After a cracking Round of 16, the Champions Cup immediately moves to its quarter-final stage and we have got a couple cracking fixtures lined up with the headline clash seeing Toulouse and Toulon square off in the final game of the weekend.
Friday
There may only be one Friday fixture but it should still be a cracker with URC rivals Leinster and Glasgow going head-to-head in Dublin.
The duo came through their Round of 16 missions unscathed with Leinster cantering to a 62-0 victory over Harlequins while the Warriors also fared well against English opposition beating the Leicester Tigers 43-19.
Leinster truly did make light work of ‘Quins this past weekend. Having taken a comfortable 19-0 lead into the half-time break, the Irish outfit kept their defence as tight as ever while letting loose with ball-in-hand as they added a further 43 points to their tally with James Lowe adding some real gloss with a late double near the end of proceedings.
Glasgow were pushed harder than Leinster with the Tigers enjoying a fast start to the fixture as they opened the scoring.
The Warriors would lay siege to the Tigers defence, however, and this would tell with ill-discipline and tiring bodies allowing the URC outfit to take control early in the second half where they grabbed three tries within the opening 20-minutes of the second half. The game was pretty much done and dusted from there with the ‘Scots managing proceedings well.
Looking ahead to this weekend and Leinster will be without Irish lock James Ryan is out with a calf injury. His absence will be offset somewhat in the tight five with Ireland hooker Ronan Kelleher having recovered from a neck injury and is set to take part on Friday.
Friday Single
Leinster have won the last five clashes between the sides, although Glasgow did win the most recent, running out 43-25 victors in a URC game back in October last year.
The Warriors have found the going tough at the Aviva though, losing their last three fixtures there by margins of 35 points and 62 points.
While I expect things will be tighter this time around, I can’t see the Warriors upsetting the applecart which is why I’m on the hosts clearing the ‘cap.
Saturday
Saturday’s double-header also promises entertaining fare with Bordeaux and Munster squaring off in the day’s opener, while the Northampton Saints and Castres will bring the curtain down on the day’s play.
Having cruised through the group stage, Bordeaux were given something of a wake-up call in the Round of 16 as they were given a real run for their money by Irish province Ulster.
Bordeaux looked to be in cruise control at 21-0 up midway through the first-half but a strong fightback from Ulster made things slightly more tense until the Top 14 side dotted down before the half-time whistle to extend their lead to 28-14 at the break.
The second half was slightly tighter but followed a similar trend with Bordeaux scoring three tries and Ulster responding with two. Things could have been a lot tighter than the final score of 43-31 had Ulster not had two tries disallowed.
While Bordeaux’s victory was somewhat narrow when compared with some of the other winning margins from the weekend, Munster’s was as tight as they come with the Irish province knocking out Ronan O’Gara’s La Rochelle with a 24-25 victory in France.
The star of the show for the Munster men was pivot Irish pivot Jack Crawley, whose 65th-minute drop goal left Munster legend and La Rochelle head coach Ronan O’Gara calling to call him a ‘little fucker’ in the post match presser.
While O’Gara’s comment was tongue in cheek, the La Rochelle head coach will be exceedingly annoyed with his charges who were far from at the races. Credit to Munster, however, as they showed great composure in controlling the fixture.
Looking ahead to the team news for this one, it looks like Bordeaux will unleash their most potent attacking weapon with winger Louis Bielle-Biarrey having been rested last week.
Munster are currently sweating on the fitness of prop Jeremy Loughman who looks set to miss out barring a minor miracle, while they have also lodged an appeal on centre Alex Nakivell’s two match suspension, which is unlikely to be overturned.
The Saints gave a very tidy account of themselves in the Round of 16 opener where they beat Clermont 46-24. The English club ran in nine tries with Red Roses stars Fin Smith and Tommy Freeman doing their Lions tour chances no harm as they bagged a hattrick a piece.
While Smith and Freeman were the standard bearers in the backs, loose forwards Juandro Augustus and Henry Pollock put in outstanding shifts in both the loose and at the breakdown.
Castres found the going a lot tougher in the Round of 16 as they were pushed really hard by an ever improving Benetton side.
After a topsy turvy first stanza that saw the lead change multiple times, Castres were dealt a hammer blow early in the second half with Adrien Seguret sent off for an elbow to an opponent’s face.
Things went from bad to worse for Castres in record time with Bennetton dotting down shortly afterwards. The sides would trade tries with the visitors ultimately taking a five point lead into the final throes of the fixture but a late try from replacement scrum-half Jeremy Fernandez would swing things in Castres favour and book them an away day date with the Saints.
As touched upon earlier, Adrien Seguret almost cost his team last week and he’s hampered them again this weekend as he is suspended while the Saints seem to have a pretty clean bill of health with George Furbank returning to contact training this week having sustained a broken arm against the Blue Bulls back in December. While he’s unlikely to get a run from the start, he could play a role off the bench.
Saturday Singles
Munster Plus
I fancy Munster to give Bordeaux a real run here. They have the forward pack to deal with Bordeaux’s all-star heavies and this should be a great contest.
Northampton Minus
Castres are pretty lucky to be involved at this point and I can see them struggling against a Northampton side that may be struggling on the domestic front, but are smashing it on the European stage.
Saturday Double
Munster Plus and Northampton Minus
Sunday
The last of the quarter-final clashes is by far the tastiest with Toulouse and Toulon squaring off in all French derby. The two sides have been running in points for fun in Europe and we could well see a high-scoring thriller here.
Both sides took on English opposition in the Round of 16 with Toulon playing out one of the most bizzare fixtures in Champions cup history as they beat Saracens 72-42 in a game that saw a total of 16 tries scored. Down by 22 points inside the opening half hour of the fixture, Toulon burst to life scoring 59 points in the remaining 50 minutes of the fixture with Facundo Isa and Melvyn Jaminet bagging a hat-trick a piece.
Toulon will be hoping for a far more controlled showing this weekend as while they fired on attack, their defence was woeful at times against the North London outfit.
Toulouse were involved in a far more respectable 80-minutes of rugby as they beat the Sale Sharks 38-15.
While the game itself was respectable, it had a rather bizarre start with a stuck parachutists delaying kick-off by half an hour. While the game was delayed, Tolouse’s start wasn’t with Englishman Jack Willis crossing shortly after kick-off. Sale fought back with a try of their own but suffered a major injury blow with Tom Curry forced off soon after Sale’s try.
While Sale would extend their lead to five points, Toulouse would come back and take control of the game in the second stanza.
The win did come at a cost for Toulon, however, with utility back Ange Cupuozzo stretchered off and looking to be sidelined for a good while.
Sunday Single
Toulouse Win
Games between Top 14 sides generally go the way of the team hosting and I reckon this one will be no different.
Weekend Treble
Leinster Minus, Munster Plus and Northampton Plus
