Top tip to win this year’s Champions Cup…
Murray Kinsella
La Rochelle. As things stand, Toulon are the only other club to have won three in a row in 2013, 2014, and 2015. It will take a monumental effort from La Rochelle to match that achievement but we know this competition brings out the best in their head coach Ronan O’Gara, whose deep love for the Champions Cup has filtered into his players and the entire club.
After a few good signings added last summer such as Jack Nowell and Judicael Cancoriet, this is an excellent La Rochelle squad. They have physical might, no shortage of skill and pace, but also the mental edge that’s key when it comes to actually winning trophies.
Ciarán Kennedy
You’d have to imagine the knock-out stages will have a very familiar look, with the winners being either Leinster, La Rochelle or Toulouse. As usual, Leinster look strong on paper but is this the year they finally conquer Europe again? With Johnny Sexton and Stuart Lancaster both gone and Jacques Nienaber only settling into his new role, it’s hard to predict how things will pan out. They certainly have the players but have yet to fully ignite this season, so it will be fascinating to watch Nienaber’s influence on the team.
This writer has fancied Toulouse the last couple of seasons but they’ve limped out with heavy defeats to Leinster on both occasions and won’t be helped by Antoine Dupont’s impending Sevens commitments. La Rochelle have looked a shadow of themselves in the Top 14 so far this season but if there’s one thing we know about Ronan O’Gara’s side, it’s that they know how to win when it matters most.
Doing the three-in-a-row would be a remarkable achievement but given their knack of edging tight contests on the biggest days, I’d be backing La Rochelle again. If they go into Europe with the same hunger as the last two seasons they’ll take some stopping.
Gavan Casey
I think this will be the season that Leinster will finally get over the line, and I think it might wind up being a different-looking Leinster than the one some might expect come May. By that, I mean it could be a Leinster team steered by Ciarán Frawley from 10, or one with a starting role for the likes of half-forgotten man Will Connors. Jacques Nienaber brings with him from South Africa a lot of outside-the-box intellectual property and, aside from his defensive expertise, it may be that his horses-for-courses style of selection gives Leinster the extra few per cent to finally get past La Rochelle in a knockout game.
La Rochelle will go close or win it again but their primary aim this season will be to lift the Bouclier. Toulouse will be without Romain Ntamack for at least the pool stage and will lose Antoine Dupont later in the season and for these reasons, it’s difficult to imagine them contending again.
Ultimately, it’s difficult to look beyond last season’s two finalists and yet, with Leinster in something resembling transition and with La Rochelle’s engine spluttering for the moment, it could make for one of the most wide-open Champions Cups in years.
*****
Dark horse for this year’s Champions Cup….
Murray Kinsella
Bordeaux. Their squad is another one littered with superb players, with a good blend of top-end French internationals, emerging French youngsters, and some quality operators from abroad. Yannick Bru heads up a new coaching staff that includes the highly-regarded Irish attack coach Noel McNamara. As their selection for the Connacht game tomorrow shows, they’re taking the Champions Cup seriously.
Any team with the likes of Matthieu Jalibert, Damian Penaud, Guido Petti, and Peter Samu in it needs to be respected. Bordeaux have never won a major trophy so they’re certainly major outsiders but they should be fun to watch.
Ciarán Kennedy
It’s hard to see any real dark horse causing an upset. The Bulls and the Stormers have the quality to go far but travel may take its toll, and John Dobson has already admitted he may have to make some “strategic calls” across the pool stage in a bid to keep his Stormers squad fresh. That won’t be manageable if they are fighting on two fronts later in the season. Saracens will always be there or thereabouts and Bath are going well in the Premiership but we know that competition is not what it used to be.
Racing 92 have started the new Top 14 season well under Stuart Lancaster and maybe the arrival of Springbok captain Siya Kolisi can prove the difference for them in Europe. The Parisians have lost three Champions Cup finals since 2016 but Lancaster will put a big emphasis on their European campaign and Kolisi’s presence will lift the whole organisation. They just might be the ones to watch.
Gavan Casey
Munster — and why not Munster? Okay, this would be mostly predicated upon them topping their pool and, even more ideally, taking a semi-final to Páirc Uí Chaoimh as one of the two top seeds. But is there any team in the competition — perhaps outside of a prime La Rochelle — that you truly believe Munster can’t beat?
Graham Rowntree boasts a squad that has already taken the scenic route into, and through, the URC play-offs. Provided they don’t make a balls of their pool, Munster should reach a semi-final at least. The reality is that there aren’t that many good teams in this competition and there’s a seat pulled out for Munster back at the big boy’s table if they’re ready.
