Monday 16 January 2017 17:08, UK
Stuart Barnes looks at the how the contenders are matching up as we head into the final pool round of the Champions Cup.
1. The Champions Cup reasserted itself last weekend. It had everything you could want from the sport of rugby union. There was spellbinding rugby, brutal battles, close contests and plenty of integrity. Very few teams, whether they were in or out of contention for the knock out stages, played with anything but conviction.
This might just have been the finest weekend of pool action since the tournament changed its name and format. We’ll come back to this subject at the end of the column but first of all let’s look back.
2. Saracens were set to break Munster’s record of 13 straight tournament victories. But the winning run came to an end in west Wales where the Scarlets illustrated the rude health of the Guinness PRO12 with a fine performance. The European champions showed all their mental strength and fierce determination to score with the last play of the game to salvage a draw and keep Toulon at arm’s length.
Last season Saracens were the only act in town. They won the tournament without ever entering overdrive. This season is set to be much tougher. They are short on some of Europe’s finest at the moment but as long as they can do enough to get a home draw for the quarter-finals they are still the team to beat.
Nearer full strength and playing at home, this tough, united team with more than a touch of class is the one to beat. But potential threats to their back-to-back triumph are lining up.
3. Let’s call the champions and their challengers the Big Five. None of them lost but of the quintet only one of them romped home.
Leinster demolished Montpelier, one of the few teams not to bust a gut in the European cause. Or perhaps their massive side was simply run off their feet but by a high-octane and brilliant performance. Even before Frans Steyn was sent off for a challenge that would have been a yellow card before the new directives but should have been a red since cards were introduced. The Irish team were tearing them to pieces.
Johnny Sexton conducted the waves of attack while Jack Conan inspired with a monstrous effort as Sean O’Brien’s replacement. Ireland have serious strength in depth in the back row. It has not taken them long to bounce back from last season’s terrible European efforts.
4. Their not so dear rivals, Munster, also produced an impressive win, albeit in a different key. They had to blunt the Glasgow attack before finding one moment of magic for the game’s only try. It was not pretty but it was captivating from first to last, a game of few big moments but non-stop battles for small but vital edges.
They look less like champions than Leinster but with a home quarter-final probable they have a great shot at the semis and no Munster team is ever dismissed in Europe when they make that stage.
5. If Glasgow’s game with Munster was an arm wrestle, Clermont’s win in Bordeaux was 80 minutes of pure attrition. It was painful viewing but sometimes the result is all that counts. Clermont came through and have the game and individuals to beat any side.
Whether they can do it three knockout games on the trot, now there is the question. One day they will surely deliver. I won’t back them until they have proved they can handle the European pressure but I won’t write them off either.
6. And then there is Wasps. Like Saracens they needed every second available to win but they have constantly shown the cutting edge attack to make them major contenders.
They revealed a toughness to fight back against a sometimes inspired Toulouse team and with Toulouse facing Connacht next week, are clear favourites to win the pool. Five points against Zebre will take them to 22. That might not be enough for a home quarter-final which will dictate whether they are amongst the favourites or dangerous outsiders.
7. If there is a back up to the Big Five, Toulouse stand waiting to take their chances. The Yoann Huget try was vintage Toulouse while some of their forward play was majestic. The French sides are the ones that are doing all the offloading this tournament and Toulouse are the best offloaders of them all.
Toulouse need to win with a bonus point or stop Connacht getting a bonus point of their own to make it into the last-eight as a very dangerous wild card side. If Connacht come out of South West France as quarter-final qualifiers it should go down in the annals of great Galway sporting achievements.
Logic says Toulouse but Pat Lam’s battered and beleaguered boys are not a team to be readily dismissed and, dare I pop the question, are Toulouse to be trusted? The pain etched on their faces at full-time did suggest they are taking the tournament seriously...it is the game of the weekend, even above Saracens versus Toulon.
8. Toulouse, Toulon, what about another French team, their champion side and European runners-up, Racing 92? They needed no more than 45 minutes to get a bonus point against Leicester. Munster certainly won’t be complacent.
Racing are better than we saw when Munster thumped them. And what impact does that result have on Glasgow’s chances. They have to beat Leicester at Welford Road to qualify as a best-placed runners-up and with the Tigers already out it can’t do their hopes any harm.
But then again Leicester have a fine home record in Europe and have rebounded from disappointing away losses twice already this campaign. It’s still a daunting assignment for Glasgow and another cracking game.
9. To the officials; Luke Pearce and his team were outstanding under feisty circumstances in Glasgow. They got just about everything right. Gregor Townsend generously praised them and was right to do so.
Pearce made the transition from a `promising young referee’ to another level on Saturday evening. He is ready for the big time.
10. Finally, back to the overall tournament and the question of why it is so much better than last season; the answer lies in the fact that all three leagues are punching their weight.
The Cassandra element prophesied the end of the Celtic contingent as they slumped a year ago. With one round left this time it looks like only two English teams will qualify, two PRO12 teams already have and two more have a chance of making the last eight, France has one qualifier and three with outstanding to outside chances of qualifying.
There’s no shouting from the rooftops this year. There’s too much competition to waste the breath.
