Champions Cup: will French clubs continue their domination of the competition?
EARLY BATH: Ronan O'Gara brings this La Rochelle side to The Rec for their first European outing.
In nOctober 2020, English Premiership side Exeter Chiefs beat the Top 14’s Racing 92 at a covid-silenced Ashton Gate to claim the previous season’s delayed Champions Cup.
It was the last year a side outside the French top flight won the competition. Saracens’ victory over Leinster a year earlier was the most recent final not involving a French side. The Top 14 has provided at least one team in 11 of the 12 showpiece matches dating back to the first of Toulon’s hat-trick of wins in 2013, and in 22 of all 29 finals to date.
Since 2013, Leinster have featured in five finals, winning in Bilbao in 2018. Saracens have played four, winning three. Racing and Clermont have both gone to the big show three times, and were conquered. La Rochelle have won two of three, and Toulouse twice in two. Likewise, Exeter have a perfect record – one in one.
So, the Champions Cup Winners’ Club is an exclusive one. No surprise there. It’s difficult enough to win once. To win two, four, or six times is the reserve of sides with better resources, greater squad depth.
As we head into the 30th year of the competition, it’s notable that just 13 clubs have earned the right to add a star to their jersey designs: six from England, claiming a combined 10 titles; four French sides, with 12 between them; while Leinster, Munster and Ulster hold the seven championships from the URC. Seven more clubs – six French sides, and Cardiff – have left a total 13 finals trophyless.
Sports fans are aware, however, past glory is no guarantee of future success. But, it is safe to say that France’s record in the Champions Cup is better-than decent.
The question is whether the title will head back to France this season. In truth, the pool of serious Top 14 contenders remains small. At best, two or three sides genuinely have it in them to go all the way. The rest aren’t necessarily making up numbers but need a hefty slice of good fortune.
Munster’s opening round opponents Stade Francais are, arguably, playing better rugby than their lowly Top 14 standing suggests. Not that performances without points counts for that much. Recent improvements suggest they could give the Champions Cup a shot, but domestic concerns may get in the way come the second fortnight in January.
Stuart Lancaster’s mystifying Racing 92 are also likely to give the Champions Cup an early shove to see how it plays, but they, too, need to string domestic results together sooner rather than later. Repeated relocations to dismal Creteil – they host Harlequins there this weekend because of a boxing night at La Defense Arena – have done the early part of their season no favours.
Clermont and Toulon are in the right place domestically to challenge over the next fortnight. Whether that parlays into a twin charge into the knockout phase remains to be seen. Leinster, Bath and Bristol are among the obstacles for Christophe Urios’s Jaunards; while Toulon aren’t used to the long flight to Cape Town that kicks off their challenge. Both could make the last 16 but where on the ladder?
It’s probably safe to dismiss smalltown Castres. With Northampton, Munster, Bulls, and Saracens on their schedule, they have a vanishingly small chance of breaking pool containment. League first, always, for Castres – it’s a parochial thing.
Which leaves the three big names – one of whom is stumbling: Toulouse, La Rochelle, and Bordeaux.
To say Toulouse – Top 14 and Champions Cup winners last season – are making no secret of repeated twin title ambitions rather underplays their determination. Thomas Ramos’s pitchside quote after last season’s Top 14 final destruction of Bordeaux was telling then. It’s even more telling now: “I’m sure that this group is not going to stop here. We have to take advantage of what we’ve just done.”
The defending champions have won eight of 11 domestically this season, without over-relying on their big guns. So far they have been more than a statement of intent in rugby form. Toulouse have, at times, seemed … inevitable. As Toulouse coach Ugo Mola said this week: “You can qualify for the round of 16 with one win. But … recent history shows that success in the group stage and success in the final phase are closely linked. You have to start with a bang.”
If a side needs a Champions Cup bang, it’s Ronan O’Gara’s La Rochelle. Sixth is not where they expected to be heading into Champions Cup fortnight. Nor would they have predicted a tricky Friday night in Bath on the back of a confidence-rattling home defeat against Top 14 basement side Vannes, their third loss in four.
In an interview with L’Equipe, O’Gara said: “We can’t think about winning titles. We need to earn everyone’s respect – starting with our own. [This] is not a rugby problem, it is an attitude problem. With the right mix of demand, confidence, resilience, inspiration, the group can do it.”
Sounds inspiring, and O’Gara has promised a noticeable change in style at the Rec. But, until Friday at least, they’re just words.
Which brings us to Bordeaux. Noel McNamara’s attack is the most potent in the Top 14, but get on top up front and they are vulnerable. Harlequins discovered that last season, and Montpellier almost repeated the trick last weekend.
So Leicester first up is a daunting challenge – it’s a good job for Bordeaux that it’s at home. A win will help them face trips to Ulster and Exeter, and a second home game against the URC’s Sharks with confidence.
