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The Champions Cup matches that are actually going ahead this weekend

By Kim Ekin
Stuart Hogg /PA

The Champions Cup is in turmoil as organisers scramble to find a window in the already crowded schedule to stage the seven matches that have been postponed this weekend.

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And with the new French travel restrictions that have caused chaos across the Heineken Champions Cup and Challenge Cup likely to continue into January, meaningful completion of the group phase is no longer a certainty.

All seven round two games involving French and British clubs on Saturday and Sunday have been called off due to the measures imposed on travellers from the UK that make cross-border competition impossible.

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Youth Unstoppables – Mastercard

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Youth Unstoppables – Mastercard

Five Champions Cup games have fallen, on top of the two already lost to Covid outbreaks, and two Challenge Cup matches have also been abandoned.

However, some matches did slip through the net, so to speak.

Harlequins vs Cardiff – Saturday, 1pm
Harlequins and Cardiff have faced each other eight times previously in the Heineken Champions Cup, the Premiership side winning their first meeting before being winless in the following seven.

Harlequins Scrum Coach Adam Jones said: “It was tough out there in our win against Castres last weekend. There were a few hairy moments, but our scrum went really well, our maul defence was excellent and the defence was good. If you don’t get those three things right it can be tough in Europe.

“We saw in Cardiff’s match against Toulouse last Saturday that they have real fight despite their disruption over recent weeks. We know we can’t rest on our laurels as we welcome them to our home ground.”

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HARLEQUINS: 15. Tyrone Green, 14. Joe Marchant, 13. Huw Jones, 12. Andre Esterhuizen, 11. Cadan Murley, 10. Marcus Smith, 9. Danny Care, 1. Santiago Garcia Botta, 2. Jack Walker , 3. Simon Kerrod, 4. Hugh Tizard, 5. Stephan Lewies (c), 6. Tom Lawday, 7. Jack Kenningham, 8. Alex Dombrandt.

Replacements: 16. Jack Musk, 17. Will Hobson, 18. Mak Wilson, 19. Matt Symons, 20. Viliami Taulani, 21. Lewis Gjaltema, 22. Luke Northmore, 23. Louis Lynagh,
Cardiff Rugby

CARDIFF RUGBY: 15. Cam Winnett, 14. Josh Adams , 13. Rey Lee-Lo, 12. Willis Halaholo, 11. Theo Cabango, 10. Dan Fish, 9. Tomos Williams, 1. Rowan Jenkins, 2. Evan Yardley, 3. Will Davies-King, 4. Alun Lawrence, 5. Seb Davies, 6. Ellis Jenkins (c), 7. James Botham, 8. Sam Moore.

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Replacements: 16. Alun Rees, 17. Nathtan Evans, 18. Geraint James, 19. Rhys Anstey, 20. Alex Mann, 21. Ethan Lloyd, 22. Ioan Evans, 23. Ryan Wilkins

Glasgow Warriors vs Exeter Chiefs, Saturday, 5.30pm

Glasgow Warriors and Exeter Chiefs have faced each other seven times in the Heineken Champions Cup, each of those matches coming during the pool stage of the competition; Glasgow have won none of their last three clashes after winning three of their first four encounters with the Chiefs.

Glasgow Warriors have lost just two of their last 12 games when hosting Premiership opposition in the Heineken Champions Cup, those defeats coming against Northampton Saints in 2015/16 and Saracens in 2018/19.

Jack Nowell
Jack Nowell /PA

Exeter Chiefs are unbeaten in their last eight pool stage matches in the Heineken Champions Cup, they had never previously gone more than two games without defeat at this stage of the competition.

Glasgow head coach Wilson, whose side lost 20-13 away to La Rochelle last weekend, said: “It’s great. These are the big games you want to be involved in.

“It was important for us to get these games again and have the chance to play some of these European heavyweights that we’ll have faced over these two weekends.

“The fact we’re back at home is really exciting and it’ll be exciting having a packed Scotstoun to help us along the way.”

GLASGOW WARRIORS: 15. Josh McKay, 14. Kyle Steyn, 13. Sione Tuipulotu, 12. Samuel Johnson, 11. Cole Forbes, 10. Ross Thompson, 9. Ali Price (c), 1. Jamie Bhatti, 2. George Turner, 3. Zander Fagerson, 4. Scott Cummings, 5. Richie Gray, 6. Matt Fagerson, 7. Rory Darge, 8. Jack Dempsey.

Replacements: 16. Johnny Matthews, 17. Oli Kebble, 18. Enrique Pieretto Heiland, 19. Kiran McDonald-Seran, 20. Robert Harley, 21. Tom Gordon, 22. George Horne, 23. Duncan Weir,
Exeter Chiefs

EXETER CHIEFS: 15. Stuart Hogg, 14. Jack Nowell, 13. Henry Slade, 12. Ian Whitten, 11. Tom O’Flaherty, 10. Joe Simmonds, 9. Jack Maunder, 1. Alec Hepburn, 2. Luke Cowan-Dickie (c), 3. Sam Nixon, 4. Jonny Gray, 5. Jonny Hill, 6. Dave Ewers, 7. Sam Skinner, 8. Sam Simmonds.

