Champions Cup Round 4: The English Fixtures
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The English contingent face some stiff opposition this weekend after a reasonably successful Round 3. Harlequins, Wasps, Leicester, Exeter and Bristol Bears came away with wins while the unfortunate trio of Northampton, Sale and Bath finished on the wrong side of the scoreboard.
Harlequins vs Castres:
Quins will once again be determined to make life difficult for any opposition setting foot onto the turf of the Twickenham Stoop – this time, Castres.
A high-scoring Round 3 encounter saw the defending Premiership champs put Cardiff away 36-33 in Wales:
Quins have already secured their spot in the Round of 16 and thus will have the opportunity to express themselves on the pitch without much added pressure. If they hit the ground running, it could be a tough night for the French visitors.
Match facts:
- Harlequins’ three consecutive wins is their best run in the Heineken Champions Cup since securing four straight victories across the 2013/14 and 2014/15 campaigns.
- Harlequins fly half Marcus Smith’s 44-point haul is 12 more than any other player in the Heineken Champions Cup this season. He has also scored a try in each of his last two appearances.
- Castres have lost their last three Heineken Champions Cup matches, albeit by fewer than seven points each time. This is their worst run since suffering 10 consecutive defeats from 2013/14 to 2016/17.
- Castres have averaged just 61 passes per game in the Heineken Champions Cup this season. This is at least 20 fewer than any other team and less than half Quins’ average of 125.
Bath vs Leinster:
Although they will enjoy home-ground advantage, it is set to be a tough night for Charlie Ewels and co. as they set out to tackle the on-fire Leinster.
Last week, Bath fell to La Rochelle 39-21:
Leinster were brutal as they sacked Montpellier 89-7. Not many will be giving the home side a chance of victory in this one, though maybe they will find it within themselves to put up a decent fight against the Irishmen.
This from Bath’s backline ace Cameron Redpath who has recently returned from injury and busy finding his stride again:
“I’m really happy to be back on the pitch. Eoin Cremen has been my lead physio for my whole rehabilitation and has been massive for me - most of the past eight months I couldn’t have done without him. Marc Beggs has been great as well and all the other physios; the coaches, my family, my girlfriend and a lot of other people have been great and very supportive.”
Match facts:
- Bath have faced Leinster more often than any other team in the Heineken Champions Cup (12); however, they have lost 10 of their 12 games against them, including each of their last four encounters.
- Bath Rugby have lost their last 10 games in the Heineken Champions Cup (excl. Cancelled fixtures), only Sale Sharks (L16) have endured a longer losing run in the competition amongst English teams; they have lost 14 of their last 15 games against Irish teams in the Champions Cup, but their solitary win in that run came at home against Leinster (19-16 in 2015/16).
- Leinster won their Round3 fixture 89-7 against Montpellier Hérault Rugby, their biggest win in the Heineken Champions Cup and the joint-third biggest victory by any team in the competition; Leinster lost their last away game in the competition but have not lost consecutive away games since a run of four defeats across the 2015/16 and 2016/17 seasons.
- Leinster have averaged the most carries (138), metres (1179), passes (209), defenders beaten (32 )and offloads (17) per game of any team in the Heineken Champions Cup this season.
- Leinster’s James Lowe has made six line-breaks in the Heineken Champions Cup this season, more than any other player, five of those breaks came in the last round against Montpellier Hérault Rugby, the most for any player in a single game this season.
Leicester vs Bordeaux:
It was a close shave last weekend when the mighty Tigers squeaked home by a solitary point against Connacht. However, a win is a win, as they say, although this one brought with it a deep, collective sigh of relief. Leicester did well to overturn an 18-point deficit to snatch the result away from Connacht, a comeback that was praised by head coach Steve Borthwick.
“I think the players on the pitch were really composed,” Borthwick said. “They kept understanding what they had to do.
“I think you see a lot of teams in that situation panic. Young players came on to the pitch and were incredibly influential in what they did, really composed, really mature performances – they got us in a position to get over the line to win the game.
