentsSouth Africa and Rassie do a phenomenal job of treating the 4 years in between World Cups as nothing more than a training exercise to build squad depth. The Six Nations money that keeps Irish rugby afloat is unfortunately too important to allow the same approach, and basic population size means we'll never get close to matching the depth of South Africa, England and France. That being said, Irish rugby is in a relatively good place and slowly improving inch by inch. If the other three provinces can pull the finger out and actually develop some players it'd be even better.
54 Go to commentsGood on Clarke for taking on the criticism and addressing his deficiencies, principally his laziness.
2 Go to comments“It is the people’s favourite against the actual favourite. It is the people’s champions against the actual champions. I’m joking, but it’s going to be a fantastic series.” Why did Darcy make that joke knowing it would be used as click bait? Why did RP headline it as a serious comment? Anyway, the tired comment isn’t very astute. SA players may have played more games etc. Darcy over estimated as a pundit.
54 Go to commentsNot sure Frisch will ever make the French team with Depoortère and Costes waiting in the wings to take over from Danty and Fickou.
1 Go to commentsThe Irish are tired and the Boks are old. The test series won't confirm who is best in the world, it will confirm which team needs to pursue the task of rebuilding with the most urgency.
54 Go to commentsGrant, the first time I have seen an article written by you. Maybe I have missed your previous stuff. These days all professional players effectively play a common season so all top players are equally tired, or rested. That is the job of the coaching ticket to build squad depth and juggle resources so players are ‘ fresh’ when the big games come. Possibly Ireland are less inclined to juggle squad compared to Rassie, who is prepared to take the risk to rest players as well as build depth throughout the year so come WC he has a full squad, experienced and rested enough to win 7 games. After all, to win WC you need to get through the tournament and then win the final big 3 games. Ireland should try and build a bit so come final 3 they are ready. So far only played final 1(QF). I am so looking forward to the Irish tour. Hopefully Rassie has enough time to align his guys, as he draws them from across the globe, and not from 2 sides locally( eg Leinster, Munster). No excuses, going to be exciting.
54 Go to commentsIn football, teams get fined and sometimes docked points for deliberately fielding weakened teams yet Leinster can pretty much do as they please with no comebacks. Could it be because Ireland run the URC? Could it be that Ireland run the ERC? Whichever it is, it stinks!!
6 Go to commentsIreland are only the People’s Champions in Irish eyes. The rest of the world do not care for them very much because of attitudes of people like Gordon, Ferris, Best, Jackman…I could go on!!
54 Go to commentsNot sure how Karl Dickson can ever ref a Quins game, he played for the club for 8 years as understudy to Care and is still close friends with half the team
3 Go to commentsAre bookies taking bets on how many times Vunipola's eventual statement will use the term “elders"? My money is on at least 4 times.
4 Go to commentsSo Ireland will be tired, despite having the most rested test squad in the world. They only play tests, champions cup and urc play off games ffs! Case in point; Leinster sent a B squad to SA for their last two games while their first xv rested up and trained at their leisure for the sf vs Saints at the so called ‘neutral venue’ of Croke Park. So tired? Do me a favour… And as for “people’s champions”? Seriously??? Outside of Ireland they are respected for their ability to win 6N. And of course plenty of inconsequential test friendlies without any real pressure. WC ko games when the pressure is white hot? Not so much…
54 Go to comments