Taking Champions Cup seriously benefits Leinster and Bordeaux
It might be bizarre that, despite brilliant wins in the Investec Champions Cup for Leinster, Northampton Saints, Toulouse and Bordeaux, the next couple of hundred words will talk about the two games to come and the five previous rounds of continental rugby.
Because left, ready to battle it out in the semi-finals of this competition, are four of the five top seeds from the pool stages.
The two home teams in next month’s final four clashes are playing in their home cities – Leinster will host Northampton Saints at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium and Bordeaux will take on champions Toulouse at the Stade Matmut Atlantique – and that’s because of their commitment to the competition in December and January.
Champions Cup dedication
Bordeaux and Toulouse were in the same pool earlier this season, albeit they didn’t play each other. But Union Bordeaux-Begles topped Pool 1 on 20 points versus Stade Toulousian’s 19 – thanks to a single bonus point. It has meant the prized position of No1 seed and home, or home country, advantage all the way to the final.
On the other side of the draw Leinster finished top of their pool on 18 points while Northampton Saints finished top of Pool 3 on 16 points. Fewer points than Toulouse, maybe, but topping your pool sees you jump up the seedings.
It has meant Leinster, like Bordeaux, have had a comfy home run to the semis, and will enjoy another day out at the Aviva as a reward.
But why does this matter?
Of those 20 final four ties 17 have been won by the nation playing with home country advantage. Four of those semi-finals, in both 2020 and 2021, were played at the club’s actual home stadiums due to the Covid-19 pandemic but the others were at so-called “neutral” arenas.
Exceptions to the rule
And who were the three rules to the exception?
In April 2016 All Black legend Dan Carter led Racing 92 to a 16-19 victory against Leicester Tigers at Nottingham Forest’s City Ground. They’d go on to lose the Champions Cup final in Lyon.
A year later Mako Vunipola and Chris Wyles crossed the whitewash in Ireland’s Aviva Stadium as Saracens toppled Munster in front of a raucous crowd. The London club would then win the final later that year in Edinburgh.
And in 2022, at the Stade Bollaert-Delelis in Lens La Rochelle toppled Racing 92 13-20 on their way to a first ever major trophy later that season in Marseille.
Going hard and fast in the early pool games earns teams the right to gain an incremental advantage all the way to the final.
Leinster and Bordeaux, ranked No1 and No2 in the seedings after the pool stages, are at home in the semi-finals and are favourites to progress through to the final – which this year will take place at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium.
Clubs are rewarded for taking the Investec Champions Cup seriously from the off; and that mindset is something that’ll see the serious teams always competing for silverware at the back end of the continental season.
Chapeau to Leinster and Bordeaux, then. They’re the bright lights in this year’s competition.