“We started the game really well, we finished the game really well and then the bit in the middle was pretty poor,” he commented. “We’ll have a good look at that and what we could do better to not be in that position again in the future.”
The sides met in Round 1 where Leicester managed a 3-point victory:
Match facts:
- This will be just the second encounter between Leicester Tigers and Union Bordeaux-Bèglesin the Heineken Champions Cup, with the Premiership club winning the reverse fixture earlier this season (16-13);
- The Tigers have lost their last two home games against French teams in the Heineken Champions Cup (both against Racing 92) after remaining unbeaten in the previous 16 such games (W15 D1).
- Leicester Tigers have won their last three games in the Heineken Champions Cup after winning only two of the previous 14 (L12), however, they haven’t won more consecutive matches since a run of five wins in 2015/16.
- Union Bordeaux-Bègleshave won their last three away games in the pool stage of the Heineken Champions Cup, after losing six of the previous eight (W2); those three wins have come by fewer than seven points.
- Leicester Tigers (48) and Union Bordeaux-Bègles(43) are the only teams to average 40+ kicks in play per match in the Heineken Champions Cup this season.
- Leicester’s TommyReffell has made 42 tackles in the Heineken Champions Cup this season, only Northampton’s David Ribbans (43) has made more; Reffell has also made three dominant tackles, the joint third most of any player, behind teammate Harry Wells and Castres’ Filipo Nakosi who have both made four.
Bristol vs Scarlets:
The Bears will meet the challenge of Scarlets with a spring in their step, coming off a good victory over Stade Francais in Round 3:
It was Bristol’s first win of their campaign and, should they be able to replicate that form, they may well register their second this weekend.
Bristol boss Pat Lam said:
“I’m really pleased for our club, our supporters, that the boys have done a good job and guaranteed us Champions Cup knockout rugby in April,” he told the club website.
“We are building nicely, because we’re working hard. We’ve got to get back to work again. We want to finish as high up as we can, which influences later on.
“The boys tried to keep the ball alive a lot – sometimes we just needed a little bit more control.
“We are growing and we continue to grow. We know it’s not perfect, but the control from the leaders, the effort from the boys channelled into what we want to do, is just getting better and better, and that’s going to hold us in great stead as we continue to keep going.”
Sale vs Ospreys:
Sale will have another crack at Ospreys in Round 4, hoping to follow up their Round 1 result with another victory, this time at the AJ Bell.
Sale scored all their points in the first half of the Round 1 encounter and managed to hold out the rest of the match. They will thus be looking for an improved performance in the first half this week.
Last week, Sale had the opportunity to lock in a Round of 16 spot but fell to Clermont, 25-19.
“Now we know what we’ve got to do to go through and that’s beat Ospreys at home,” said Sale boss Alex Sanderson. “We are getting there and we are starting to gel.
“We’ll go home, lick our wounds and start building for next weekend.
“We are better than the scoreline indicated in Clermont and if we keep applying ourselves, and keep building, the results will start to turn our way.
“I can’t fault the effort and application of my players and we came away with a lot of pride and a lot of anger.
“I feel like we nearly won it. Anyone coming here and taking a losing bonus-point would normally be happy, but every point matters in this tournament and we were better than what we came away with.
“I feel frustrated allied with a sense of pride because we didn’t give an inch physically.
“We stuck to the game plan in the first half and looked dangerous.”
From Sanderson’s words, one can deduce that the Sale effort this weekend will be characterised by determination as the Round of 16 beckons.
Racing 92 vs Northampton:
Paris La Defense Arena will be the destination of the Saints’ next clash as they hunt their first victory of the Champions Cup campaign.
Their last encounter with Racing 92 will not act as a gratifying memory as Saints were put through the mill by the Top 14 giants at Franklin’s Gardens:
Last weekend, Saints were unable to topple Ulster, losing out by 4 points:
“We weren’t a million miles away at the end, but we just gave away too many points,” said Saints coach Phil Dowson.
