As domestic rugby returned in the form of the European Cups, it was a great chance for those who had a good autumn to continue their form, and for those that were dropped or lambasted for their form, to send a message that they shouldn’t be forgotten about yet. So with that in mind, who impressed and who didn’t in round three of the European Rugby Champions Cup?

GOING UP

Dan Cole
Leicester Tigers, England
As acid tests go after a long period out with injury, a battle with a front five that included ex-sparring partner Martin Castrogiovanni, Ali Williams, Bakkies Botha and French flavour of the month Xavier Chiocci is pretty tough. Cole looked like he’d never been away, and in combination with Marcos Ayerza gave the Toulonnais a torrid time at the scrums, winning countless penalties and generally procuring solid ball.

Joe Marler
Harlequins, England
If Cole was making a statement as to why he should come back into the England team, on the other side of the scrum Marler was continuing a fine autumn’s work in which he certainly enhanced his reputation at scrum time. In his crosshairs this time was Leinster’s Mike Ross – a man who may find himself in a similar situation come the Six Nations.

Justin Tipuric
Ospreys, Wales
Surely Wales need to find a place for someone as dangerous as Tipuric in their starting line-up? He almost single-handedly got them the draw from this game, having the presence of mind to take a quick line-out, then cutting a gloriuos line and throwing a lovely offload to Rhys Webb, who in turn set up Josh Matavesi for the decisive 74th minute try. It was a beautiful intervention that summed up Tipuric’s genius.

Camille Lopez
Clermont Auvergne, France
That Clermont became the first ever French team to win at Thomond Park was down in no small part to the cool-headedness of Lopez. He missed three penalties early on but all were tough and the subsequent sweetly-struck drop-goal from the 10 metre line proved they hadn’t affected him in the slightest. He had a mixed autumn campaign for France, but this was a message to Philippe Saint-André that he should stick with the Clermont man.

Ruan Pienaar
Ulster, South Africa
After the travails of South African scrum-halves over the autumn, it will be of great relief to Springbok fans that not only did Ruan Pienaar come through a full game of rugby but did so in style. He bagged a try and an assist, the former a good show of power and pace to convert Darren Cave’s smart break. More of the same, please.

Owen Williams
Leicester Tigers, Wales
Sure, Williams might have thrown an intercept pass to arch-poacher Bryan Habana and missed a sitter of a penalty, but did he let that affect him? Not in the slightest, as he went on to slot almost everything else including a booming 50 metre effort that meant Toulon needed more than a penalty or drop goal to win – which was very important given their late dominance. Williams seems to have unwavering self-confidence and given Priestland’s travails in that area, and Gatland’s obvious disdain for James Hook’s talents, it would not be a surprise to see Williams feature in the Six Nations.

GOING DOWN

Finn Russell
Glasgow Warriors, Scotland
We learnt over the autumn that Russell wasn’t afraid to get stuck in, which is a good thing, but you have to know where the line is. At the weekend, his judgement of said line was completely off as he received a yellow card for a tip tackle, and was probably lucky it wasn’t anything more. In his absence, Glasgow went from 3-3 to 16-3 down – a lead Toulouse were never going to squander.

Mike Ross
Leinster, Ireland
You’ve got to have some sympathy for Ross, purely because of the sheer volume of rugby he’s been asked to play in the past few months, and it probably showed here. He’s not an aggressively good scrummager but he can usually hold his own – that he was pulverised by a Quins pack that just the week previously was being ground into the West Country mud is evidence of how worn out Ross is.

Liam Williams
Scarlets, Wales
Liam Williams is a superb player – strong in defence, nippy in attack and at times unbeatable under the high ball. All of that is overshadowed, however, by his poor disciplinary record. He has a penchant for yellow cards that rivals the best in the business (side note – who would that be? Discuss.) and again at the weekend was given a 10 minute compulsory sit down for a daft tackle. He didn’t even lift the player up that high but there was no need whatsoever to drive him into the floor. Sadly, it was the latest in a long line of unnecessary indiscretions.

Mathieu Bastareaud
Toulon, France
Bastareaud was completely anonymous against the Tigers. The conditions were ill-suited for expansive back play, but that’s not his game anyway – he loves a big carry in the midfield, which would have suited just fine. As it was he managed to carry nine metres from six attempts – hardly earth-shattering results against a Tigers midfield that was far from the biggest. He wasn’t the only culprit of course – very few Toulon players managed to make any headway into a dogged Leicester defence.

Who were you impressed with over the weekend and who do you think played poorly?

By Jamie Hosie
Follow Jamie on Twitter: @jhosie43

Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images