European Rugby quarter-finals: Five Talking Points from the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup
Saracens players celebrate their stunning 25-17 victory over Leinster at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin
Credit: Ramsey Cardy Sportsfile via Getty Images
The finally piece left in the club rugby puzzle, the European competitions are back with a bang as the quarter-final stage was finally completed in dramatic fashion.
Juggernauts Leinster and Saracens met in Dublin, with the Irishmen fresh off securing a third straight Pro14 title after defeating Ulster last weekend 27-5.
Sarries, meanwhile, have been gearing up for this clash for weeks after their relegation from the Premiership was confirmed earlier this year to try and make it four European Rugby Champions Cup’s in five years.
Clermont and Racing also squared off in an all-French clash, Saints travelled to Sandy Park to take on Exeter Chiefs and Ulster went to Toulouse to try and upset the odds.
Here are our Five Talking Points as European rugby made its much welcomed return.
Dogged Saracens keep their season alive and look for another European crown
Commentators, pundits and journalists keep referring to this as Saracens ‘Last Dance’ in a rather lazy and obvious reference to the Netflix documentary about the 1997-98 Michael Jordan inspired Chicago Bulls.
In The Flanker’s view, it slightly papers over the nefarious dealings the club got involved in and were subsequently relegated for - almost as if this one last shot at another Champions Cup title was out of their hands or a result of bad luck.
Call it what you want, however, as the Wolf Pack was on fine form as they managed to smother the life out of Leinster in a first half that blew the Dubliners away.
Saracens came into the sheds 22-3 up at half time, but there was no 2011 Heineken Cup comeback despite prop Andrew Porter smashing over from close range and Jordan Larmour scything through black shirted defenders.
Leinster were forced into errors by a relentless Sarries, conceding penalties that Alex Goode or Elliot Daly bombed over time and time again to maintain their stranglehold on the game to pull off the 25-17 win.
It was a black wall that the Irishmen tried to breach time and time again but were unable to, with Saracens making a staggering 187 tackles with Maro Itoje, Michael Rhodes and Jackson Wray covering every blade of grass.
Up front their scrummaging was so impressive as Mako Vunipola, Jamie George and Vincent Koch had the wood on the opposition trio.
Long the buzz word for Sarries, this was a performance built on one word - intensity. From the word go, they were knocking back Leinster and punishing penalty infractions with the boot.
The only real try scoring opportunity they created, they took with Alex Goode dancing through after a well executed strike move.
They had no ball, no territory and barely made running metres (only 124 across 80 minutes) but their game management was so exceptional that they rarely looked in doubt.
Whisper it quietly, but you would be mad to bet against them going all the way.
Iyogun strong as Chiefs grind out a hard fought win against plucky Saints
Much of the chat before this game focused on loosehead props. One loosehead prop in particular for that matter. Emmanuel Iyogun, at just 19, was making his first start in this game after four Saints looseheads were ruled out through injury.
It even prompted a rule change from the EPCR as Alex Seville was added to the squad on an emergency loan for the beleaguered Saints.
Fortunately for the young man, he had an extremely solid game despite going up against internationals Harry Williams and Tomas Francis.
He held his own - for the most part - at scrum time and had some nice touches in the loose which made us, and probably Iyogun himself, wonder what all the fuss was about
Director of Rugby Chris Boyd said last week’s defeat to Leicester Tigers was “the worst in his two years” and challenged his men to make a statement.
They most certainly did and were well in the fight half time at 14-10 after Teimana Harrison was driven over at the base of a rumbling maul.
Northampton enjoyed 59% of the ball but ultimately still ended up on the losing side as Exeter flexed their muscles and won 38-15, with South African flanker Jacques Vermeulen grabbing a brace for the Devon outfit.
Despite Saints being much improved at the breakdown and the scrum since the Tigers game, it was too easy at times for Chiefs break through Northampton tacklers as shown by Jack Nowell’s 42 minute try that nudged Exeter out of reach.
For Chiefs, they made up for a slow opening 20 minutes by asserting their dominance either side of half time. Their power game is unrivalled as one out runners and big units picking up at the base of the ruck battered Saints into submission.
Jonny Gray, Dave Ewers and man of the match Vermeulen got through a massive amount of work as the Devon outfit tackled for their lives and kept repelling the more and more expansive Saints.
Despite the up-front grunt they possess, Exeter can throw the ball around when required though, as a lovely play set Jack Maunder away for the game’s opening try.
It’s no secret that Director of Rugby Rob Baxter and owner Tony Rowe have long desired to go deep in the latter stages of Europe and this could be their best chance yet.
They welcome Toulouse to Sandy Park on Saturday and given how badly French teams usually travel, you would have to make them slight favourites in that one too.
Kolbe too much for Ulstermen
For the first 38 minutes of Toulouse’s clash with Ulster, the boys from Belfast were doing a mighty fine job at keeping up with one of Europe’s most potent attacking sides.
Despite going down early to a jinking Cheslin Kolbe try, they had their moments and were perhaps unlucky to only score one penalty in the first half.
When the magic Springbok winger got the ball and made Jacob Stockdale look silly just before half time however, there was only one way the match was going with the scoreboard 15-3 in favour of the French giants after 40 minutes.
