Five things we learned from the European cup finals
The Champions and Challenge Cup finals are in the books for another year and the trophies have been engraved with the names ‘Saracens’ and ‘Stade Francais’. Here’s what Lee Calvert took away from the big finals weekend.
1. Saracens make the majestic mundane. In the film Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer there is a scene where Henry sits completely emotionless watching a video of the dismembering he has wrought on one of his victims. I imagine that’s what Sarries video review sessions are like, such is the mundane manner in which they majestically roll over everything that is put in front of them. For large swathes of the European Champions Cup final the score was relatively close, yet anyone watching the Saracens performance knew from about twenty seconds in that there would be only one winner. Even when Clermont closed the gap to a tiny margin with little time to go, the sense among Sarries players of dispassionate inevitability of victory never wavered. You can’t help but admire it.
2. The threat of ceasing to exist is great motivation. For the past few years Stade Francais have by and large been an inexplicable mess. Most of this season was the same right up until the point they were told that their club would no longer exist due to the proposed but ultimately doomed merger with Racing Metro. Since then, they have lost only one match (a difficult away fixture at Montpellier) and rumbled all the way to winning the European Challenge Cup.
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3. If only we could all exude the same not-giving-a-shit vibe in our workplaces as Morgan Parra. The little Clermont nine simply oozes insouciant class as he somehow simultaneously zips and meanders around the park, hardly ever looking out of breath, as if everything that befalls him or his team gives no cause for concern. Most of us desperately don’t want to appear flustered at work yet fail miserably to achieve this by 10am on Monday morning. Parra lived it the final of the biggest game in domestic northern hemisphere rugby like some kind of walking shoulder shrug.
4. Scott Spedding ruins everything. The France international fullback’s performance on Saturday was a perfect vignette of his entire career – some impressive muscular runs followed by a total balls-up when asked to do anything requiring technical ability and composure. Perfectly demonstrated by his inability to simply pick a ball up off the floor without dropping it and handing the match to his team’s opponents.
5. Maro Itoje sounds like a 12-year-old prefect. The Saracens man has been nothing short of a revelation since he burst onto the scene a couple of years age – a dominant, athletic presence with plenty of mongrel who is touted as a Future England Captain™. His motivational speeches must be something to behold, however, as in his post-victory interview it was revealed just how much he sounds like a swot showing parents around a school open evening.
Comments on RugbyPass
late 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
4 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 commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
24 Go to comments