European Rugby Champions Cup Round 6: 5 things we learned

1. The magic of the cup

On a weekend when the oldest football tournament in the world, the FA Cup, won back many of its old admirers, rugby’s youngest cup gained some new ones. It was a round of shock results and swings this way and that when it came to who would qualify, with Wasps’ magnificent draw with Leinster early on Saturday setting up a nail-biting weekend. For the most part, the rugby was nothing short thrilling with Racing Métro’s astonishing dismantling of Northampton and Glasgow’s injury-defying doggedness at Bath particular highlights. When you put aside whatever gripes you might have with the new European format (which, don’t worry, we will explore more below) it’s tough to remember a more engaging round of pool stage rugby in recent times. Some of the story lines were astonishing – Toulouse failing to qualify having won their first four games, Bath and Wasps doing so despite losing their first two.

2. New Europe, new outlook?

Whether you agree with it or not, the balance of power does appear to have shifted. Of course, we only have one year’s evidence to point to and there’s nothing to say that had the old format still existed the quarter-finalists wouldn’t have been the same, but the fact that seven of the eight quarter-final spots are taken up by English and French clubs will not have escaped the attention of those that bemoaned the shift in power towards those two countries. It is only the second time in the past ten years that no more than one Irish province has made it through to the quarter-finals, and the first time ever there has only been one PRO12 representative, although Glasgow did come within a blade of grass of qualifying at the end. Is it that a more competitive PRO12 is sapping the energy of its participants more than in previous years? Perhaps, but far more important than that is the increasingly warped spending power of the French compared to everyone else, and in particular the PRO12 nations. Answers to that particular conundrum on a postcard.

3. French farce

The French were, of course, one of the main drivers for this new European dawn, and yet it would appear that their attitude to continental competition hasn’t changed much. The new tournament’s quarter-finals feature three French sides with home quarter finals, up from two last year. That only tells one side of the story though, and Castres, and to a lesser extent Montpellier, embody the uglier side of France’s European outlook. Castres in particular have surrendered horribly in a competition whioch they have made anything but “more competitive”, which is ostensibly what the French and English were driving for. They finished on a lower number of game points than even Treviso, the Italian side who are often held up as an example of how huge imbalances ruin the competitiveness of European tournaments. Nobody is trying to argue that Treviso are a better team than Castres, but at least they kept trying until the end. The French side, allied with their compatriots’ collective shrug of the shoulders in the Challenge Cup, proved that if a French side decides they have no chance of qualifying, they simply will not take the competition seriously. It is an abysmal outlook, and one that dogged the old Heineken Cup, too. Sure, the Top 14 is competitive, but that is no excuse and if it happens in future, they should be held accountable.

4. Centres of attention

On a more positive note, there were plenty of performances that point towards a thrilling Six Nations, and never more so than in that perennially talked about area, the midfield. Jamie Roberts was in barnstorming form against Northampton and, poignantly, against a man he could well face in the opening game of the tournament, England’s Luther Burrell. Alex Dunbar and Mark Bennett were consistenly dangerous for Glasgow and could take that lethal partnership to the darker blue of Scotland, while opposite them there was some more positive news for England as Jonathan Joseph showed glimpses of his dangerous form this season. And in Ireland’s corner, there was a reminder from Darren Cave that he still has plenty to offer the men in green. Ironically, the man likely to take Ireland’s 13 shirt, Jared Payne, was playing behind Cave at fullback – but the bona fide centre’s hat-trick won’t have escaped head coach Schmidt’s notice.

5. Changing of the guard

Three of Europe’s biggest names are down and out. Munster, Leicester Tigers and Toulouse have all ruled in Europe and various times over the last 12 years or so, and their respective failures to qualify makes it the first time ever that not even one of them of them have reached the quarter finals. Considering that goes all the way back to the first year of the Heineken Cup in 1995, it is quite some record to fall. Between 2000-2010, one of the three of them made the final every year, and in that time the three sides shared the trophy seven times out of ten. None of them have been at their best in recent years, as the failure of any to reach a subsequent final points to, but to have none of them even in the knockout stages is another matter entirely and points to each side’s real decline. No doubt they will come again, but for now it is a question of rebuilding.

By Jamie Hosie
Follow Jamie on Twitter: @jhosie43

Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images