The Top 14, United Rugby Championship and English Premiership have all been providing fans with plenty of enjoyment during the last months, with title clashes and battles to avoid the foot of the table heating up as the weeks have gone by.
However, all three will now take a well-earned break as the European season takes centre stage, although that does not mean that the action will grind to a halt. Far from it in fact, with the European Rugby Champions Cup (the top tier of the two continental competitions) alone offering many mouthwatering ties to look forward to, including Saracens’ trip to Bulls, a repeat of last year’s final as Leinster travel to La Rochelle (both of which take place this weekend) and the visit of Sale Sharks to Cape Town to face Stormers.
Regardless of which of the three domestic leagues fans have an interest in, it is always worth watching when teams clash with those that they wouldn’t otherwise have come up against, and this tactical analysis will preview everything and will provide a flavour of what to look out for as the tournament goes on.
Potential challengers
The first thing that any fan will look at when assessing the draws is who could go all the way, and there will be some usual suspects that many will expect to go deep into the tournament, such as defending champions La Rochelle (despite them not having a brilliant start to the Top 14 season, with five defeats in their opening nine matches), last season’s runners-up Leinster (who currently top the URC standings), defending Premiership champions Saracens and Toulouse, who are the most successful team in Europe.
However, there are others who might not immediately come to mind as potential champions, and yet whose form would suggest that they will be difficult to beat. Racing 92 are one of those who have to be included in the conversation, given that they have been playing well and currently lead the rest of the teams in the French top flight, whilst defending URC champions Munster are another who can never be counted out and who will be hoping to translate their positive domestic performances under head coach Graham Rowntree onto the European stage.
Another who are perhaps an outside bet, but who should still be considered as potential challengers, are Harlequins, with the London club in fine form at the moment and looking dangerous every time that they step out onto the field, with them always finding a way to win regardless of what they are faced with.
Therefore, whilst it is likely that one or two sides will end this upcoming block of matches ahead of the others in the early reckoning for the title, there are at the moment a number of sides who could appear in the latter stages of the tournament and who would be capable of lifting the trophy at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in May.
Potential surprises
There are other teams who could perhaps do better than some might expect, having started the season in a strong manner, and who will be full of confidence about what they can do on the European stage this season. One of those is Bath, who have gone from the bottom of the Premiership to potential play-off contenders in the space of a couple of seasons, and their tactics and brand of rugby, which revolves around keeping their opponents on the back foot for long periods of play, will mean that they are not a team that any of Ulster, Racing, Cardiff and Toulouse (who will all face the English club in the pool stages) can afford to underestimate.
Another side currently taking many by surprise are Stade Français, but for the wrong reasons, with them starting the season brightly but falling away in the last few weeks after defeats to Pau, Bayonne and Toulouse among their last six matches. However, it is for that reason that they could be worth watching in Europe this season, as they will no doubt want to respond to their inconsistent league performances and show that they are a team to fear, and they are another who could pick up some strong results as the pool stages go on for that reason.
Two other teams to watch are URC duo Bulls and Glasgow Warriors, with both making flying starts to their domestic campaigns and currently sitting third and second in the multi-nation league at the time of writing.
Both play a really effective style of rugby, with Pretoria-based Bulls blending strong ball-carrying and the ability to continually get over the gain line with agility and speed, and their dominant win against fellow South African side Sharks at the weekend was built on both of these coming together to create a largely perfect performance. It also gives them different ways of winning matches, which will be vital given that they will face a wide range of tactics in the shape of Saracens, Bordeaux, Bristol Bears and Lyon.
In Glasgow’s case, it is about their versatility and ability to keep changing things around tactically and positionally, and, even though they lost at Munster at the weekend, they have still picked up five wins in their opening seven matches and have proven themselves to be tough opposition. There is a lot of positivity around Scotstoun at the moment about their prospects, and they will be relishing their upcoming clashes with Bayonne, Exeter Chiefs, Toulon and Northampton Saints.
Players to watch
As well as teams to keep an eye out for, individual players will also be worth watching, and there are always a few names that stand out year on year and who will always be expected to star, with Bath’s Scotland fly-half Finn Russell and La Rochelle’s France number 8 Grégory Alldritt just two of them.
However, this analysis will also list some of those that might not immediately come to mind, such as England standoff Marcus Smith, who has enjoyed a really good start to the season and who has been largely responsible for directing the traffic during Harlequins’ positive performances. This was particularly evident against Sale Sharks last Friday night.
Another young English talent to look out for is winger Henry Arundell, who gained limited minutes at the World Cup but who has made a flying start to his time in the Top 14, having joined Racing after the tournament following the collapse of his previous club London Irish.
He has always possessed talent and has shown promise, but there was always a feeling that London Irish could not quite give him what he needed to really stand out. At Racing, that seems to have been addressed, with him now in a team that matches his capabilities and that suits the way that he likes to play, and the results have been very impressive with four tries in his opening three games for the Paris club.
Among the URC sides, two names that are worth highlighting are those of Munster back rower Gavin Coombes and Ulster’s former Exeter forward Dave Ewers, with both known for their destructive ball-carrying and devastating tackling ability, whilst Coombes is also synonymous with scoring tries from different areas of the pitch, having ended last season’s competion as the third-highest scorer with four to his name.
It would not be out of the question to see both players in the thick of the action in all of their provinces’ pool stage games this time around (Munster are in the same pool as Glasgow and will face the same opponents, whilst Ulster are in Pool B with Bath and will also face Toulouse, Racing and Harlequins) and to see them become central to their hopes of making it into the knockout rounds.