Investec Champions Cup | Three Talking Points From Round 1
Investec Champions Cup | Three Talking Points From Round 1
Here's an Investec Champions Cup Round 1 recap. Stade Toulousain and Antoine Dupont defeat Ulster, Jordie Barrett and Sam Prendergast debut for Leinster.
Blowing through like the stiff winter breeze that was brought on by Storm Darragh, Round 1 of the Investec Champions Cup was a whirlwind of world-class rugby.
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Starting Friday night at a flooded Bath Recreational Ground, the storm force winds weren’t the only hostile forces greeting past champion La Rochelle, which had to contend with a passionate home crowd.
The competition delivered 12 exceptional fixtures in Round 1, concluding 20 minutes down the road from Bath in Bristol, as the Bears hosted Leinster.
As one would expect with so many fixtures, there were plenty of takeaways from the weekend’s action.
Here are five key talking points from the weekend:
Super Clubs Roll
As certain as day is to turn to night, the Champions Cup is to have true super clubs.
In 2024, the competition’s two most successful clubs are, unsurprisingly, Stade Toulousain and Leinster Rugby.
Sharing 10 titles between them, the two once again are on an apparent collision course set for Cardiff on May 24, 2025.
Presenting its case first was Toulouse, which, for want of a better word, obliterated a second-string Ulster side 61-21 at the Stade Ernest Wallon.
In a fixture that was as competitive as Usain Bolt racing Homer Simpson in a 100-meter sprint, the home side rarely looked like it needed to get out of first gear. Even still, Toulouse netted nine tries, with Antoine Dupont pulling the strings like only he can.
Arguably even more well-rounded this season than in the team's historic double title-winning season just a few months ago, the men in black and red look like a shoo-in for yet another final appearance.
On the other side of the ledger, the losing finalist in the last three finals, Leinster Rugby, looks gnarly this season.
Hardened by repeated ‘failures,’ if one can call being a top-2 team in Europe for three years running a failure, Leo Cullen’s men have arguably made the most growth between last season and this one, which is a frightening prospect for every team not named Toulouse.
By adding two players who played key roles in last year’s Rugby World Cup final - RG Snyman and Jordie Barrett - Leinster has put together an almost laughably strong team this season.
Facing stiff competition from one of the Gallagher Premiership’s top sides, the Bristol Bears, on Sunday, Leinster rolled off a bench that consisted of Gus McCarthy, Andrew Porter, Thomas Clarkson, Caelan Doris, Luke McGrath, Ross Byrne (all Irish internationals), Snyman (Springbok) and Barrett (All Black).
Rather worryingly, this was not even Leinster’s best team, with the likes of James Lowe, Cian Healy, Jamie Osborne, Hugo Keenan, Ryan Baird, Dan Sheehan, Dan Sheehan and Will Corners all yet to return.
While you would be unlikely to get good odds, if you were a betting individual, it might be worth pushing all of your chips in on another Toulouse vs. Leinster final.
European Royalty Reinvigorated
OK, completely discount the above, but not really.
While it would be foolish to suggest that Leinster and Toulouse are not clearly ahead of the rest of the field, there are a handful of other sides capable of upsetting the apple cart this season.
Chief amongst the ‘other’ contenders are some of European Rugby’s elite sides in Munster, Clermont, Toulon, La Rochelle, Bordeaux-Begles, Saracens, Leicester Tigers, the Northampton Saints, Bath Rugby and the Glasgow Warriors.
All of these teams have the firepower to overturn the big two on any given day, albeit they will need to be near-perfect to do so and hope Leinster or Toulouse are 5-10% off their best.
What separates these teams from the big two is their ‘horsepower’ across their squads.
Each of the above teams can produce matchday 23s to compete, but the big question is, what is behind these front-line players?
Take, for example, Munster, which, with the acquisition of South African pair Dian Bleuler and Thaakir Abrahams, shored up its two key areas of weakness in the front row and on the wing.
These players, combined with the soon-to-return David Kilcoyne, Jeremy Loughman and Oli Jager (props), and the likes of Diarmuid Kilgallen, Calvin Nash, Shane Daly and Ben O’Connor, offer good-to-great players in the positions.
Yet, to date, Munster has been unable to have its full deck to choose from.
This, to a certain extent, is the issue facing all of the named clubs; just how fit and healthy will these sides become for the business end of the season? Because if they are playing with a slightly depleted deck, then the big two simply will eat their lunch and tell them not to tell their parents.
Away from these European sides, South Africa’s hopes look to lie firmly with the Springbok-laden Hollywoodbets Sharks, who have the ability to beat any team in world rugby.
The biggest challenge facing John Plumtree’s side is itself and its inability to remain consistent across a full season. Should they find the magic pill to avoid head-scratching results and secure a home run through the last 16 and quarterfinals, then they will be a hard out for anyone in the semifinals.
Format Aside – The Champions Cup Still Reigns Supreme
Attempting to avoid a parallel universe of lollipops and rainbows, it is pretty clear that the current tournament format is not quite as good as it could or has been.
For clarity, this is not the organizers' fault, given they have a set parameters to work within, which, let’s be real, was forced upon them by the English clubs and an ever-expanding season.
But putting this aside for one moment and focusing on what we do have, rather than what we don’t, Round 1 proved unequivocally that the top 24 clubs from the URC, Top 14 and Gallagher Premiership can create sparks when pitted against one another.
Away from the fixtures where teams took the tactical approach to rest their best players, some of the games in Round 1 were truly spectacular.
Starting with the arm wrestle at the Rec, where Finn Russell and his merry band of Bath men came within a whisker of overcoming a 21-6 halftime deficit against the big bullies of La Rochelle.
Played in outrageously difficult conditions, both sides put on a show for all in attendance, with displays of brutal physicality, well-crafted game plans and moments of individual brilliance.
This fixture was then matched by Toulon’s assault mission in Gqeberha, where the three-time champions overturned the Stormers in fabulous summer conditions.
Spearheading this smash-and-grab was the wonderfully astute Baptiste Serin, who proved that his lack of international game time is exclusively down to the fact that we are living in an Antoine Dupont-dominated world.
Serin’s combination with Welsh legend Dan Biggar gave the Toulon squad direction, while French international winger Gaban Villiers added the stardust with some magical moments both in attack and defense.
On Sunday, the best fixture of the day saw the Leicester Tigers, who were shorn of several key starters, give Bordeaux-Begles all it could handle, taking a well-deserved 21-14 lead into halftime.
This prompted the competition’s Harlem Globetrotters to explode into action with three tries in five minutes to take a commanding lead they would never relinquish.
Concluding the weekend was a mightily close battle between Bristol and Leinster, that was, of course, until Leinster rolled out the heavy artillery and romped home.
So, what does all of this mean? Well, no matter what the echo chamber may scream, the Investec Champions Cup remains a compelling competition that will only get better as the weeks roll on.
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