1. Some things never change
New competition, fewer teams… but the same old Munster. They are still the experts at grabbing victory from the jaws of defeat in Europe, Sale their unfortunate victims this time around. A second half rally saw them back to within two points of their hosts and with the clock well into the red, Ian Keatley did his best Ronan O’Gara impression to cooly knock over the drop goal and send the travelling Munster fans into rapturous celebration. It was a performance built on big performances from big men in the pack, with CJ Stander especially sublime – to think at the beginning of last season he couldn’t get in the first team squad is astonishing. The other old truism of the new European Cup is how difficult it is to win on the road – Munster were the only side to manage it in round one.
2. A new force emerges
It’s not all the same on the post-shake-up European horizon, however, as there is a side who look like they could make a sustained run in the competition for the first time ever. Most people put Glasgow’s chances of beating Bath at about 50/50 – they have the quality, but is Europe where they will focus their efforts, went the line. After their 37-10 thumping of one of the best sides in the Premiership this season (albeit with acute injury issues in the back row), that line is out of the window – they look well equipped, with the sufficient depth of squad, to sustain their good PRO12 form and challenge Bath, Toulouse and Montpellier for knockout qualification in Europe. And what of Bath? They were fairly lifeless, and the decision to start the entire second choice front row was made to look very silly indeed. Lose at home to a reinvigorated Toulouse next week, and their European campaign could be over before it even started.
3. Back to business
Toulouse and Leicester were two of the most successful sides in the old Heineken Cup, but after both had suffered horrendous starts to the season (losing five and three games on the bounce respectively) relative to how they expect to do, most were unsure whether they’d have the quality to compete in Europe. After round one we can conclude that they probably do. The Tigers have had a real issue beating Ulster in the past few years, but at the weekend they scored three quick tries in a devastatingly precise 15 minutes, then defended manfully against a late comeback, to secure their first win of the campaign. Toulouse, for their part, looked like the side of old, running in some gorgeous tries against Top 14 rivals Montpellier. Both face away trips this weekend, so we’ll know more about their European chances then, but certainly things are looking much better at both clubs than they did a few weeks ago.
4. Letting the side down
On the whole, the more concentrated nature of this tournament compared to the Heineken Cup seems to have improved the quality of games across the weekend – but only slightly. For the most part, games were tight affairs and there was plenty of good rugby on show. Whether it is significantly better, or more competitive, than the Heineken Cup (with its four additional teams) was, will take a little longer to establish. The non-automatic qualification of two Italian and Scottish sides was one of the bugbears of the English and French, and while Scotland’s sole remaining representative did their country proud, the same cannot be said for Italy. Treviso were hammered 45-7 by the Ospreys, and look several notches below the rest of the competition in terms of quality. It is a shame, because other than that you could, by and large, see any of the teams beat any of the others on their day.
5. Wide open
Other than Glasgow, who still face a very difficult exit route from their pool, you wouldn’t say there was really any side that laid down a particular marker to make the rest of the tournament sit up and take notice. Reigning champions Toulon scuffed their way to a win against the Scarlets but failed to get a bonus point in what will be, you would imagine, the easiest game of their pool, and in doing so proved that they are far from infallible. Elsewhere, sides like Northampton, Clermont and Ulster, all of whom have the quality to win the tournament, could have shot out the blocks with an away win but instead all limped to defeats, the latter two at least picking up a bonus point. All three are now under huge pressure to win next weekend. The Ospreys were the biggest winners but against Treviso that’s hardly surprising, while Leinster required a huge fightback to beat Wasps at home. Big names all, but none have stamped their authority all over the tournament in the first weekend.
By Jamie Hosie
Follow Jamie on Twitter: @jhosie43
Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images
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On 4 you have to decide what you want – if you want to only watch the best teams play each other then right now take half the French league, Saracens and Leinster and just put them on repeat every year in an 8 team comp. Or just make Sarries and Toulon play a home/away final straight away.
If on the other hand you want a European cup, and you draw the line somewhere around 6 countries (because you have to draw it somewhere and aligning with Pro 6 nations rugby is a start), then you will get teams in there who, although the best in their country, are not even close to the teams in some of the other countries.
So what do you want – guaranteed top end quality or a guaranteed European championship – I I can’t see it being possible to guarantee both? Personally I prefer the latter. At the business end the cream always rode to the top anyway – so I think we’re now missing something by only having 1 scottish and 1 italian side in this comp, and even only 2 welsh sides. That’s my opinion and others definitely differ.
PS. Let’s not pretend the 2nd tier comp makes up for it. The complete lack of interest from both Sky and BT for that comp, and the rest of the media in general, was not a surprise. Even this blog only mentions it in passing compared to the top comp.