The fans in the Stade Ernest-Wallon - a rather strange sight in current times - were treated to a scintillating display of Gallic flair with Toulouse making their credentials for the trophy known.
As mentioned before, the Frenchmen have an insatiable appetite for throwing the ball around. It was almost as if they needed to be told there were no bonus points for style but it still didn’t stop them.
The phenomenal Antoine Dupont scored probably the try of the game, with the assist coming from a scything run from Sofiane Guitoune. The centre even had time to pull up his shorts before putting away the diminutive scrum-half.
His midfield partner Pita Ahki then scored off a nice chip and chase before Thomas Ramos put a cherry on top after another bonkers attacking phase.
Roman Ntamack played a gorgeous miss-out pass to Guitoune to break the line yet again before he picked up the assist by shovelling on to the rampaging Ramos.
A late John Cooney consolation try couldn’t take any shine off a stunning 36-8 win for Toulouse, whose brand of rugby will face an acid test on Saturday afternoon against Exeter.
In a game of brawn vs flair, the big lads will usually win. However, if Toulouse can put the Devon men off their game, perhaps they could get back to the summit they haven’t reached in over a decade.
Bears brush past Dragons while Tigers gifted golden opportunity
Italy legend Sergio Parisse plants a smacker on Charles Ollivon during Toulon’s 11-6 victory
Credit: Alexandre Dimou Icon Sport via Getty Images
For the most part it was business as usual in the European Challenge Cup, with just the three quarter-final matches played due to the Castres squad dealing with an outbreak of coronavirus and forfeiting their match against Leicester.
It gives the Tigers a semi-final spot against Toulon next week and after a shocking season for the East Midlanders, they are somehow just two wins away from silverware.
They will do well to get by a Toulon side who managed to finish off an encounter with Scarlets on Saturday, narrowly winning 11-6.
The Frenchmen needed a bit of magic in the form of a brilliant team try that was finished off by old codger Sergio Parisse.
However an inspired Leigh Halfpenny must get huge credit for his performance, despite being on the losing end of things, with his try saving tackle a remarkable defensive play.
Indeed, the Welshmen could have sneaked things at the death with a driving maul, only for replacement Tyler Morgan spilling the ball at the crucial time.
It gifted the edgy contest to Toulon, who were also joined in the semi-finals by Bordeaux Begles after their surprising victory over Pro 14 semi-finalists Edinburgh by 23-14.
Richard Cockerill and his men will be kicking themselves, however, after they shipped two tries in the first 10 minutes to leave themselves a mountain to climb.
The Scots couldn’t capitalise on Ben Tameifuna sin binning despite being just seven points down and heading into the final few minutes of the game.
Bristol’s performance against Dragons on Friday night showed who the clear favourite is for the title in a few weeks time, with the Bears rampant at Ashton Gate.
They blew away a Dragons team that on paper was very strong with the likes of Jamie Roberts, Nick Tompkins and Ross Moriarty all playing.
Seven tries for the Bears and tidy kicking from Callum Sheedy quickly put any Welsh hopes to bed with a resounding 56-17 victory.
Semi Radrada did Semi Radrada things and the performance will give the Bears’ a big boost not just for Bordeaux at home next week, but also in their push for a playoff spot in the Premiership.
A very French affair? Only in the sense it was free-spirited and confusing
There were only two words that dominated the mind of every purist when the quarter-final clash between Clermont and Racing 92 was drawn.
JOUÉ. JOUÉ.
After the grinding affair in Dublin, there would have been plenty of rugby fans desperate for a good old-fashioned French palette-cleanser and to see, once and for all, who could go wide quicker.
Well, it’s not that they didn’t get something like that, but it was a strange old game.
Both sides demonstrated very early on they were not going to waste time with all that ruck faffery, deciding to spread the ball at every opportunity.
The first try came after just three minutes as fullback Louis Dupichot went over for Racing, with many believing this would start the ding dong affair.
It never quite became the game many would expect, but that’s not to say there weren’t flashes of individual brilliance on both sides.
Damian Penaud was a constant threat for Clermont, Wesley Fofana finished off a slick move in the second half and Francois Trinh-Duc benefited due to a bounce from the heavens to score a classy solo try for Racing.
Clermont outscored their Parisian opponents four tries to two but still lost the game 27-36, with the unerring boots of Teddy Iribaren and Maxime Machenaud meaning despite the tries, the game was never really that close.
Two yellow cards for both teams meant neither side really had the chance to get going and there were dangerous signs for Racing in how easily their defence got opened up.
Their 24 missed tackles is a stat that, when they come up against Saracens in the semi-final, will lead to a one-way ticket to Try Town for the Londoners.
Both sides conceded twelve turnovers, again a worrying indictment of their ball control, and in general the game became so stop-start The Flanker was genuinely confused when we looked up and saw the final score.
The promised drama and flair of the game, as a whole, never really happened.
An away win in France is not to be underestimated from Racing, especially in the Stade Marcel Michelin which has been regarded over the last few years as one of the great fortresses of European competition.
However, the main concern for any Racing 92 fan would be the fact that Saracens, even still shorn of Owen Farrell, will not be worried about much they saw from the Parisians in this game.
Usually, French sides are a different breed on their own patch and Racing are capable of quite literally anything on any given day. It will not be one to miss.
