Weekend talking points: Lions' speculation, Rassie rumours, and the return of European rugby

There’s still plenty of time to wonder who will make the plane for this summer’s big New Zealand tour before Warren Gatland spoils all our fun… And then there’s the never-ending Rassie stories.

The Lions are coming – but who are they?

Now the Six Nations is over, thoughts can legitimately turn to the Lions tour of New Zealand in June. The next big date to mark in your rugby diary is April 19, when Warren Gatland unveils his squad. One late name to throw into any Lions debate is the much-maligned Chris Robshaw, once a Lions captain-in-waiting, who blew his chances when England blew their 2013 Grand Slam in Cardiff on his captaincy watch.

At the weekend, Robshaw returned from 12 weeks – and an entire Six Nations – out with a shoulder injury to attract Gats’ attention with a fine 80-minute performance as Harlequins destroyed Newcastle. Another may be Leicester’s Ellis Genge, who has rather disappeared from England’s prop radar, but who owned not one but two of his Northampton opposite numbers.

Meanwhile, on the day Owen Farrell outplayed George Ford, Saracens boss Mark McCall said that Chris Ashton and Sean Maitland should be in the mix. So, until April 19, enjoy the theorising over a pint or two. Or three. Then there’s just the question of how many matches the Lions could actually win in their 10-match, month-long tour.

Europe’s back

No sooner has Europe’s biggest international tournament taken its final curtain call, then Europe’s biggest club competitions return for their quarter-final acts, with the remaining teams facing very different problems.

Following their tragic performance against Stade Francais at the weekend, Toulon have six days for a dramatic turnaround otherwise they will be annihilated at Clermont; Toulouse, who head to Munster, are in the same boat as Toulon after a miserable Top 14 day trip to Bordeaux; Leinster looked sluggish in victory over Cardiff Blues – hardly ideal preparation for Wasps’ visit next weekend – while Saracens’ eight-try demolition of Bath is the perfect run-in for their last-eight tie against Glasgow.

In the second-tier Challenge Cup, Ospreys, who lost to Treviso at the weekend, face a post-strike Stade Francais; after their hammering at Saracens on Sunday, Bath will be pleased they did enough to secure a home tie against poor travellers Brive; Edinburgh won’t be looking forward to the arrival of runaway Top 14 leaders La Rochelle, while the ambitions of Blues opponents Gloucester to return to Europe’s top table rest on winning this competition.

You pay your money and – until kick-off at least – you argue your choices.

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League changes actually mean Bristol’s future is bright

In rugby, as in most sports, a mathematical chance is about as good as no chance – the last refuge of a desperate, reality-denying fan. While the sums give the Aviva Premiership’s basement club a shot at survival, the fixture list says otherwise. The next three of their final four matches are against the league’s top three, Wasps, Exeter and Saracens, before a last-day farewell against Newcastle at Ashton Gate. But don’t mourn them. This relegation future has been an increasing probability for some time, but astute deals – from new coach Pat Lam to Ian Madigan and Steve Luatua, and the determined support of wealthy owner  Stephen Lansdown – and the end of the ridiculous play-off system for promotion from the Championship, mean that barring something approaching the end of days an immediate return is more than likely, as is the fact they’ll do rather better next time.

Rassie rumours

Those stories about Munster director of rugby Rassie Erasmus’s return to South Africa just won’t go away. The latest, from South Africa’s Rapport newspaper, suggests he could even return to his old job as DoR of the national side – the job he left in April 2016 following a reported falling out with then-SARU president Oregan Hoskins, and shortly after the appointment of Allister Coetzee as Bok coach, in time for the three-match series against France in June.

FFR v LNR

When politics and sports mix the result is often volatile, as the explosive relationship between the French rugby union and the organisation that runs the domestic professional game proves. It looks and sounds a lot like a playground spat between two gangs of spoiled kids, but this particular playground spat could have big repercussions.

Ignore the spark, the proposed merger of Racing 92 and Stade Francais. That was merely the excuse the two sides needed for a bit of a barney. It’s no secret that the LNR has effectively run French rugby for the past decade – to the benefit of the clubs, and the detriment of the national side. But the FFR’s new president Bernard Laporte and his enforcer Serge Simon are determined to change that, and are busy sharpening the union’s teeth.

Calling out the league on its handling of the merger farce and its aftermath (the LNR reacted like a shocked cat after its indulgent owner smacked it on the nose for scratching the furniture) is just a minor skirmish in a longer battle for central contracts and national side supremacy.

Lineout tactics

One just for the forwards. Order your round. Watch this from the weekend’s French ProD2 match between Narbonne and Vannes:

Discuss.