In hindsight, England’s Six Nations failure could perhaps have been predicted based on the travails of the Premiership teams in Europe this season. Saracens scraped through to the knockout stages as the 8th seeds and the only English representatives, but face a daunting trip to Dublin.

Here are my Superbru predictions for this weekend’s Champions Cup matches.

Scarlets v La Rochelle

As much as England’s Six Nations efforts reflected the Premiership teams’ failure, Wales’ overperformance is similar to the Scarlets’ unexpected triumph in Pool 5 of the Champions Cup. La Rochelle will provide stern opposition in Llanelli, but since they haven’t won away in any competition since November, I’m going with the home team for this one.

Scarlets by 4

Munster v Toulon

As always, French teams have struggled in their away games this season, with Toulon losing to Scarlets and Bath and just scraping a win against Treviso in the group. Thomond Park in the European knockouts is not a place for the travel-shy, and I would expect Munster to triumph in this heavyweight battle.

Munster by 7

Clermont v Racing

Clermont were pumped 49-0 by Toulon last weekend, but I suspect they had both eyes on this fixture and there’s not much to be read into that result. The Top 14 has a 72% win rate for the home teams, the home team has won this fixture on the last 5 meetings, and so there’s a very good chance that Clermont will triumph here.

Clermont by 7

Leinster v Saracens

The Ireland v England metaphor is quite striking here – the dominant Irish team, unbeaten in the competition, playing host to a misfiring, formerly unbeatable Saracens side. The Leinster lineup is probably fresher than Sarries too, with most of the senior players having had a weekend off since the Grand Slam triumph. So can the tired English cause an upset in Dublin? Nope. I can’t see it happening.

Leinster by 9

How do you see the games going this weekend?

Happy Easter, see you on the other side.