Of the five Champions Cup groups, Pool 5 looks like going down to the final weekend – with one point separating the top three: Bath, Toulon and ScarletsTake nothing away from Wasps’ hugely impressive victory against La Rochelle but the absence of Victor Vito, Levani Botia, Pierre Aguillon and Jason Eaton from the starting XV must be taken into consideration. Wasps certainly learnt from their mistakes of seven days previous however, were far more physical in the collisions and had Danny Cipriani in fine fettle at fly-half. It is not so long ago that Wasps were in somewhat of a crisis, languishing down towards the foot of the Premiership table amid a terrible run of injuries. Elliot Daly may yet...
If they claim a Champions Cup hat-trick then Saracens will be among the greatest club sides ever but, as the campaign starts, Scarlets could also prove dangerousThere is a fresh feel to this year’s European Champions Cup as the continent’s gladiators strap on their body armour. First and foremost, the final will be staged in Spain next May, with Bilbao’s San Mamés stadium and Guggenheim museum promising a very different cultural experience. And why not? Endlessly doing the same old things is not the way ahead for an ambitious professional sport.From the Basque country to Bath, this is a campaign full of other enticing possibilities. Not so long ago it was widely felt that digging in for the odd losing...
Exeter’s Premiership victory has won plaudits as has Saracens’ in the Champions Cup but British & Irish Lions players need careful management next seasonExeter Chiefs. Saracens are back-to-back European champions but neither they nor Wasps could topple the Chiefs when it mattered domestically. While the Lions could yet ambush this category they will do well to equal the ceaseless positivity and collective spirit of English rugby’s new market leaders. Robert Kitson Related: Alex Goode try seals Champions Cup final victory for Saracens over Clermont Related: Scarlets score six tries to sweep aside Munster and win Pro12 title Related: Wasps go to Premiership final as Josh Bassett’s late try floors Leicester Related: World Rugby ‘disappointed’ with Northampton over George North injury...
Exeter still on the up, Wasps feel the noise, Scarlets in nod to Super Rugby and Leigh Halfpenny provides good news for Lions and Richard CockerillThe Premiership semi-final victory over Saracens was another coaching triumph for Rob Baxter and his management team at Sandy Park. It was not so much revenge for last year’s defeat in the final at Twickenham as confirmation that the Chiefs have improved since then, learning from each new experience in their remarkable rise this decade. Saracens have become the most proficient team in Europe at attacking from set pieces, able to create space out wide and score tries, a quality that helped them defeat Munster and Clermont Auvergne in the latter stages of the European...
Dylan Hartley’s greatest opponent is himself, Jamie George and Owen Farrell can both replace him and it was a good weekend for the Irish If Dylan Hartley had not been sent off we would all be talking about Leinster’s excellence. Perhaps we still should be; even when they were down to their third-choice fly-half the Irish side looked revitalised, for which credit must go both to the players and, in particular, their reshuffled coaching panel. The contrast with Northampton’s flat-footed start was particularly glaring, as the home skipper Tom Wood made abundantly clear after his side’s 37-10 home drubbing. Ultimately though, Hartley’s 58th-minute red card for a forearm smash to the back of Sean O’Brien’s head was the kind of...