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...
The irresistible Anglo-French affairs of Racing v Saracens and Exeter v Toulouse are the pick of this weekend’s sport and can puncture myth international rugby is the only show in townOccasionally it is worth pausing for a moment and asking why people prefer to watch certain team sports compared to others. Football, for example, is easy to understand and truly global, its club game often more gripping and higher quality than its international counterpart. Cricket works well on television and has a range of formats to suit all tastes. Rugby – union and league – can be more compelling than either but is nowhere near as good at displaying the best of itself on a consistent basis.Partly it is cultural...
French clubs are still unsure when they will play again, though next season may see 22 in the top flightAs the football lamps flicker back on across Europe, France remains in the dark. A glimmer of clarity came on Tuesday as the country’s highest administrative court upheld the decision made in April to terminate the Ligue 1 and 2 seasons but, with Germany, Italy and Spain having already returned to action and the Premier League due to restart on Wednesday, French football clubs are still not sure when and how they will play again.Three clubs – Lyon, Amiens and Toulouse – had been so angered by the cancellation of the season and the “arbitrary and unfair” decision to determine the...
It was a difficult weekend for English clubs, with Irish provinces picking up a triple crown of victories over Premiership sidesIreland look like going into the Six Nations Larmour-plated. Joe Schmidt, who stood down as the national side’s head coach after the World Cup, never seemed to trust Jordan Larmour fully, certainly at full-back, but the 22-year old showed in Leinster’s emphatic victory over Northampton at Franklin’s Gardens that he is ready to take over from Rob Kearney, who was among the province’s replacements on Saturday. Larmour was the architect of Leinster’s first two tries, showing how deadly he can be in broken play if given just a trace of time and space, and he was part of a defensive...
Gloucester dogged by inconsistency, Edinburgh and Glasgow head for the last eight and Leinster have look of championsThe pool of champions has polarised. Leinster, for all Toulouse’s attempts to recapture past glories, are the team in control, even if they trail the French club by two points. Their victory over Bath was imperious, and Toulouse, who rode their luck anyway in round one in Bath, must travel to Dublin next. Leinster’s trip to Wasps in the final round does not look the challenge it might once have been. For two of England’s greatest clubs to be mathematically out of it after only four rounds is a sobering reflection on the Premiership, which looks worryingly short of the sort of teams...