So, another weekend has passed which encapsulated the good, the bad and the ugly of the Champions Cup. It can still reach parts that no other tournament can, but round two also showed that the Anglo-French ringleaders in the EPCR (European Professional Club Rugby) coup of 2014 have not only failed to deliver on their promises; they have actually made a brilliant competition worse.
True, the organisers’ hand was forced by the pandemic, and specifically Toulouse being ranked eighth in the Top 14 when the 2020-21 French season was abandoned. But far from making it a more elite 16-team competition, as promised, a 24-team format condensed into just four rounds of pool games simply isn’t working.
We are halfway through 48 pool matches, at the end of which just eight teams – one-third of competing sides – will be knocked out. Four of those will be redirected into the Challenge Cup. Effectively, under the current format, it is easier to qualify from the pool stages than be eliminated. That’s nonsensical.
Do Leinster’s misfires matter so long as they’re winning?
As we have again seen over the last two weekends, increasingly clubs have decided to field weakened sides, especially away from home. This is partly because two wins, or even one, will be sufficient to earn a place in the knockout stages. And for what? For a round of 16 which has been shoehorned into the season a week before the quarter-finals.
Things reached a nadir over the weekend with regard to weakened sides all but giving their opponents a free five points. The tournament brought some of this on itself. While it’s good to see the Stormers giving the Champions Cup a real go – and head coach John Dobson has said they feel they might do something special this season – the EPCR should never have allowed them choose Port Elizabeth, or Gqeberha, as their alternative home ground 800km away from Cape Town.
As Cape Town Stadium was hosting the World Supercross event on Saturday, the Stormers’ game against La Rochelle was moved to the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, meaning Ronan O’Gara’s squad had to fly to Johannesburg and then take an extra flight to Port Elizabeth.
One of O’Gara’s assistants, Romain Carmignani, told RugbyRama, “I don’t know who’s organising this, but there are questions to be asked, especially about the players’ health. You play in the rain, then move to 30-degree weather, then the following weekend you’re back playing in two or three degrees. I’m not sure that’s a good idea. It’s all about business. It’s truly ridiculous and stupid.”
Their captain, Gregory Alldritt, ventured: “I’d really like to understand the logic. We’re playing the Stormers and we can’t even play them in Cape Town. It makes for a ridiculous journey.”
Accordingly, Alldritt et al were rested as O’Gara made 14 changes to his starting XV, instead playing several teenagers and debutants. Given such a savage trip and upcoming Top 14 games against Bayonne, Toulon and Toulouse before returning to the Champions Cup in January, O’Gara had little choice.
To their credit, La Rochelle only trailed 21-14 after 15 minutes, before losing 42-21, but you can be sure they’ll be locked and fully loaded at the Aviva Stadium in round three.
No such excuses for Gloucester. They made 15 changes and kicked the leather off the ball while running down the clock against Munster. Sunday was worse, as a weakened Bayonne played a winger at outhalf and a debutant flanker on the wing in losing 68-14 away to a Harlequins side which had restored front-liners rested against Leinster a week previously. Edinburgh, the Bulls and Pau lost with weakened sides away to Castres, Northampton and Bristol.
In those four games, the hosts outscored the away sides by 212 to 31, or 33 tries to five. They were about as competitive as bull fights. After Bristol scored in the first and 11th minutes, one couldn’t take any more. Even Brentford v Leeds United, not a classic, was preferable.
What’s the point of having teams in the competition who evidently couldn’t care less whether they are in the Champions Cup or not?
Yet there were also gems and any weekend’s rugby that features Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Matthieu Jalibert cannot be all bad. The former had four try assists against La Rochelle, , two of which were particularly memorable.
Jalibert – who is playing better than ever and is evidently appreciated by Yannick Bru and Noel McNamara more than France head coach Fabien Galthie – scored another two tries in Bordeaux’s 50-21 win over the Scarlets, who put up a good fight.
First, he instinctively picked up, chipped and gathered before scoring. Then, he handled a second time in finishing off a 65-metre try from a quick tap. “Horrendously brilliant,” observed Jonathan Davies on Premier Sports after Jalibert’s first. “That’s just naughty.” His 50 minutes was enough for man of the match, before affording Joey Carbery a classy half-hour.
And amid Sunday’s bull fighting, there was a highly charged, high-quality belter between Toulon and Bath at a throbbing Stade Felix Mayol. The home side’s 45-34 win has left Pool 1 wide open.
Glasgow’s extraordinary 28-21 comeback victory over Toulouse at Scotstoun on Saturday night has to be considered the performance of the weekend and probably the best one-off win by a Scottish side in the tournament.
After all, Toulouse travelled to Glasgow at full strength, with the great man Antoine Dupont scoring within six minutes of his first start since suffering that knee injury against Ireland in March. They led 21-0 at half-time. The Warriors are contenders now, and like never before.
That result should underline the merit in Leinster winning a 29th pool game in succession in the Welford Road bearpit on Friday night. Imagine the reaction if Leinster lost a pool game from 21-0 up anywhere?
Considering the adversity Leinster came through, that could stand to them, ala the 6-5 quarter-final win in Harlequins in 2009. It was striking how much more pleased Caelan Doris and co were in comparison to the aftermath of their 45-28 win over Harlequins at the Aviva Stadium a week earlier.
As ever with Leinster, though, whether winning with a bonus point or not winning with one, they’re damned if they do win and damned if they don’t.
