After eleven captivating and sometimes suffocating days of Top 14, the “Champions Cup” will offer a different flavor, a little lightness, over two weekends. It happens that this competition offers clubs relieved of the heavy challenges of the championship an opportunity to free themselves, to initiate a new dynamic.
Its formula encourages the most enterprising teams. We can regain our health there as long as we have strong offensive ambitions. Last year, it served as a springboard for the Bordeaux-Bègles Union, for example. But as it leaves little room for error, it can also be a sign of discomfort.
Before this edition kicks off on Friday evening with Bath – La Rochelle, a quick overview of the French entrants.
1. Regionals in uncertainty
The UBB and its conquest in the west. The spring/summer version of the UBB appealed to you but its autumn/winter model worries you? Since Saturday, it's legitimate. The Montpellier forwards have redefined the limits of Bordeaux-Beglaise ambitions. How can you aim for the heights with a pack that loses five balls in touch and gets heckled in a closed scrum? The problem is recurring. This time again, the UBB emerged unscathed. But “Montpellier is a watered-down version of what Leicester offers,” warned Yannick Bru. And Ulster in Belfast is no picnic either. Will the hoped-for return of side captain Johnny Gray resolve the problem?
The Rochelais in the fog. Does the double winner of the event still have this ability to mobilize which made him so difficult to face during major events? If the Rochelais still have this power, they must demonstrate it on Friday evening in Bath, then during the reception in Bristol. Since the start of the season, the Maritimes have been plugged into alternating current and show all the signs of a team at the end of the cycle. List the key players who knew how to transform this collective: Atonio, Skelton, Alldritt, Botia, Kerr-Barlow, Danty, Dulin. Are they still there? Yes. Are they still as efficient? No. And we are looking for other leaders who could pull the Rochelais upwards.
The Maritimes are plugged into AC and showing all the signs of a team at the end of its cycle
2. They arrive with a smile
Toulouse residents at their level. The trophy holders, who host Ulster on Sunday, are in good form. They scored their fourth away success on Saturday at Racing 92. If Ugo Mola may have regretted a slight lack of realism from his team in the first half, his players knew how to step up the pace to muzzle the Ile-de-France reaction. Antoine Dupont was resting. The Toulouse coach calmly manages the abundance of goods.
Toulon and Clermont with their fangs. Last year, the Toulonnais missed their return to a competition which marked the history of the club. Their performance this season is encouraging. They have just had three consecutive successes but starting in Cape Town, with the Stormers, is not easy. The Clermontois, who share third place with the Toulonnais in Top 14, are also backed by a good series. If the Italians of Benetton Treviso should not pose a problem for them, it will quickly get complicated with a trip to Leinster which will serve as an evaluation during the 2e daytime.
3. They are in their little shoes
The three penitents. Castres has never made the Champions Cup a priority. In view of his rout at Clermont on Saturday, it is wiser. Stade Français dreamed of it a long time ago. Its lackluster start to the season leaves doubts about the potential of a team that was a semi-finalist in the Top 14 last spring but which is struggling to impose its rugby, as its defeat in Bayonne on Sunday reminded us.
For Racing 92, it is more worrying. What looms on the horizon for Ile-de-France residents in the event of failure is a real crisis and the realization that the Stuart Lancaster method does not work. But everything seems shaky in this homeless club, whose deputy president, Laurent Travers, offers his services elsewhere as a coach.
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