Irish eyes smiling again in Europe - Andy Goode

It’s been a while since they tasted success in Europe’s elite competition but Irish eyes were smiling at the weekend and they might just be again in Bilbao in May.

The three Irish provinces in the Champions Cup all won at the weekend and they’re proving once again that they’re a force to be reckoned with on the European stage.

Ulster dominated Harlequins on the Friday night, although Quins did chuck in the white flag a bit in terms of their team selection and as soon as you saw that line-up Ulster were always going to absolutely bury them.

Christian Lealiifano has been playing really well for them, though, and he is heading back to Australia after the pool stages of this competition, so that will severely weaken them if they were to make the quarter-finals.

And it’s going to be touch and go as to whether they do make the knockout stages and come down to a straight shootout between them and Wasps at the Ricoh Arena in Round 6.

I expect they’ll be the one Irish province to miss out as Wasps will back themselves to win away at Quins and are formidable at home, so you’d expect them to win both games and La Rochelle should get the win they need at home to Quins and add a bonus point to boot.

There’s no doubt about Leinster’s qualification and they did have a bit of luck on Saturday but that was one of the performances of the weekend to come back from 17-3 down to beat the English champions.

Cian Healy should’ve been sent off. You can’t deliberately put your forearm and shoulder in someone’s face and the referee said there was no force or speed but Luke Cowan-Dickie wasn’t even looking and I think everyone associated with Leinster realised they’d got away with one.

They showed real resilience, though, and the ability to play without their star man in Jonny Sexton, who was forced off early. And, they’ve also now shown that they can grind out victories as well as play some scintillating rugby at times.

Stuart Lancaster has had a big impact there and Leo Cullen has learned on the job and if you’re going to pick one of the Irish provinces out, I think Leinster have the best chance of getting to the final.

Munster were impressive as well as they had complete control of the game at Welford Road and have now won away at Leicester three times in Europe when nobody else has managed that more than once.

Leicester stepped over the line in terms of aggression and discipline and conceded double the number of penalties Munster did and the visitors showed their grit and sheer determination to win the game, as they have done so many times in the European Cup over the years.

Historically, a lot of the knockout games are very close encounters and you need a hard-nosed edge to come out on the winning side in those matches. Both Leinster and Munster are showing that they have what it takes to win them this season.

There are very small margins in this competition and bonus points will come into play in the final reckoning. Bath scored a fourth try against Toulon on Saturday but it was ruled out, so that’s a point dropped for them.

They’re still in control of Pool 4, though, as they have a better head-to-head record against Toulon and look well-placed to win their final two games at home to the Scarlets and away to Benetton. Not only that, they look like they have a home quarter-final within their grasp as well.

Saracens needed to show a reaction and they really did, particularly physically, even to the extent that Vincent Koch was running around with his shirt off tackling people! They were embarrassed at Allianz Park last Monday and will take a lot of heart from that performance.

They have got some huge games over Christmas and in January but they know that if they can win at Ospreys and beat Saints at home, they’ll be in the quarter-finals and we all know their pedigree and nobody will want to be facing them in knockout games.

In years gone by you could’ve predicted exactly what was going to happen in the final couple of rounds but the beauty of the Champions Cup this season is that every team bar Saints, Quins, Benetton and Glasgow are still in with a sniff.

You could argue that all five pools still have three contenders vying for a place in the knockout stages, which will make for a really exciting crescendo in January.

It’s a wide open tournament but the men from the Emerald Isle are making their presence felt and don’t be surprised if we see an Irish province in the final of Europe’s elite competition for the first time in six years come May.