The rugby season in Europe is rapidly drawing to a close, with the English Premiership, Top 14 and United Rugby Championship campaigns all in their final stages and a number of teams at both ends of the tables discovering or coming to terms with their fate.
This weekend though, league matches will be put to one side, with the 2023/2024 European Rugby Champions and Challenge Cup finals taking centre stage as four teams compete for continental silverware. They promise to be memorable encounters for fans of those sides and for neutrals alike, with Saturday’s Champions Cup final being contested by Leinster and Toulouse whilst Gloucester and the Sharks will lock horns in the Challenge Cup the night before.
This short tactical analysis will preview the matches by providing some insight into which players could star in them, with the analysis highlighting one player from each of the four sides in action and showing why they could be important players on the day and why limiting their impact needs to be a key focus for their opponents.
Josh Hathaway
Gloucester may not have had the best season domestically, having struggled for form and finishing second bottom of the Premiership, but they have been an entirely different prospect on the continent and will go into Friday night’s match hoping to replicate the performances that have seen them reach the last two.
If they are to get their hands on a second trophy of the campaign (having already lifted the Premiership Rugby Cup), then asserting their dominance from the first whistle will be vital, and one player who has demonstrated his ability to do just that is Josh Hathaway. A product of the Cherry and Whites’ academy, the utility back has exploded into the first-team picture this season and has quickly established himself as an undroppable player for them, with him capable of playing at full-back, fly-half or on the wing and so suiting a variety of systems and tactics.
His performance against Newcastle Falcons at the weekend was one that really showed his capabilities, with his spatial awareness and speed of thought constantly on display and allowing him to take a leading role in his side’s attacking play as they tore their opponents apart. The Sharks will have to keep a very close eye on him on Friday if they want to avoid going the same way.
Werner Kok
Like Gloucester, the Sharks go into this weekend’s final off the back of a disappointing domestic campaign, with them having some outstanding players and several of the Springboks’ Rugby World Cup winners on their books, but they have never been able to rack up consistent performances or results and so sit 13th out of 17 in the URC table with just one regular season match to go.
Whilst the likes of Bongi Mbonambi, Eben Etzebeth and Lukhanyo Am (to name just a few of their international stars) will all be vital to their game plan in London, the name that has really stood out this season for the Durban-based club is Werner Kok. He might not be a name that many will have come across before, given that he has never featured for his national team, but there is no doubting that he has been one of the shining lights in the Sharks’ season and has rarely had a bad game, with his quick feet and speed of thought leading to many falling fowl of his individual threat as the campaign has gone on.
With Kok engaging upon his final matches for the Sharks, having agreed a move to Ulster in the summer as part of the Belfast side’s much-needed rebuild, he will want to ensure that he ends his time in South Africa on a high, and it is likely that he could be a thorn in Gloucester’s side for that reason and so will need to be managed well by the English club if they are to prevent him from working his usual magic.
Will Connors
Whilst that promises to be a very interesting encounter, the match that everyone is looking forward to is the Champions Cup final, with it pitting two of Europe’s heavyweights against each other in a repeat of last year’s semi-final clash (which Leinster won 41-22). The Irish province will hope to emulate that win this weekend and to end their long wait for a European title, stretching back to 2018, having been in the last two finals and having lost to La Rochelle on both occasions.
What gives them a good chance of going one better this year is not only that La Rochelle were knocked out in the earlier knockout rounds, but also that they have fresh tactics in their game plan this season as a result of former South Africa head coach Jacques Nienaber joining the team following last year’s Rugby World Cup. Since his arrival in Dublin, he has looked to tweak a few different aspects of their play, particularly in defence, with there now being a greater desire to win the ball early through pressing and charging down attempted box kicks.
One player who has proven to be critical to this succeeding is Will Connors, with the Ireland flanker a constant threat at breakdown situations but this season elevating his game to offer more when Leinster don’t have the ball. He largely led the defensive pressing tactics against Ulster at the weekend and showed why he is such a highly rated player in Ireland, and he could be one to watch at the weekend as a result.
Jack Willis
Winning the defensive battle will also play a key role in Toulouse’s game plan, with them having plenty of strong ball-carriers who can get over the gain line and who can then either protect the ball whenever it goes to ground or can secure turnovers whenever their opponents are looking to do the same.
One player who has constantly shown his ability to dominate at breakdown situations is England flanker Jack Willis, who moved to the French side in 2022 after his former club Wasps went into administration. Since playing in the Top 14, he has established himself as one of the most dangerous players in the league and someone that Toulouse have come to rely on time and time again.
His ability to be so effective in tight spaces could be vital if Toulouse are to win a sixth European top tier title, and it would not be a surprise to see him in the middle of things throughout the game as a result.