“We defend for long periods of time, and a lot of the time we do it well, but eventually some of that pressure tells and when we get into those attacking spaces we don’t make as much of it.
“We need to improve – and we need to improve quickly week to week. We need to make sure we’re better in scenarios where we can exert pressure.
“It’s about training it, understanding what you need to do and then training it under pressure again and again until you can’t get it wrong.
“It’s very hard to recreate scenarios midweek because the injury risk and fatigue mean you don’t want to create that pressure physically, but you do have to try to create it and offer those opportunities.
“But the best and hardest way to learn is in games like today. Ulster are a physical, direct team and their forwards go route one and our boys stood up.
“A lot of the time we put good defensive sets in and didn’t give away too many dumb penalties, but we’ve come out on the wrong side so we need to be better.”
Munster vs Wasps:
It will be a tough assignment for Wasps as they travel to Thomond Park this round. However, they will journey with winning momentum at their backs after a great victory last week over Toulouse:
“Probably the first 10 minutes we gave them too much respect – we held off them a bit too much,” Lee Blackett said.
“After that, with fight and desire, we got ourselves into a lead and it was about how we dealt with the red card. [I’m] really pleased considering the age of some of those half-backs. It’s a pretty young backline and having to manage the game a man down, I’m really proud of them.”
Munster brough the proverbial hammer down on Wasps the first time they met in the current campaign (Round 1) - a result Lee Blackett’s men have hopefully learned from since.
With recent results in mind, this clash has the makings of a humdinger. Munster are always a hard unit at home but Wasps showed last weekend that there is plenty of fight and ability in their camp.
Montpellier vs Exeter:
Exeter will be looking for their third victory of the campaign when they travel to Altrad Stadium to take on Montpellier.
Exeter made short work of Montpellier in their Round 1 encounter. Final score: 42-6.
Rob Baxter’s men enjoyed a thumping victory last weekend as well, this time over Glasgow Warriors:
Baxter took plenty of positives away from the win.
“If someone had said to me before the game that something like that was going to happen, I almost wouldn’t have believed them,” he said, speaking to the Exeter Chiefs website.
“People will be aware of the season we’ve had, one with plenty of ups and downs, where we’ve lacked that real consistency in our game. Even when we got two scores up in the first half, the old ghosts were there and we had a breather, which allowed them back into the game.
“The second half started in much the same vein, but then we kind of found our mojo and the decisions by the whole team helped to rekindle things for us.
“I think what you saw was our set-piece started to really function,” he added. “It allowed our backs to thrive and vice-versa. What you saw was some of those real Exeter qualities that we have been looking for.
“You could just see the team flourishing on one another’s actions. The backs flourished on good balls from forwards; the forwards flourished on the defensive pressure put on by the backs.
“We built our way up the pitch as we have done in really good years and that is probably the highlight for me – that DNA is still there. We’ve just got to let it out a bit more.”
Turning to this weekend’s fixture, Baxter hopes that his charges will build on the success of the last round and keep a keen eye on progression in the tournament.
“The big thing for us is that we stay on this upward performance cycle that we have created,” he said.
“What I want from our guys is to go over there and try and get as much as they can from the game, just because there are real benefits for us later in the competition if we can do that.
“As I said to the guys, we have been performing well recently and I’m keen for us to keep that momentum going. Equally, I’ve been around this game long enough to know that there will be some kind of response from Montpellier this week. I’ve never seen a frontline team from any country not respond in a way to what happened to them last week against Leinster.
“I know there are all kinds of reasons for what happened, whether that’s rules and regulations; where we are with Covid currently; even front-row issues, but that doesn’t mean we won’t see a backlash of sorts this week. I’m sure there will be a reaction and we have to be ready to meet that.
“It’s one of those weird ones where we will go over there feeling pretty good about ourselves, especially coming off a good victory here against Glasgow, whilst they will be there licking their wounds and wanting to put things right. Normally when the situation is like that, it doesn’t tend to mix very well, so we have to make sure that we go after the game flat out from minute one.”
