It is surely little surprise that the Top 14’s top five sides are still fighting for honours on two fronts as the Champions and Challenge Cups enter the quarter-final phase – or that the top seven sides were involved in the round-of-16 in this revamped-on-the-hoof tournament.
But will the feel-good factor on the other side of the channel continue? James Harrington takes a look at the ties with a French twist.
Champions Cup
La Rochelle v Sale Sharks
Commentators and pundits were – justifiably – impressed with La Rochelle’s performance at Gloucester in last weekend’s round of 16 match. It was, after all, an object lesson in knockout rugby from a side led by Ronan O Gara, a coach who knows more than a little about win-or-bust matches.
This week, they’re at home, which is bad for Sale.
O Gara’s La Rochelle do not lose at home. They have been beaten just once at Stade Marcel Deflandre since 2019. But there is a modicum of good news in the bad – that loss came in 2021. Unfortunately, the side that won here was … Toulouse.
O Gara, under the watchful eye of Jono Gibbes, has merged a near-unbreakable Top 14 defence with an exciting, thrilling ever-point-shifting attack. Sale’s reward for beaten Scarlets: stopping every attack before it starts, and finding a way through an impenetrable defence.
Recommended bet: La Rochelle -6 on the h’cap (10/11)
Bordeaux Begles v Racing 92
The first of two all-Top 14 Champions Cup quarter-finals – which look set to be the games of the weekend. And this one – fifth in the French league versus third – should set a high bar for Clermont-Toulouse, which pits fourth against first.
There is, as league positions suggest, little to choose between the two sides meeting at Stade Chaban Delmas this weekend. Bordeaux have scored two more tries than Racing in the Top 14, but also conceded one more – while the hosts’ hard-fought win over Bristol is arguably better preparation for this week’s fight for the last four than the visitors’ training ground run against Edinburgh.
But it’s a sign of the visitors’ confidence that they handed the starting 10 shirt to young Antoine Gibert in the absence of Finn Russell rather than pulling in the all-competition experience of Kurtley Beale. The coaching staff had faith in him, and he repaid them in style.
But one difference between the two sides is in Europe as a whole. Racing have been here before – they’ve lost three of the last four finals. Bordeaux haven’t. In a game likely to be decided by the smallest of margins, this may be decisive.
Recommended bet: Racing to win (Evns)
Clermont v Toulouse
The fact there are no easy matches at this stage of the Champions Cup is a well-worn cliche, but it’s impossible not to feel a little for Toulouse. Their reward for becoming just the second French side to win at Thomond Park is a trip to the side that beat them to that record.
These are two sides on a mission. Ugo Mola is determined to make Toulouse great in Europe again – he and his players won’t admit it publicly, but the premium on a fifth European title is higher even than another Brennus, not that they wouldn’t be celebrating if they won the 2021 French title…
Meanwhile, Clermont’s Franck Azema has unfinished business in the final weeks of his time at the club. This is the one title that has eluded him. He wants to right that wrong – and his players want to help him do so.
But Les Jaunards will have to be a lot less generous in defence than they were against Wasps last weekend if they are to take another step towards that elusive first European Cup.
Recommended bet: Keep an eye on the Match Points Under/Over line. Go over on anything less than 52.5.
Challenge Cup
Montpellier v Benetton
No one was thinking at the start of the 2020/21 season that the Challenge Cup would be the saving grace of Montpellier’s campaign – but a dismal start to the Top 14 saw the expensively assembled side in the south of France drop into 13th place – the dreaded relegation play-off spot.
Currently 11th, and eight points clear of current occupiers of that unwanted position, Pau, Philippe Saint-Andre’s side are probably safe now, thanks to a string of victories in February and March, including an unexpected win at Toulouse before the European break. But this competition means a little extra now – as it comes with a coveted Champions League spot.
A home match against the sole surviving Italian side looks like a relatively easy draw – certainly Saint-Andre and club owner Mohed Altrad would have been happy enough.
Owner, coach and players will want a statement win ahead of a return to domestic action and the beginning of a difficult run-in.
Benetton beat Top 14 opposition in the last round but that was an Agen side who are winless and rock bottom of the Top 14 table.
Recommended bet: Montpellier on the h’cap -15 (10/11 Paddy Power)
