English clubs to come good in Europe, says Stuart Barnes
Thursday 11 January 2018 14:21, UK
Stuart Barnes believes four English sides can still progress to the knockout stages of the Champions Cup.
Speaking on The Offload, the former England and Bath star predicted a powerful round five showing that would spell something of a collective revival.
On current standings only one English side, Bath, are poised to qualify for the quarter-finals. But the Sky Sports pundit believes they will be joined in the knock-out stages by Saracens, Wasps and Exeter.
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In Pool 1, Wasps travel to play Harlequins at the Stoop on Saturday, chasing a bonus-point win that would leave them with everything to play for in the final round of the competition.
"Wasps are still in with a real chance because I feel they can beat Ulster at home with something in hand in round six," said Barnes. "So I've got Wasps down still to make the quarter-finals as a best runner-up."
In Pool 2, Saracens are targeting back-to-back bonus-point victories and that challenge gets underway at the Ospreys' Liberty Stadium on Saturday.
"I think Saracens have got every possibility of getting 10 points," he said. "It's going to be tough. I was hugely impressed with the Ospreys when they lost 36-34 to Saracens. Their form has been pretty average in the PRO14 and has been really strong in Europe, but for Saracens there will be no complacency even though they smashed Wasps away.
"Ospreys have good half-backs they have an inspirational captain in Alun Wyn Jones but I think the return of Billy Vunipola, not to mention Maro Itoje just gives them [Saracens] an extra bit of shift. I think they are good enough to win."
Meanwhile in Pool 3, the Sky rugby expert is backing Exeter to make a European recovery from their double defeat to Leinster when they host Montpellier in Sandy Park on Saturday.
"I think Exter will beat Montpellier who are still inconsistent," he said. "They're powerful but they have power cut-outs. If you have a cut-out in Sandy Park, they'll come and hit you with two or three tries. Favourites for this tournament are Leinster and Exeter, who have lost two matches.
"All this that they have played rubbish in Europe, they've lost two games to Leinster and I think you will see an Exeter team very strong against Montpellier. If they win that, they go to Glasgow in round six and I can see Exeter finishing with 19 points and that puts them right in the mix."
In Pool 5 Bath are currently in top spot, but they have accumulated the lowest points return of all the table toppers - 13, something that has tempered Barnes' optimism by the visit this weekend of Ospreys.
"There are still some people in the west country who think because they won well in west Wales (previously) it will be home and hosed now. It's not. Scarlets have got their international front row back. If Scarlets get a platform they can win this match.
"They are not afraid of the Rec, they don't mind Bath, they have no fear of Bath. I don't think Todd Blackadder has quite got the rhythm of what Bath are trying to do. I also think the Bath back row has been fundamentally weakened, especially by the long-term injury and unavailability of Francois Louw.
"Bath, like a lot of the English teams, have been schooled at the breakdown at times in this tournament. This could be a very tight game."
But despite his optimism that English clubs will turn the tide this weekend, none of the aforementioned clubs are among Barnes' tips for the title.
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"The one monkey on the Clermont back that they've got to get off is the European Cup and I think they've almost said: 'We are going to win this this year' and they've focused their efforts psychologically and physically on this tournament. You can't go away from those two performances against Saracens they were magnificent," he said.
But the commentator reserved most praise for his tournament favourites, Leinster.
"Leinster have got youngsters coming though from their academy and this kid, Jordan Larmour, is sensational - he changes the game and he probably won't even get a starting place because Rob Kearney will be full-back and that tells you about the depth of power.
"And we're not even mentioning Sean O'Brien who is yet to come back and they've got the best front row in Europe, this is a team who are serious contenders."
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