European Champions Cup: Bath and Wasps glow as English clubs get lively

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2014/dec/09/european-champions-cup-bath-wasps-english-clubs

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With apologies to those readers who are classically trained musicians, we have reached the Bon Jovi phase – “Whoa, we’re halfway there!” – of the European Champions Cup pool stages. The weekend was particularly lively, equalling the record – six – for the most victories by English clubs in a single round. With three more Premiership winners in the Challenge Cup – including thumping successes for Newcastle Falcons and Exeter Chiefs over decent French opposition – it was an extremely decent response to the English national team’s modest November.

Occasionally the fixtures fall a certain way: Saracens were playing their compatriots Sale, which was always going to skew the stats slightly. But Bath and Wasps put 30 points on Montpellier and Castres respectively away from home. Leicester and Harlequins both saw off recent European champions in Toulon and Leinster respectively. Anyone who watched a reshuffled Chiefs side rampage past a startled La Rochelle would also have wondered about the supposed gulf between the deep-pocketed Top 14 and the Premiership.

The picture will be rather clearer by next week once the Tigers and Quins have travelled to the Var and the Aviva Stadium respectively. Toulon will be intent on revenge having lost 25-21 at Welford Road, whether Martin Castrogiovanni bumps into Richard Cockerill or not. It is already fair to suggest, though, that Montpellier and Castres – both 0 from 3 – may not be sending over their absolute tiptop sides to England this weekend. And that Toulouse, having edged past Glasgow at home, will find life less than comfortable when they get to Scotland for the second part of their double-header. Only Clermont Auvergne, so well organised defensively in Limerick, stood tall among the French contingent at the weekend.

Some of us thought there might be an improved showing from the English before a ball was even kicked. England’s autumn squad players have certainly returned to their clubs with a real bang, as Stuart Lancaster specifically urged them to do at the conclusion of the QBE series. Joe Marler, Chris Robshaw, Ben Youngs, George Ford ... all seem to have taken a conscious fresh guard rather than simply ease their way back in to club rugby.

There are also increasing signs of fringe players desperate to catch Lancaster’s eye before he confirms his EPS squad in January. Changes are set to be few but the next month is still a critical window for the likes of Bath’s Henry Thomas and Jonathan Joseph, Leicester’s Tom Youngs, Dan Cole and Geoff Parling, Harlequins’ Charlie Matthews and Nick Easter, Northampton’s Luther Burrell, Exeter’s Henry Slade, Jack Nowell and Luke Cowan-Dickie, Saracens’ George Kruis, Newcastle’s Kieran Brookes, Gloucester’s Billy Twelvetrees and Matt Kvesic and Wasps’ James Haskell, Christian Wade and Matt Mullan. Entering a World Cup year, there is still a colossal amount to play for.

Much will depend on a handful of keynote contests which will tell Lancaster and his assistants plenty about certain individuals. As well as this weekend’s matches in Dublin and Toulon, Bath’s visit to Toulouse, Leicester’s trip to Ulster and Saracens’ game in Clermont Auvergne in the new year will not merely shape the last eight but show exactly where the balance of power in Europe resides before the Six Nations.

It is still feasible, for instance, that Clermont, Toulon, Toulouse and Racing Métro will all secure home draws in the quarter-finals, in which case England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland and Italy will be doing well to muster one representative between them in the final at Twickenham on 2 May. Reports of a sudden Gallic and Irish decline remain premature.

Last weekend offered at least a glimpse of a brighter future for the English, who have managed to lift the trophy only once in the past decade. Which drags us back to Bon Jovi: until the Premiership clubs start beating the French on a frequent basis Livin’ on a Prayer will remain their European anthem.

Crocodile ruck

An increasing number of knowledgable rugby voices are expressing concerns about rugby’s ever problematic breakdown. Since boots on bodies at the ruck were effectively outlawed we see an endless succession of static pile-ups with both sides resorting to all available means to dislodge players from around the ball. One increasingly common tactic is the “croc roll” whereby a defending player crouched over the ball is grabbed by his torso and ripped up, over and away by an opponent seeking to clear out the congested area. If anyone’s leg or ankle is trapped it can be extremely dangerous, in addition to the intrinsic problem of a player being violently slam dunked by someone he cannot see coming. Jean de Villiers’ desperate injury playing for South Africa against Wales was a particularly grim illustration. No one is suggesting a return to the dark days of head-kicking, but allowing at least some legitimate old-style rucking of the ball on the ground would soon make the even darker art of croc rolling redundant.

One to watch

Toulon v Leicester. Seconds out, round two. If Martin “Castro” Castrogiovanni’s extraordinary verbal broadside at Richard “Cockers” Cockerill after Sunday’s match in Leicester is anything to go by, the return fixture at the Stade Felix Mayol this weekend could be notably feisty. Expect the defending champions to come out hard and the Tigers to dig deep in pursuit of a remarkable against-all-odds victory which would give them control of Pool 3. Either way, the post-match interviews should be fascinating.