Replacements: 16. Jack Yeandle, 17. Ben Moon, 18. Patrick Schickerling, 19. Don Armand, 20. Jannes Kirsten, 21. Sam Maunder, 22. Harvey Skinner, 23. Tom Gilbert-Hendrickson

Munster vs Castres, Saturday, 8pm

This will be the 17th clash between Munster and Castres Olympique in the Heineken Champions Cup, the most played fixture in the history of the competition; the Irish province have won each of their seven home games against Castres in the Heineken Champions Cup by an average margin of 22 points.

Champions Cup Munster
Munster beat Wasps last weekend /PA

Munster have lost none of their last 14 home games in the pool stage of the Heineken Champions Cup, keeping their opponents under the 10-point mark in eight of those games, including in each of the last three.

MUNSTER: 15 Patrick Campbell; 14 Andrew Conway, 13 Chris Farrell, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Keith Earls; 10 Ben Healy, 9 Conor Murray; 1 Dave Kilcoyne, 2 Niall Scannell, 3 John Ryan, 4 Jean Kleyn, 5 Tadhg Beirne, 6 Peter O’Mahony (c), 7 John Hodnett, 8 Jack O’Donoghue.

Replacements: 16 Diarmuid Barron, 17 Josh Wycherley, 18 Keynan Knox, 19 Jason Jenkins, 20 Jack O’Sullivan, 21 Craig Casey, 22 Jack Crowley, 23 Alex Kendellen.

CASTRES: 15 Thomas Larregain; 14 Bastien Guillemin, 13 Pierre Aguillon, 12 Thomas Combezou, 11 Filipo Nakosi; 10 Benjamin Urdapilleta, 9 Santiago Arata; 1 Wayan De Benedittis, 2 Paul Ngauamo, 3 Wilfrid Hounkpatin, 4 Loic Jacquet (c), 5 Theo Hannoyer, 6 Nick De Crespigny, 7 Simon Meka, 8 Kevin Kornath.

Replacements: 16 Brice Humbert, 17 Julius Nostadt, 18 Antoine Guillamon, 19 Jack Whetton, 20 Mateaki Kafatolu, 21 Rory Kockott, 22 Louis Le Brun, 23 Antoine Zeghdar.

Leicester Tigers vs Connacht, Sunday, 1pm

Leicester Tigers and Connacht faced each other once previously in European competitions, it was last season in the last 16 round of the Challenge Cup, with a win 48-32 for the Premiership side.

Steve Borthwick said: “I think it will be a formidable challenge, against a team who come to Leicester after a dominant display in the opening round.

Leicester Tigers Ben Youngs
Ben Youngs of Leicester Tigers goes past Marcus Smith (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

“They are a well balanced side, with a tough, hard-working and, equally so, athletic forward pack and then have smart and powerful players throughout the backline.

“Connacht are a team that fights for everything but also play very, very smart rugby.”

LEICESTER TIGERS: 15. Bryce Hegarty, 14. Freddie Steward, 13. Matt Scott, 12. Dan Kelly, 11. Hosea Saumaki, 10. Freddie Burns, 9. Ben Youngs (c), 1. Nephi Leatigaga, 2. Nic Dolly, 3. Joe Heyes, 4. Harry Wells, 5. Eli Snyman, 6. George Martin, 7. Tommy Reffell, 8. Jasper Wiese.

Replacements: 16. Julian Montoya, 17. James Whitcombe, 18. Dan Cole, 19. Calum Green, 20. Ollie Chessum, 21. Marco van Staden, 22. Jack van Poortvliet, 23. Guy Porter,

CONNACHT RUGBY: 15. Tiernan O’Halloran, 14. John Porch, 13. Sam Arnold, 12. Bundee Aki, 11. Alex Wootton, 10. Jack Carty (c), 9. Kieran Marmion, 1. Matthew Burke, 2. David Heffernan, 3. Finlay Bealham, 4. Ultan Dillane, 5. Niall Murray, 6. Cian Prendergast, 7. Conor Oliver, 8. Jarrad Butler.

Replacements: 16. Shane Delahunt, 17. Tietie Tuimauga, 18. Jack Aungier, 19. Salesi Fifita, 20. Abraham Papali’i, 21. Caolin Blade, 22. Conor Fitzgerald, 23. Diarmuid Kilgallen,

– additional reporting PA

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J
Jon 7 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

35 Go to comments
j
john 10 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

39 Go to comments
A
Adrian 12 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

39 Go to comments
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