Going into Saturday’s Champions Cup last-16 first leg at Exeter, Ireland’s fallen giants face an uncertain futureAll the best rugby teams are striving for the same things. An identity. A tight-knit culture. An environment in which words, eventually, are superfluous. Where what really matters is not individual ability but the unbreakable bond of togetherness. And where, after a while, winning becomes so natural it feels almost preordained.Until, that is, the magic dries up. Star players retire or get injured, coaches come and go, supporters grow restless. Worse still, the arch rivals up the road are flying. History, all of a sudden, counts for little. Which is roughly where Munster, once the European Cup’s ultimate feelgood story and guardians of what...
The competition has been hampered by Covid issues but the knockout stage will deliver some fascinating ties in the springThis season’s Heineken Champions Cup has been a logistical nightmare but the tournament’s knock-out stages could yet offer some seriously good viewing. Despite the Covid issues that prompted the cancellation of several games in the past month, some potentially fierce two-leg contests now await in the last 16.Leicester, the current Premiership leaders, now face a fascinating home and away duel with Clermont Auvergne while the English champions Harlequins will be up against Montpellier, who have managed to sneak into the last eight despite shipping 89 points at Leinster in round three. Continue reading...
As Brian O’Driscoll, the former Lions captain, makes clear a fast start is imperative in this year’s Covid-affected competitionIf you wanted to launch a vibrant new European club rugby tournament you would possibly not start from here. The spectre of Covid already stalks the 2021-22 Heineken Champions Cup and scheduling its entire pool stages in the deepest, darkest and dampest weeks of a northern winter is not the obvious catalyst for a dazzling cavalcade of festive sporting cheer.Already the quarantine-affected Scarlets have had to forfeit their opening game, unable to raise a competitive side to face Bristol, with Cardiff and Munster also still without players who were marooned in red-listed South Africa last week. The ripple effects are likely to...
Exeter will face a stern test from French and Irish clubs, among others, in defending their European titleAnd so the Autumn Nations Cup was decided by a kick. It almost wrote itself after a month in which the skies were assailed and the only reason there were no Mexican waves in the stands was that grounds were empty – until the final day at Twickenham when some of the few present showed what they thought of no-risk rugby.In the one-off tournament’s place this weekend and next weekend comes the European Champions Cup, which English clubs are looking to claim for the third season in succession and the fifth in six. The players involved in recent weeks, when a number of...
Having led 28-17 losing Tomas Francis to the sin-bin set up a final act of pure agony before the euphoriaOnce upon a time in the west there was a team who made their region proud. What a shame there were no supporters in the ground to witness the ultimate moment in Exeter’s 149-year history but there was no silencing the Devonian roars at the final whistle. A grey day in Bristol was suddenly replaced by a haze of purple euphoria and pure relief.Goodness, though, this was tense. A flawed classic, perhaps, but a 14-man Exeter had to win it the hard way. Having led 28-17 thanks to a priceless interception score finished by the ever-classy Henry Slade, the loss of...