Investec Champions Cup: Benetton shine and Castres shock
Nearly 50 matches after we began, the great and good of European rugby have been whittled down to 16 teams. The Investec Champions Cup round of 16 will see a number of firsts for the game intertwined with some classic fixtures synonymous with the competition.
Because after the four rounds of pool games, South African teams are out and banished – either to the EPCR Challenge Cup or home entirely – and fans of the tournament favourites were able to book up tickets to home ties through until the showpiece match, if they weren’t already booking tickets to the final in Cardiff itself.
But what’s new for Europe, where is the competition coming from and what is worth keeping an eye out for as we wait for April’s round of 16?
Forza Benetton, forza Italia
Since 1995 Benetton have competed in Europe, and for 22 of those years they’ve been in the Champions Cup. This will be the year, though, that the northern Italian side will be represented in the knockouts. In fact it is the first time ever that the country has had a team go beyond the pool stages.
There was no sneaky qualification through luck or the pitfalls of others, though. Instead Benetton toppled La Rochelle and Bath at home to earn a spot in the last 16.
It is a monumental leap forward for not just Benetton but the Italian rugby scene. With new bigwigs in place in the country’s Rome HQ and a renewed hope for the international team, the success of the franchise side is testament to the game’s growth in the nation.
Their prize is an away day to Saracens’ conquerors Castres, who are famously formidable at home in the Stade Pierre-Fabre.
But for Italian rugby it is progress, and they’ll chance their arm at causing an upset.
Atlantic clash
No round of 16 tie salivates rugby fans more than Munster’s trip across the Channel to the Atlantic fortress of La Rochelle.
Why? Because the leader of the pack on the western flank of France is none other than Ronan O’Gara.
The former Irish No10 played nearly 250 times for the famous province, scoring over 2,500 for a Munster side who won it all.
Now, though, he is revolutionising the approach to French rugby, and has won two European titles with his yellow and black troops.
Munster are renowned travellers in Europe and can never be counted out, despite ditching former head coach Graham Rowntree earlier this year.
It is a blockbuster tie not only of rugby might but sensational narrative, and a date in the diary for everyone who likes the sport for the storylines it can throw up.
SA slacking
There will be some uncomfortable meetings in weeks to come across the European rugby landscape, because the South Africa experiment – for the first time in the Investec Champions Cup – has failed to throw up a challenger for the knockouts.
None of the Stormers, Sharks or Bulls were able to progress to the next stage, with the Bulls and Sharks forced to head down to the EPCR Challenge Cup to join the Lions.
It is by no means a failure for the South African project, but just as their success vindicates the complications in bringing them into the top-flight club rugby competition, so their lack of inclusion in the knockouts poses dilemmas.
Final thoughts
The introduction of the round of 16 was controversial at first, but a couple of years in there are incredible match-ups here, there and everywhere.
Whether any away side can muster a shock upset remains to be seen, but the favourites are in the hat and their potential paths to the Cardiff final in May are clear.
So 24 has become 16, and in a couple of weeks time 16 will become eight. The crunch end of Europe is here and it’s going to be epic.
Champions Cup round of 16 in full