Have to admit that I totally agree with you Brighty! Toulon and Saracens should be BANNED from the competition!! ;-)
DDD
I think the fact that Munster are the experts at grabbing a last minute victory makes this weeks Friday night game a cracker. Sarries have had a few last minute wins in the Prem this season, so it could either be a great game, with lots of attacking rugby? Or a slugfest with loads of stick it up your jumper style of play, and kick the points. Either way, it will be one to watch!
The disappointing part about the Treviso score line, is that if memory serves, they’ve been far more competative in the last couple of years, especially in Europe. What has happened to them?
They had the definition of an exodus over the summer, Benjit. The swathe of Italians that have flooded the Premiership this season essentially all came from them. 20-odd players, most of them first team squad regulars, left in the off season. Zebre, by contrast, lost very few. Treviso have become the poor relations!
They qualified on merit and only shipped 8 more points than Bath to a comparably strong Pro12 team.
On this season’s form thus far inclusion next year won’t be merited, so I don’t see there’s a big issue. There’s one pool that may stand a better chance of producing a best runner up but it’s still a competitive pool with pretty well matched teams.
“only shipped 8 more points than Bath to a comparably strong Pro12 team” – That is a really strong point there. It’s one of my main issues with this supposedly stronger cup – sport isn’t that predictable. If I take the top 6 of Eng/Fra/Pro12 any one year then I may not have the best 18 teams in Europe for a comp next year. I may see wallopings as we did this weekend.
In the old comp I didn’t see any games as dead rubbers. I remember Connaught v Quins dead rubbers, Blues v Toulon dead rubbers, etc. These are the games that upset the apple cart, rip up the form book and throw it away. They’re cross border games where passion and defence was able to defeat money and expectation. And we won’t see those anymore. I miss the colour.
should point out, that they only snuck ahead of Zebre in the last game of the season (Zebre had the unfortunate last game of a trip to Scotstoun!) to claim the italian spot. Zebre have improved massively in the last 15 months. Home and away wins over Cardiff last season, beat Ulster already this season.
Brightly- long been a fan of your interesting comments, so wanted to reply to one I respectfully disagree with for once! :)
Really like this new competition more, higher quality and lack of dead rubbers is refreshing!
I take your point about European rugby but especially Zebre were adding nothing to European rugby! So annoying that the teams drawn with th get an instant pass through two games and a likely bonus point! As a sarries fan I will openly admit in another pool we might not have got through with losing home and away to a team! As we did this year.
Hi Greeny, I think it’s just a preference thing. As a season ticket holder I completely enjoyed all visits from Italian sides, and not just because we mostly one. They were, for me, what made it a European cup as opposed to a domestically dominated tussle.
I am wondering why you have no comment or report on the Saracens v Clermont game? two top teams!
My two cents on the new Euro cup.. I think it’s better than the old one.. probably.
Mostly every game was very competitive bar the Ospreys vs Treviso (and Glasgow v Bath which I’m gutted about .. starting the second choice front row when the back row is already heavily depleted is madness).
So the only real problem I see is the fact Treviso are going to be whipping boys in their group and therefore there will probably be two teams going through easily, which is a bit unfair but that has always happened.
As for the second tier comp.. absolute rubbish. Without the top tier teams dropping down later on it just holds no interest. I imagine BT and Sky have to fight to make the other show the game each round (as they must show one between them each round as part of the TV deal).
Also, as a BT sport viewer, I’m glad I don’t support Northampton (although I would like to watch some of their games) as only one out of the first 4 games in the Euro cup are being shown (and that is vs Treviso!), with the rest on Sky. Compare that to all 4 games for Leicester, Bath, Quins, and two for Saracens and Wasps. But at least I have no interest in watching Sale as none of their games are shown. I guess that’s how the TV draw worked out and maybe in the final two rounds things will even out.
Brighty made some good points. Challenge cup a waste of time. Find another idea which would allow quality bottom dwellers to experience inter league games. Most of French teams not interested judging by their selection of 2nd XVs. Kudos for Scarlets for not putting out a 3rd XV against a potential massacre. The game turned out very interesting. Maybe add Romanian, Georgian and Russian national teams to competition to give them experience. Personally I’m gutted after I realize English teams just not the best this year. Saints should/could have won bar Pisi arrogance handling ball, and Foden lack of chip kicking skills. Sarries not dominant at home so will struggle away. Wasps, IMO, have 2nd best line up in league (after Saints) and showed their potential in 1st half and then lacked any knowledge of defence and perseverance in second. Wasps will always be hampered with Young as coach. Hes just now learning about backs potential and he has the best. Glasgow were amazing because i could not believe Bath are that bad. On a final note. I’m in USA and we have absolutely no coverage on any of the thousands of cable channels. This is a disgrace. I’ve lived here 25 yrs and am amazed at the lack of real initiatives to get the game going over here. It is THE market to go after. The Americans who play love this game. Their kids are strong and so many yearn for a contact game, The more we can get on TV the easier it is for them to discover the game. Perhaps we could supplant frisbee golf on TV. Just my opinion.