PAUL REES CONSIDERS THE COVID IMPACT ON THIS SEASON'S EUROPEAN CUP
POOLS & FIXTURES
POOL A ASM Clermont Auvergne, Bath, Exeter Chiefs, Glasgow Warriors, La Rochelle, Leinster, Montpellier, Northampton Saints, Ospreys, Sale, Racing 92, Ulster
POOL B Bordeaux Bègles, Bristol, Cardiff Rugby, Castres, Connacht, Harlequins, Leicester Tigers, Munster, Scarlets, Stade Francais, Toulouse, Wasps
FRIDAY DECEMBER 10 Northampton Saints v Racing 92
SATURDAY DECEMBER 11 Leinster v Bath, ASM Clermont Auvergne v Ulster, Exeter Chiefs v Montpellier, Cardiff Rugby v Toulouse, Bordeaux Bègles v Leicester Tigers, Bristol v Scarlets
SUNDAY DECEMBER 12 Ospreys v Sale, La Rochelle v Glasgow Warriors, Connacht v Stade Francais, Wasps v Munster, Castres v Harlequins
FRIDAY DECEMBER 17 Montpellier v Leinster, Ulster v Northampton Saints
SATURDAY DECEMBER 18 Bath v La Rochelle, Sale v ASM Clermont Auvergne, Glasgow Warriors v Exeter Chiefs, Racing 92 v Ospreys, Harlequins v Cardiff Rugby, Munster v Castres
SUNDAY DECEMBER 19 Leicester Tigers v Connacht, Scarlets v Bordeaux Bègles, Toulouse v Wasps, Stade Francais v Bristol
FRIDAY JANUARY 14 Cardiff Rugby v Harlequins, Castres v Munster
SATURDAY JANUARY 15 Ospreys v Racing 92, Exeter Chiefs v Glasgow Warriors, La Rochelle v Bath, Wasps v Toulouse, Connacht v Leicester Tigers, Bristol v Stade Francais
SUNDAY JANUARY 16 Leinster v Montpellier, Northampton Saints v Ulster, ASM Clermont Auvergne v Sale, Bordeaux Bègles v Scarlets
FRIDAY JANUARY 21 Harlequins v Castres
SATURDAY JANUARY 22 Bath v Leinster, Ulster v ASM Clermont Auvergne, Glasgow Warriors v La Rochelle, Toulouse v Cardiff Rugby, Leicester Tigers v Bordeaux Bègles, Scarlets v Bristol
SUNDAY JANUARY 23 Sale v Ospreys, Racing 92 v Northampton Saints, Montpellier v Exeter Chiefs, Stade Francais v Connacht, Munster v Wasps
The curse of a crossborder competition is the domino effect of disruption. The European Champions and Challenge Cups were played to their conclusion in the last two seasons despite the restrictions imposed by Covid- 19, no small achievement given the lack of wriggle room in a congested calendar, and as clubs gear up for the 2021-22 campaigns, the pandemic is showing that it is far from over.
Cardiff, Munster, the Scarlets and Parma were all in South Africa preparing for matches in the United Rugby Championship when the new Omicron variant was detected and the country was promptly put on the travel red list. Cardiff endured the longest wait to get out after the Welsh government refused to allow the group to isolate in a hotel in the country on their return and they only left for England on Friday, leaving behind six members of the party who had previously tested positive.
Cardiff are adamant they will fulfil their opening match against champions Toulouse at the Arms Park on Saturday lunchtime. They left six Wales internationals at home and they will all be available, supplemented by a number of academy players, with the tournament organisers relaxing the rules on registration to ensure games affecting the four have the best chance of going ahead.
A problem for all of them was that the league shut down during the autumn window so that their non-international players have not played for six weeks. The Cardiff contingent will leave their isolation hotel at the beginning of next week, well in time for their second match against Harlequins, but having been unable to train properly for two weeks, conditioning will be an issue.
Munster's opener is at Wasps a week today when the number of players unavailable could exceed that of those who are in the selection mix with the home side plagued by injuries. The Irish's province's squad returned to Ireland on Wednesday without 14 players and staff who remained in South Africa after testing positive for Covid-19, and immediately went into isolation.
