No one will be under any illusions over the challenge posed by the French teams but the Champions Cup quarterfinals nonetheless proved a good advert of the strength of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship.
Although Leinster are the only URC survivors as the prestigious European competition, rugby’s equivalent of soccer’s Champions Cup, heads into the semi-final stage this coming weekend, Munster gave as good as they got against tournament favourites Toulouse. The scores were level at full time, and after extra time, and in the end it was a place-kicking shoot-out that clinched Toulouse their advance to this coming weekend’s semi-final showdown with Leinster.
Leinster, who were impressive in dispatching the top current English team, Leicester, at a heaving and packed to capacity Welford Road, will be hoping it will be third time lucky for Irish teams against Toulouse. Before their narrow squeak against Munster, Toulouse also inflicted an agonisingly close defeat on Ulster in their two legged round of 16 tie.
The emotion Ulster and their supporters showed after being edged out by Toulouse last month was matched and perhaps even eclipsed by the emotion shown by the Munster coaches, players and supporters after their frustrating exit from the competition at the Aviva Stadium.
Former Springbok assistant coach Johan van Graan, now into his last month as Munster coach, struggled to keep back the tears afterwards and what he said about the day and the game summed up what the Champions Cup is all about to those who are part of it and who watch and support it.
“If ever there’s a day that sums up Munster Rugby, it’s today. The community, 40 000 people travelling, it was certainly one of the best rugby games I’ve been involved with,” van Graan said.
“I said to my wife there, from a feeling point of view, this was like the World Cup semi-final in 2015 that I was involved with when we (Boks) lost 20-18 against the All Blacks. That feeling that we gave it all we’ve got, the players gave it all they’ve got, management, staff. Then the people of Munster, they gave it all they’ve got.
“Then you’ve got to know that this is a game and I think everybody associated with Munster Rugby will be incredibly proud of the 23 guys who stood up and fought today.”
While the emotional scenes in Dublin summed up what the competition means, the quality of the rugby also showed the South African competitors how much work they may need to do if they are not to feel the disappointment that their countryman did this past Saturday night.
Leinster, so dominant in the URC that they can send a C team to South Africa and still earn a losing bonus point in Cape Town, started like they had a train to catch against Leicester.
They raced into a good lead and in doing so showed just how hard they are going to be to beat for the South African teams with URC title intentions. Leicester are a star studded team and have been the best in the English league this year and came back to them, but Leinster did enough to end the game as marginal favourites to beat Toulouse and advance to the final.
The box office atmosphere and emotion of the Champions Cup games was an appetiser for the Cell C Sharks, DHL Stormers and Vodacom Bulls, who are the three local teams that have qualified for the upper echelon of European competition. What South African players and fans saw of the quarterfinals on their television sets can only excite them.
The atmosphere at Aviva Stadium, temporarily turned into Munster’s home ground because of a clash with a concert at their home ground in Limerick, looked unbeatable. But only unbeatable if you didn’t also get a glimpse of what was going down in another quarterfinal at La Rochelle. The French venue simply buzzed from the start to finish, with the stadium dominated as much by the colours of La Rochelle as Aviva was by the red of Munster.
Given the Leinster dominance over Leicester and how close Munster came to beating Toulouse - they didn’t lose, they drew after extra time - it was a weekend that did underline the strength of the top URC teams. At the same time though, it also showed the big challenge that is coming for the South African teams next year in the form of the French.
There are three French teams in the Champions Cup semi-finals, and there are another two French teams among the semi-finalists of the secondary European competition, the Challenge Cup. In that competition there was also heartbreak for URC teams, with hosts Edinburgh leading going into the final minutes of their clash with English club Wasps but then succumbing to a last gasp try that sent them out of the competition.
The Glasgow Warriors were leading well in Lyon (27-13) before the French team swarmed back in the final quarter to win 35-27. Again, it was a game that underlined what European competition has to offer, and even the Challenge Cup, which will be where the Emirates Lions play next year, is competed for with great passion.
Champions Cup quarterfinal results
Munster 23 Toulouse 23 (Toulouse advance on 4-2 penalty shootout)
Leicester 14 Leinster 23
La Rochelle 31 Montpellier 19
Racing 92 41 Sale Sharks 22
Challenge Cup quarterfinal results
Edinburgh 30 Wasps 34
Gloucester 15 Saracens 44
Toulon 19 London Irish 18
Lyon 35 Glasgow 27