Even before news came through that an outbreak of coronavirus in the Exeter Chiefs camp had forced the cancellation of two games, the credibility of Europe’s finest club competition had already been brought into question by the fact Gloucester chose to field a load of kids in their opening round game against Lyon.
The Cherry & Whites had a bad injury list so some of the changes were forced upon them, but others were not, and they were soundly beaten by Lyon, 55-10.
Having tipped Lyon to give punters a good run for their money at 40/1 in the pre-tournament outright odds, this was obviously a pleasing result.
And news that their round two clash with Glasgow had been cancelled as a by-product of the Scots playing the coronavirus-hit Chiefs in round one, only improves their chances of progressing further as the likelihood is that they will be awarded a bonus-point win.
But as a rugby fan you want to see the best teams put out on the park whenever possible. Whatever happened to the old adage, ‘to be the best you have to beat the best?’
White flag
No sooner had Northampton lost 16-12 at home to Bordeaux-Begles, DoR Chris Boyd was hoisting up the white flag ahead of their trip to all-conquering Leinster.
Boyd admitted he would be resting several players and is prepared to take what apears to be an inevitable record 13th consectuve defeat on the chin.
With precious little margin for error in the four-game pool format, plenty other beaten teams from round one could follow suit.
The fear is that there will be a number of meaningless matches or dead rubbers from now until the end of the pool stages.
You’ve got to say that the lure of a place in the Challenge Cup Round 16, if you finish as one of the teams ranked 5th to 8th in either of the pools, won’t be anywhere near strong enough to prevent teams concentrating on domestic matters instead.
It begs the question, why make all the effort to get into a Heineken Champions Cup qualification position in your League in the first place if you’re not going to give a damn when the competition actually starts?
Chiefs punters down on their luck
The competition’s organisers have a bigger headache on their hands at the moment, though, following the cancellation of the Exeter v Toulouse and the Glasgow v Lyon games, and most recently, Bath v la Rochelle
According to our sources, two options are open to them: award a bonus-point win to the team unaffacted by coronavirus or call it a 0-0 draw and give two points to both teams.
Understandably, the bookies have suspended all outright bets on the tournament as a result of the uncertainty.
One things for sure, punters who have backed the Chiefs to defend their title will be cursing their luck, while those who have Leinster written on their ticket will be doing a gig of delight. To not have the Chiefs as a potential knockout stage opponent is a real boon.
Faced with home-and-away games against four-time champions Toulouse, it was always going to be tough for the Chiefs to make the knockout stages anyway, but with the prospect of a 28-0 result going against them, it will be nigh on impossible now.
