Champions Cup is the best thing about European rugby – bar the Six Nations
At Twickenham on the first Saturday in October South Africa will field a weaker team than the one which played two tremendous Tests against New Zealand. This is because five of their best players will not be made available by the English Premier clubs to whom they are contracted. The clubs are fully entitled to do this because the match falls outside the IRB’s autumn international 3-match “window” when clubs are legally required to make players available for their country. Likewise, Scotland and Wales who are also playing an “extra” international that day are likely to be without any players attached to English Premiership clubs. What makes for a bit of sourness is the fact that there are no Premiership fixtures that weekend. So the clubs, who will be required to release players for the next three weeks of the “window”, don’t seem to be gaining anything from their refusal. I suppose they will say they are acting on principle, abiding by the letter of the law. Principle or not, their behaviour looks a bit dog-in-the-mangerish. They will of course release players required by England, and they will do so because of their agreement with the RFU.
Of course, you may say the IRB’s window should be respected, and the various national Unions shouldn’t arrange international matches outside it. One may have sympathy with this view, for many will agree that there are already too many internationals. Three autumn tests really should be enough. All Unions and national coaches always seem eager for more, and in this case one of the teams at Twickenham will suffer while the other won’t. It is possible, even perhaps likely, that Eddie Jones will choose to field an “experimental” – that is, weaker than usual – England side.
Either way, whether we have two below-strength sides or only one, the match will be somewhat devalued. Anyone with a ticket who had been looking forward to seeing the best-available England team up against the South African that recently beat the All Blacks, and came within five minutes beating them again, is entitled to feel cheated. But sod the ticket-buying public! Who cares about them? Devalued or not, the match will be profitable for the RFU.
With what I still think of as the Heineken Cup starting this weekend, it’s a relief to turn away from the politics of the game. The structure, with five pools of four clubs, may not be entirely satisfactory, since it means that three second-placed clubs qualify for the quarter-finals while two miss out. This is however less unfair than it used to be, since every club now qualifies on merit as a result of its league position last season. Consequently, there are – in theory anyway – no real rabbits whose presence in a pool might more or less guarantee that the club finishing second in it was more likely to qualify for the knock-out stage than a club finishing second in a stronger or more even pool.
Leinster are the holders and may well start as favourites again. They have Wasps, Toulouse and Bath in their pool, and it would be no surprise if they win all their matches home and away. They have a formidable pack and brilliant backs, with Johnny Sexton as their general. Still, nothing is certain in sport. Form fluctuates, injuries take their toll. An injury to Sexton would see Leinster’s odds lengthen, all the more so because his outstanding young deputy Joey Carbery has been moved by the IRFU on to Munster. Leinster have flair and are also better-drilled than any of their rivals. Those who thought that Stuart Lancaster was harshly treated by his masters at Twickenham when he was abruptly dismissed after England’s failure in the 2015 World Cup can only be delighted to see how successful he has been – and is – in his coaching role at Leinster.
Of the English clubs Saracens and Exeter seem to have a good chance of winning the Cup. Gloucester, Wasps, Bath, Leicester and Newcastle are all capable of winning a couple of matches – but it’s hard to see any of them topping its pool with the chance of a home quarter-final.
Saracens stumbled last season after being champions for the previous two years but have started this season in terrific form with a succession of bonus point victories. They kick off away from home against Glasgow on Sunday, and, though Glasgow are usually hard to beat at home, their defence has been rather too full of holes this season and they are likely to be overpowered up front. Rain is forecast which means that the Glasgow back three will have to cope with a succession of high-hanging box kicks from Richard Wigglesworth. Glasgow are likely to have at least one spectacular performance in them, but I doubt if it will be this one. They no longer have Finn Russell, a genius if sometimes a wayward one, and they will also be without the injured Stuart Hogg, capable of creating tries from improbable positions.
Of course, injuries can have a determining influence on what happens. Exeter’s chance is still good because they are a splendidly organized and committed team, but they would be a lot better if the injury to their outstanding back-row forward Sam Simmonds hadn’t ruled him out for the rest of the season.
Still things often even themselves out. Exeter are at home to Munster on Saturday and Munster will be without Conor Murray, the Ireland and Lions scrum-half, the master of game management. European club rugby owes a lot to Munster, for it was the intense and happy commitment of a legion of Munster’s travelling fans that did more than anything to make the old Heineken such a success. Munster remain strong, but, without Murray, I can’t see them winning away to Exeter.
Racing 92 were the defeated finalists last season, and in truth were a shade unlucky to lose to Leinster in Bilboa. They have livened up their back division by recruiting Finn Russell from Glasgow and Simon Zebo from Munster, and both have been in dazzling form in the Top 14. Ireland, like England, feel strong enough not to select players who move to foreign clubs, and so Zebo has ruled himself out of international rugby for the time being anyway.
Ireland may not miss him, though Munster surely will, and he has already scored six tries for his new club, two or three of them at least made by Russell. Scotland don’t of course have the resources to adopt the English and Irish self-denying ordinance – and would probably break it in Russell’s case even if they did. Russell may not be the best all-round fly-half in the Six Nations, but he is a delight to watch, one of these players who seems to have more time on the ball than others, and with this goes rare vision and the ability to ghost through the defensive line. Racing 92 are a better and much more entertaining team with Russell and Zebo there.
The overall Welsh record in the Cup is almost as bad as the Scottish one. Scarlets look stronger than Cardiff Blues, but they are in the same pool as Racing 92, the others being Leicester and Ulster, neither of whom have shown much form this season. Scarlets enjoy the small advantage of playing Racing at home first. Lose that one and their chance of qualification recedes quickly.
The other Scottish side, Edinburgh, are in the Cup for the first time in years, tribute to the work ethic instilled by their coach, the former Leicester man Richard Cockerill. Simply being there is an achievement, but, with Montpellier and Toulon in the pool, it’s likely that Edinburgh will be scrapping with Newcastle to avoid finishing last…
Still, it’s a Cup, and in a Cup, even one with pool stages, anything can happen, expectations can be overthrown, predictions carried away on the wind. The Six Nations may be the best thing in northern hemisphere rugby, but the Heineken – now European Champions Cup – is the next best thing, far more enjoyable than any of the leagues, cross-Border matches having a rare zest.