It wasn’t exactly the bloodiest of coups, shifting headquarters from neutral Ireland to neutral Switzerland, and reducing the participants by four. The replacement of the old European Rugby Cup company in Dublin with the new European Professional Club Rugby of Neuchâtel was not so much an exercise in levelling rugby society as giving it a bit of a makeover. Trimming fat, squeezing a Celtic pimple, leaving cheeks with the blush of an English rose, moisturised by French Dior.
So smooth was the procedure in the end Heineken remain a sponsor of the European Rugby Champions Cup. No one bails out of a venture turning sour more smartly than a commercial partner. It just happens that for the moment Heineken are the only sponsor – EPCR were looking for five – of the new tournament, something the Irish, patently the losers in the reconfiguration, have noted with the disdain of the slighted.
Still, to be light on sponsors hardly matters, given the weight of the broadcasting deals. There are new players in town: beIN television in France, and BT Sport, in slightly weird conjunction with Sky, for the English-speaking audience. The French and English may have had to threaten mayhem to take power from the Celts and bestow it on themselves, but they have delivered a tweaked format with the promise of wealth for all.
If all looks smooth across the new politico-commercial rugby landscape there is still turbulence on the real field of play. No map of Europe could ever be redrawn without an input from, and the inclusion of, Leicester and Toulouse, giants of the professional – of any – age. And yet here they both are, on the eve of the Champions Cup, languishing in their respective domestic leagues.
It can happen to any club and, given the length of the casualty list at Leicester, is almost inevitable this season. But perhaps there is another force at work here. Much as the two clubs have often complained about how their willingness to give up their players to the causes of England and France often costs them dear, through injuries and a loss of rhythm, they have continued to do more than their bit for their countries.
Toulon, less honour-bound to be part of a feeder system, more single-minded about putting their own interests first, now rule. The new European umbrella rugby company above them does not exist to serve national ambitions. The brotherhood of the clubs is everything. On Sunday, Leigh Halfpenny takes his bow for Toulon – interestingly away at Toulouse – in the unforgiving world of French club rugby, far removed from playing and being managed in Cardiff.
Who might challenge the new superclub? In Ireland, proud winners through Ulster, Munster and Leinster of the old Heineken Cup, the province of the moment is none of these, but Connacht, who will take their place in the Challenge, not the Champions, Cup. Munster – rub your eyes in disbelief – have lost twice at Thomond Park this season. Leinster have been beaten at home by … Munster. Ulster sacked their director of rugby Mark Anscombe and replaced him with Les Kiss, who is off on Ireland duty as ongoing assistant to Joe Schmidt until after next year’s World Cup, leaving the recently-retired Neil Doak in charge.
And everywhere across Ireland, homeland of the reigning champions of the Six Nations, there are empty spaces in the stands. These are early days in the season, but something of the desire to reinforce the resistance of the Irish though sound seems to have been lost. Was their defiance mortally wounded in the retreat from Dublin to Neuchâtel?
The undefeated teams in the Guinness Pro 12 are Glasgow and the Ospreys. Glasgow under Gregor Townsend are a seriously good team, a genuine contender in all competitions. Until, that is, you see them placed in Pool 4 of the Champions Cup, alongside Bath, Montpellier, who raced out of the blocks in France’s Top 14, and Toulouse. To view Toulouse, whatever their present malaise, as a weak link gives an idea of how tough Glasgow’s task will be. Their opening tie, at home to Bath, will be one of the highlights of the first weekend.
The Ospreys, fortified by Rhys Webb and Dan Biggar, on blistering form as a half-back pairing, are in the same group as Northampton, Racing Métro and Treviso. No club’s decline this season has been as startling as Treviso’s, a town not far from Venice and as rugby through-and-through as Limerick or Llanelli, but now in deep trouble, buried beneath even the Zebre in the Pro 12. There must be a best runner’s-up spot at the very least for the Ospreys to eye, especially if Racing Métro put Europe second, behind their quest for permanent membership among the elite of the Top 14.
Perhaps the plum fixture of the first weekend is Saracens at home to Clermont, a repeat of the semi-final in the last Heineken Cup, when Mark McCall’s Saracens made a terrible mess of Vern Cotter’s side in the New Zealander’s last weeks before joining Scotland. Clermont, now coached by Cotter’s former assistant, Franck Azéma, still dream of being as all-conquering as Toulon. As do Saracens, supreme against the one, but denied by the other – it was Jonny Wilkinson’s last appearance for Toulon – in the final. Teams who set the agenda in the old Europe will be there again in the new.
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