“If a team is unable to fulfil a fixture, its opponents gain a 28-0 victory”
The Scarlets are at Bristol on Saturday evening, the day after 32 of their players emerge from quarantine in Northern Ireland. They have called on European Professional Club Rugby to consider its stance on the rescheduling of matches. Under the rules, if a team is unable to fulfil a fixture, its opponents gain a bonus point 28-0 victory. “If we were to play Bristol without the people who are in Ulster now, there are four or five positions we would not be able to fill,” said the Scarlets' chairman, Simon Muderack. “EPCR has got to look at player welfare and having to play youngsters who are just out of school and in their first season of senior rugby would not be good for them or the integrity of the competition.”
It is an argument that is unlikely to find much traction. Four pool matches were cancelled last season, including that of the then champions Exeter in Toulouse, while Leinster were awarded their last 16 match against Toulon. The tournament is, for the second successive season, one week shorter than normal with four pool games instead of six and a round before the quarter-finals, but there is no slack in the fixture list.
The new format is in one sense an improvement on the preferred system of five pools which sees the winners automatically qualify for the quarter-finals, accompanied by the three best runners-up. If often led to anti-climactic final rounds when most of the issues had been decided and teams with nothing to play for gave their reserves a run.
There are now two pools, each made up of 12 teams, rather than five. It minimises the impact of cancellations and ensures that, with the top eight qualifying for the last 16 and the next three dropping into the Challenge Cup, most teams should have something to play for on the final weekend of the group stage.
Last season's tournament was dominated by France who provided five of the quarter-finalists, three of the semi-finalists and the two finalists, Toulouse and La Rochelle who battled it out in front of 10,000 spectators at Twickenham. The Premiership's interest ended in the last eight when Sale succumbed to La Rochelle and Exeter blew an early lead against Leinster at Sandy Park to lose 34-22.
There are four Anglo-French clashes in the opening round: Northampton and Racing 92 get the tournament underway at Franklin's Gardens on Friday night, Premiership leaders Leicester travel to Bordeaux-Begles on Saturday before Exeter take on Montpellier and Harlequins conclude the opening round at Castres on the Sunday evening.
Bordeaux-Begles are a team to watch. It is only their sixth campaign in the Champions Cup and they emerged from the group stage for the first time last season, beaten by Toulouse in the semifinals (they lost to the same opponents in the same stage of the Top 14). They went into this weekend second in the Top 14 having won 37-14 at Racing 92 last weekend after trailing 14-6 at the interval. The former Exeter wing Santiago Cordero scored a hattrick of tries and they took an unbeaten home record this season into last night's league match against their nemesis, Toulouse.
It will be a test of Leicester's resurgence and looks the highlight of the opening round. Bordeaux-Begles are one of the best supported teams in Europe and have Cameron Woki, rampant for France against the All Blacks, in their ranks, although they use him as a flanker rather than a second row.
Exeter's opponents, Montpellier, defeated Leicester in last season's Challenge Cup final. Their away record in the Top 14 this season is among the best and they went into this weekend's round of matches in third, three places above Racing who have struggled away from home. Castres do not have much of a record in Europe, only once getting out of the group stage in 15 attempts, but they have not lost a home match in their last three Champions Cup campaigns and went into yesterday's match against Racing 92 not having lost at Stade Pierre Fabre for more than a year.
“The usual suspects promise to be in the knock-out mix again”
Leinster again look the strongest of the URC contenders, although they lost their unbeaten league record at home to Ulster last weekend. Their campaign starts against Bath at the Aviva Stadium while Ulster are away to Clermont Auvergne, one of the best teams never to have won the Champions Cup but who have been languishing in the bottom half of the Top 14.
It was tough enough for the three Welsh regions involved before Cardiff and the Scarlets had to quarantine. The Ospreys, coached by Toby Booth, welcome Sale to Swansea next Sunday and they are the only one of the three which is in the top half of the league. Glasgow are Scotland's sole representatives and they start at La Rochelle before welcoming their regular sparring partners, Exeter.
Champions Cup it may be, but some of its participants look anything but. Bath are bottom of the Premiership, Stade Francais are one point off the foot of the Top 14 while Bristol, the Scarlets, Sale and Wasps have all lost more matches than they have won.
Europe, though, can provide a release from league worries. The usual suspects promise to be in the knock-out mix again, but just as La Rochelle emerged last season, learning from their two previous campaigns, so Bordeaux-Begles have a squad able to compete on two fronts and they are culturally Woki.
EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS CUP POOL A
FIVE former winners are in the group, led by Leinster, whose four titles have been bettered only by Toulouse, while three others have made the final. The make-up in the group kids the same, four teams from each of the Premiership, Top 14 and United Rugby Championship.
The format still takes some getting used to. Exeter have home and away matches against Montpellier and Glasgow: the French club's other opponents are Leinster while Scotland's representatives have to contend with last season's beaten finalists, La Rochelle.
It is not all-contained, as the previous groups were. The draw has not been unkind to Sale who face Ospreys and a misfiring Clermont Auvergne while Northampton open with Racing 92, who were last week reinforced by South Africa's World Cup winning prop Trevor Nyakane, and then have a trip to in-form Ulster.
“The Champions Cup is a special tournament and after last season, when we did not provide a semifinalist, it is a case of reset for the English clubs,” said the Northampton prop Alex Waller. “We have a really good fixture at home to start with and all the Premiership sides will have a point to prove.”
Northampton were one of four Premiership clubs who failed to muster a group victory last season, although the number of fixtures was cut to two after the French authorities ruled in January that teams coming in and out of France posed a health risk as the second wave of the pandemic struck Europe.
The most intriguing match in the opening round is at Stade Marcel- Michelin where Clermont Auvergne, for so long unbeatable in front of their own supporters, face Ulster. They lost their two home matches in the tournament last season, to Munster and Toulouse, and the visiting Racing 92 prevailed in the 2020 quarter-final.
Ulster's victory over Leinster in Dublin last weekend was the perfect warm-up and they are resolved to make up for last season when defeats at home to Toulouse and at Gloucester sent them into the Challenge Cup where they perished at the semifinal stage to Leicester at Welford Road.
Leinster and Ulster are the form teams, but with eight going through to the last 16 one victory may be enough, if garnished with some losing bonus points. Sale went through last season despite losing their two matches, pipping Northampton and Bath on points difference.
The pool kicks off the tournament at Franklin's Gardens on Friday and concludes the group stage on January 23 when Exeter are at Montpellier a few hours after Northampton take on Racing 92 in Paris.
Finishing in the top four will ensure a home draw in the last 16, which is why the final weekend should see a number of issues still to be resolved and give the broadcasters something to sell.
EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS CUP POOL B
ON PAPER, it looks the toughest group, if only slightly. It contains the leaders of the Premiership and the Top 14, Leicester and Toulouse, who are also the holders, respectively, as well as Bordeaux-Begles and the English champions, Harlequins.
For some, such as Stade Francais, Bristol and Wasps, whose league positions demand attention, it raises the question of whether to fight on two front or keep some troops fresh for battles ahead, although the English sides are not inconvenienced by the threat of relegation.
“You work hard to get into Europe so how can we say we are not going to take it seriously,” said Lee Blackett, the Wasps head coach whose side, which is currently without 18 injured players, is likely to face an understrength Munster in Coventry next weekend.
“We will do our very best and we are treating Europe and the league exactly the same. It is all about winning the next game. The players are really competitive and you cannot have it any other way. Yes we have players out injured, but it is not so much the numbers as the length of time most of them have been sidelined, three months rather than three weeks.”
Leicester were the first club to retain the trophy, but it is 12 years since they reached the final and they spent the previous two seasons in the Challenge Cup. They have won four of their last 19 fixtures in the Champions Cup, all of them at home. Their last away win was six years ago.
Their opening fixture in Bordeaux will be their most demanding of the season, but their other opponents are Connacht, a team that regularly punches above its weight, especially at home in Galway, but the Tigers should be looking at a top four finish.
Bristol's European dream perished in Bordeaux last season, but with the prospect of playing a depleted Scarlets first, and it is not as if the Welsh region has been an overwhelming force when at full strength this season, victory would set them up for their second round match against Stade Francais in Paris.
Stade have been fickle this season and with no lost causes in the Top 14 for once, the battle against the drop – the bottom club goes down and the one above has to contend with a play-off – will be the priority, as it always is for the French, some of whom still regard Europe as an Anglo-Celtic conspiracy which is designed to do them down.
Toulouse start the defence of their title in Cardiff against opposition of an unknown quantity and the following weekend welcome Wasps, the side that defeated them in the 2004 final. Bonus points should take the European and French champions to the top of the group.
