French fade away as Champions Cup heads to the business stage

By PAUL REES

The Heineken Champions Cup is still occasionally referred to as Europe, but the presence of three South African franchises has transformed the competition at the expense of France.

Last season, the Top 14 supplied seven of the teams in the last 16 but when the Champions Cup resumes at the end of March, only holders La Rochelle, Toulouse and Montpellier will be involved. The four bottom clubs in Pool A were all French.

Five Premiership clubs made it through, although only Bristol and Sale will be involved in the Challenge Cup. Eight United Rugby Championship sides are in the mix, including the three South African teams, while Scotland and Wales retain an interest to give the competition a five nations flavour.

Neither of Italy's two professional sides qualified for the Champions Cup, but Treviso finished second in their Challenge Cup group and will face Connacht at home in the last 16.

Excited: Skivington

The format of two groups of 12 with sides in each playing two opponents home and away makes progress to the last 16 more likely than not. Ulster and Montpellier made it through despite winning only one match while Lyon missed out despite accumulating more points than Ulster, who were in a different pool.

“There will always be a debate around the format,” said Gloucester's head coach George Skivington whose side will be away to La Rochelle in the last 16 after last week's double over Bordeaux-Begles took them above Lyon.

“It could change next year, but there have been some great games and some exciting matchups. Playing away to Bordeaux was a big experience for our young lads – they are one of the best supported teams in Europe and it is a long walk from the changing room to the field.

“Our travelling support was unbelievable. The streets were full of red and we are really excited about the prospect of facing La Rochelle. What pleased me last week was that we could have been overwhelmed with a few boys missing, but we stuck to our plan and remained composed.”

Harlequins defeated the Sharks in an open encounter at the Stoop to qualify. Having travelled to South Africa to face the Sharks on the opening weekend, they will fly to Cape Town to take on the Stormers, the URC champions, on April 1.

“It was an interesting group stage,” said Tabai Matson, Quins head of rugby. “The format makes it more open when it comes to qualifying and you do not have to finish high up to get a home draw.

“I am conscious of calling it the Heineken Champions Cup rather than Europe because of South Africa and their teams have added to the interest. They have a different way of playing which is good for the competition. They are physical and thrive on set-pieces.

“The teams in the last 16 are from across the board which is good for the competition. We enjoyed our first trip to South Africa and learned a lot from it which we have to put to good use in a couple of months.”

The format for next season's tournament has yet to be agreed. The organisers are waiting to see how many clubs will be involved in the Premiership following the collapse of Worcester and Wasps.

If it remains at 11, it is unlikely that eight English sides would take part in the Champions Cup, raising the prospect of the tournament dropping from 24 sides to 20 and reverting to five groups of four and no last 16 round.

Sale, second in the Premiership, dropped down to the Challenge Cup after losing last weekend to Ulster who clinched the final slot in Pool B. They will travel to Cardiff who doubled Newcastle in the group stage.

“We knew what we had to do in Ulster but could not get the dominance we needed up front,” said Sale's director of rugby, Alex Sanderson. “You have to be at your best in the Champions Cup and find a way to win.

“You can talk about the result in Ulster, but the previous week we put in an heroic performance agains Toulouse after having a player sent off early. The lesson for us this season is that in the Champions Cup you must have most of your best personnel available.”