The irresistible force meets the immovable object when Exeter play Saracens while Leinster are favourites against ScarletsThe season, domestically at least, ends this weekend. As it came in, so it goes out with players queuing for surgery. Artificial pitches have come under scrutiny after Jack Willis, John Barclay and Steffon Armitage suffered leg injuries in the last month that will keep them out of action for between six months and a year but other factors, such as fatigue, come into play.It is not so much the number of matches players take part in but the cumulative effect of training. Mako Vunipola, who was with the Lions in New Zealand, will make his 32nd appearance of the campaign on Saturday when...
It will take a monumental effort in the final from Racing 92 to deny Leinster victory in a Champions Cup that feels seminal, if certainly not vintageIt has not been a vintage Champions Cup by any stretch but after a weekend of deep intensity, if little in the way of edge‑of‑the‑seat excitement, it is hard to escape the sense it is a seminal one. Since Leinster last sat at the head of the European table, Toulon and Saracens have both taken their turns but they are marching back with a blend of power and precision that suggests they will take some shifting.It will require an almighty effort from Racing 92 to deny them in Bilbao next month and while the...
Leo Cullen’s side’s dominance over Scarlets was total, and an all-Ireland final against Munster now feels inevitable – and highly appropriateThe grip of the Irish on European rugby tightens ever more mercilessly. Ireland won the grand slam on the back of scorelines that did not quite reflect their dominance, but the opposition are now starting to unravel as that dominance deepens.The Scarlets had the last word, Tadhg Beirne, schooled by Leinster, galloping home before he returns home next season, albeit to Munster, but if that represented appropriate reward for the visitors it was reward for a campaign that has lit up this competition, not for their contribution to this match. They felt as comprehensively beaten as any semi-finalist of this...
The provinces and their exploits in Europe inspired radical restructuring in Wales but finance and player development hold the regions backLeinster meet the Scarlets in the semi-finals of the European Champions Cup at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday. The ground will be full, as it would be were its capacity closer to Twickenham’s 82,000 than below 52,000. Irish rugby is where the game in Wales aspires to be and Europe was the vehicle that drove them there.Leinster used the old Lansdowne Road in the early years of the then Heineken Cup in the second half of the 1990s. When they took on Leicester there in 1996, a crowd of 3,500 turned up; in the same year, Munster attracted 1,500 to...
Saracens became the only Premiership club to gain a European Champions Cup quarter-final place, Scarlets were the comeback kids and injuries made grim viewing for GatlandWasps must be kicking themselves for their late capitulation at Harlequins the previous weekend for there can be little doubt it was at the Stoop where their hopes of reaching the knockout stages disappeared. To their credit they produced perhaps their best performance of their campaign to eliminate Ulster, securing an emphatic bonus point win only to come up just short as they and Exeter finished as the two runners-up who failed to qualify. In doing so they may have also answered a few critics who could suggest they are a fairweather team – scoring...