The first round of the Investec Champions Cup presents such a veritable feast of a rugby weekend for watchers that if you stated the obvious, which is that the repeat of last year’s final tops the fare, you might well end up having to argue the point.
Yes, Leinster travelling to France to play two-time champions LaRochelle will be the game that grabs the headlines, and rightly so. The two sides have met in two finals, one at a neutral venue (Marseille) and another not-so-neutral (Dublin), and there’s hardly been anything between the sides. In both games, the one in 2021/22 and the 2022/23 decider, Leinster led most of the way and then lost it at the death.
But close means nothing to the beaten team, particularly not when there is a tile and a season of boasting rights on the line, and both times that was Leinster. And if you consider that Leinster also have several Irish internationals who were close but no cigar, and still rooted in that nation’s inability to get beyond the quarterfinal stage, at the recent Rugby World Cup, then it is clear Leinster should be a team that is smarting.
Getting such an early opportunity to avenge the defeat of a few months ago might work for Leinster, who are also hitting LaRochelle when they are struggling and listing only ninth in the French league, the Top 14. Their coach, former Munster kingpin and Ireland international Ronan O’Gara has also been suspended for one game, a ruling that was passed down this week, so his involvement in the final rematch will be curtailed.
After a poor start when they lost to Glasgow Warriors, last year’s beaten Challenge Cup finalists, Leinster have picked up their old momentum in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship and do look the most likely team from that competition to challenge for the European title.
However, there should be a better fist made of it from the other URC sides this season, with Munster, who are at home to Bayonne on Saturday night, having broken their trophy drought with their URC final win in Cape Town in May and also having hit some form in their most recent game against the aforementioned Glasgow Warriors.
Aside from the two South African teams, the DHL Stormers and the Vodacom Bulls, the other URC teams to watch out for are the Warriors, who play a sublime style of rugby that makes them worth watching win or lose, and Ulster.
Cardiff and Connacht complete the URC representation but neither of them should challenge for a place at the sharp end of the tournament when it is usually the French sides plus Leinster who are the main contenders.
A few years back English clubs used to feature, and that will be one of the big questions asked heading into this year’s edition of what many regard as rugby’s most elite competition - can there be an English renaissance given the troubles, mainly financial, that have blighted the English Premiership.
Saracens are the reigning English champions so there will be many eyes on their first-ever visit to South Africa to play the Bulls at Loftus on Saturday, and the good news there is that the visitors do appear to have brought their top team, with England lock Maro Itoje mentioning in UK media interviews that he’s looking forward to the new challenge for his club team.
“This is he first time that Saracens are going to play a South African side in European competition, so that’s exciting,” Itoje told The Times before his team departed England.
“We’re going to be there a week. It adds an element of excitement and it is exciting to escape the British winter. I didn’t mind South African teams being added to the competition. The more quality in the competition, the better. It’s a great occasion and something we are looking forward to.”
It remains to be seen if Owen Farrell, the England captain who is taking a break from international rugby but still fully committed to his club, will be at Loftus, but the indications were good earlier in the week as he appeared to have recovered from the injury that kept him from playing Northampton Saints in the Premiership last weekend.
One of the form English teams, Harlequins, is also overseas this week, if you can really call across the English Channel as overseas for an English club, and there are some who are tipping their game against Paris 92 to be the clash of the weekend to rival the one at LaRochelle. Certainly, it could be the most entertaining given how committed both teams are to attacking rugby and there is also plenty of South African interest, with Springbok World Cup winning skipper Siya Kolisi lining up for his new club Racing.
On an entertainment level, another plum fixture is Glasgow Warriors against Northampton Saints at the Scotstoun, one of two games - the other being in Galway where Connacht host Bordeaux - that gets the weekend fare up and running on Friday night.
While LaRochelle have won two Champions Cups in a row and Leinster have been their main and most consistent challengers, it is in fact another French club, Toulouse, who have the best record in the competition, with five titles to Leinster’s four. They get their campaign going against Cardiff on Saturday, while England coach Steve Borthwick’s former team, with two Boks in Handre Pollard and Jasper Wiese in tow along with a smattering of England internationals, host the Stormers at Welford Road as part of what should be an entertaining and absorbing Sunday that starts with Sale Sharks hosting Stade Francais and also features the LaRochelle/Leinster game (same time as the Stormers game) in the middle before finishing off with Racing 92/Harlequins.
This weekend’s Investec Champions Cup fixtures (home teams first, SA times)
Friday
22:00 Connacht v Bordeaux-Begles
22:00 Glasgow Warriors v Northampton Saints
Saturday
15:00 Toulon v Exeter Chiefs
17:15 Bath v Ulster
17:15 Toulouse v Cardiff
19:30 Vodacom Bulls v Saracens
19:30 Munster v Bayonne
22:00 Bristol Bears v Lyon
Sunday
15:00 Sale Sharks v Stade Francais
17:15 Leicester Tigers v DHL Stormers
17:15 LaRochelle v Leinster
19:30 Racing 92 v Harlequins