The Investec Champions Cup quarterfinal round will kick off with South African influence writ large in the Dublin showdown between Leinster and the Glasgow Warriors, but it is Sunday’s final game at Stade Mayol in Toulon that has the most potential to derail one of last year’s finalists.
The Dublin game may well be a preview of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship final that will be played later in the season. The Warriors are second to Leinster at present, and although they are being strongly challenged by the Vodacom Bulls, the smart money should be on them staying there and playing at least their first two knock-out games at their home fortress of Scotstoun.
The South African influence in the game starts with two key members of the respective coaching staff. Both Jacques Nienaber, the senior assistant coach to Leo Cullen at Leinster, and Glasgow’s head coach Franco Smith have had strong Springbok connections. Nienaber is the most recent Bok World Cup winning coach, while Smith served as an assistant coach under Allister Coetzee and of course was also a more than useful flyhalf/centre for the Boks in the second part of the 1990s.
Leinster have got one thing right in the past three Champions Cup seasons - they have won all their Pool games, which has enabled them to win their Pool and advance to the knock-out phase with a good enough seeding to play all their play-off games at home.
Well, there is a destination final this year in Cardiff, but the season before last, that destination final was in Dublin, so Leinster have managed to give themselves a significant leg up.
But while they made three finals, they lost all of them, even the one in Dublin, albeit all of them by the narrowest of margins, and they are desperate to do better than that this season. After three narrow misses, a fourth would be very difficult for them to recover from.
That’s where further South African influence comes in, with Bok lock RG Snyman joining All Black centre Jordie Barrett in creating the point of difference for Leinster. On their home ground, they should be too much for the Warriors, who are due to play in Dublin again in the URC in a few weeks, but given the clash in styles, it should also be a great game to watch.
Finding a winner for Sunday’s game in Toulon between the resurgent sleeping giants of French rugby and the reigning champions in this competition, Toulouse, is much less easy to do. Although they have a rich history in the competition, with no one really needing to be reminded of the pivotal role some legendary South Africans have played in their historical success, Toulon didn’t feature as one of the favourites in the competition at the start of the season. That was because they hadn’t challenged for European supremacy in a while, and when they went to Gqeberha in early December to open with a hard-fought win over the DHL Stormers, it was regarded as something of a surprise.
The highly physical Toulon side, though, did lay down an undeniable marker in that game. Often, the French sides don’t go all out in away games, but they quickly made it apparent they had come to play with their fast-paced and highly aggressive playing style. They were borderline too physical in that game, but their coach explained afterwards that it was what was required to win in South Africa.
It was Toulon’s first visit, and perhaps they over-compensated a bit. What they did do was make it clear that they were going to go all out to come top of their group, which is why they are hosting Toulouse on Sunday rather than travelling to the reigning champions club.
Toulouse is going to be hard to topple, even without their injured talisman Antoine Dupont. But not for nothing is the Toulon home ground of Stade Mayol described as “a mad house”, and that will be the big leveller when the two French giants clash. To illustrate how tough an obstacle this will be for Toulouse in their quest for a seventh European title, Toulon have not lost at home this season.
In 10 Top 14 home games, they have won every one. And several of those games were won with quite a considerable degree of comfort. The resurgence is happening, and it is therefore understandable that in some quarters there is reference to a top four - Toulouse, Leinster, the charging Bordeaux-Begles and now Toulon.
Toulon have played Toulouse once this season, and they conceded more than 50. But it was an away game, and French teams invariably go under-strength when they travel against the big teams. So this will be a different challenge for Toulouse, who won 38-15 against Sale Sharks but weren’t at their imperious best over the entire 80 minutes.
Indeed, they trailed at halftime, with it looking possible that Alex Sanderson’s Sale might pull off the upset of the season. But Sale was blacked out in the second half by a Toulouse team that took control and who had Ange Capuzzo and Romain Ntamack in outstanding form.
Toulon also started slowly in their round of 16 match and then ended like a house on fire. They were 28-0 down at one stage against under-strength Saracens but came back to post 74 points. That gave them the confidence they needed heading into Sunday, although both coaches will be wary of repeating last week’s slow starts. This time, they are up against opponents that will punish any early game rust.
The other URC team still alive in the competition is Munster, who dug deep and showed typical grit and fortitude to beat two-time champions La Rochelle, coached by former Munster legend Ronan O’Gara, last weekend. Bordeaux Begles, though on their home ground, should be a bridge too far, and Castres, who were fortunate to beat Benetton in the round of 16, should also struggle to cross the bridge placed in front of them in the form of Northampton Saints’ home ground of Franklin Gardens.
Investec Champions Cup quarterfinals (SA Time)
Leinster v Glasgow Warriors (Dublin, Friday 21:00)
Bordeaux Begles v Munster (Bordeaux, Saturday 16:00)
Northampton Saints v Castres (Northampton, Saturday 18:30)
Toulon v Toulouse (Toulon, Sunday 16:.00)