You can read Robert Kitson’s tribute to Anthony Foley, the Munster head coach who died aged 42 before his side’s scheduled match against Racing 92 in Paris on Sunday, here.
Sometimes it is less the number of games a sportsman plays than the heart and soul he pours into the jersey he wears. Anthony Foley had the rare stamina and inner passion to satisfy both criteria, which is why the desperately sad news of his death at the age of 42 cast such a depressing shadow over European rugby. Foley was not just any old retired player; he was a genuine Munster legend whose central part in his province’s greatest hour will never be forgotten.
1) Itoje can learn from Burger and England will benefit
The England head coach, Eddie Jones, is deliberating over who should replace the injured James Haskell as open-side wing forward in the autumn series of internationals at Twickenham. He has lamented the lack of specialist No7s in the Premiership, not persuaded by Matt Kvesic and Luke Wallace, and Saracens played the seasoned Schalk Burger, who often wore 7 for South Africa but played at 6, in the position at Toulon. The Springbok was outstanding from the start, winning turnovers and acting as a link between forwards and backs. The tweak in the law at the breakdown, which prevents defenders from planting their hands in front of the ball, has redefined the role and made the breakdown a collective effort. Burger used his nous honed from 12 years as an international player to invariably put himself in the right place. Jones is considering playing Maro Itoje, who has spent this season in the Sarries’ second row, at 7 in the opening international against South Africa next month, and the lock can only benefit from playing alongside someone so skilled. The number a player wears is becoming increasingly irrelevant as Mako Vunipola showed in a series of bursts that made him look like a centre. It is the whole that counts and the back row relish was supplied by Burger. Paul Rees
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2) Harsh words needed as Exeter are drubbed
Rob Baxter was as angry after his side’s 35-8 home drubbing by Clermont as at any stage in Exeter’s recent history. He will demand a similar reaction from his players in training this week, with the Chiefs prospects of European pool qualification already looking less than promising. England lock Geoff Parling, for one, is in full agreement. “It’s not just this game to be honest. We’ve not been firing this season and we need to work out why and do something about it. Even if we’d won today the start of the season has not been good enough. Maybe we need to have a few harsh words. We’re a good team and we should be doing well but it feels like we’re far away, especially at home. We’ve let our fans down and we’ve let each other down. We’ve got to go to Ulster and win.” To add to a downcast mood at Sandy Park, there were several blocks of empty seats and the attendance fell below 10,000. Kicking off at 5.30pm on a Sunday night may suit television but the traditional rugby fan does not appear to relish it. Robert Kitson
3) Montpellier manners leave much to be desired
Franklin’s Gardens is one of those stadiums that deals in silence when a kicker lines up his shot at goal. So it was all the more obvious when a voice shouted “Miss!” just as Stephen Myler struck his attempted conversion of Northampton’s early try against Montpellier. We assumed the cry had come from someone in the crowd, but Nigel Owens knew better. Myler pulled the conversion wide, and Owens ordered it be retaken and admonished Frans Steyn, who had tried to charge it down. It turned out the Springbok World Cup winner had been the one shouting as Myler kicked. It was a remarkably childish trick to have resorted to, almost comically so. Perhaps this is regular practice in the Top 14, where crowds are often less reverent of the kicker, or even just regular practice among Montpellier ranks. Either way, the ploy didn’t work. Myler landed the conversion at the second attempt – and those two points proved the difference between the sides, come the end. Michael Aylwin
4) Leicester’s shaky defence shouldn’t detract from Glasgow
Leicester have never conceded more points in the 20-year history of European club rugby than they did on Friday night. That fact alone will prompt plenty of soul-searching at Welford Road, where consistent success is never an optional accessory. In truth Richard Cockerill’s side have been shaky away away from home all season, losing in Glasgow and Sale and scraping home in Gloucester and Newcastle, and their defence has been less than Tigerish at times. Nothing, however, should detract from the quality of Glasgow’s performance, with prop Gordon Reid suggesting the Warriors had been motivated by some of Leicester’s pre-match comments. “We want to be the best in Europe and it hurts us sometimes when we get put down,” suggested Reid. “Leicester were saying in the papers ‘We’re going to dominate them in the pack’. It irritates you a wee bit.” Reid also felt Matt Toomua was fortunate only to be yellow-carded for a tip-tackle on Finn Russell, who saved the Australian from a red card by putting an arm down to break his fall. “He was quite lucky to get a yellow card. We can only do what the referee says but, yeah, I thought it was quite an easy call for him to make. They came up here to try and bully us a wee bit... it gave us the kind of kick we needed and we pushed on from there. As a prop there’s nothing better than a wee fight, a bit of fisticuffs. It brings me back to my days at Ayr.” Robert Kitson
5) Cipriani keeps knocking at the door
At the centre of Wasps’ 82-14 destruction of a dire Zebre was Danny Cipriani. His no-look pass to set up Joe Simpson for Wasps’ third try, taking two opponents out of the game in the process, was sublime and typical of the creativity with which he instigated so much of the play against the Italian side. From a player who continues to harbour hopes of an England return, this was another small statement. “Some players can only be a No1,” Eddie Jones explained last month when asked about the 28-year-old. “We see George Ford and Owen Farrell as one and two. They are the heartbeat of the side. They can organise the team and they are tactically smart. Danny has got to be able to show that he can be No1. He likes to be the main man. And when he plays well enough to be No1, he’ll be in the squad.” Cipriani could not have played much better in this first half against Zebre and if he consistently hits those heights he will be difficult to ignore. Lawrence Ostlere
6) Sale have one match to avoid a whitewash
There is a danger we are getting ahead of ourselves here, but defeat at Parc y Scarlets means Sale will surely now struggle to avoid the wooden spoon in the toughest of groups. The AJ Bell Stadium may be a fortress in the Premiership but Toulon – ageing and creaking though they may be – have enough galácticos to win there while Saracens, held to a draw in Salford in February, look an even better side than that which did the double last season. Sale’s miserable away form continued in a slug-fest in Wales; the Scarlets fully deserved their win and late yellow cards, for dangerous tackles, for Ross Harrison and Andrei Ostrikov epitomised what a mess Steve Diamond’s side have become on the road. The Scarlets come to visit in round six in January; Sale will be desperately hoping Fortress Salford still stands. Dan Lucas
7) Carbery is a star in the making
Regular watchers of the Pro12 will already know the dazzling potential of Leinster’s 20-year-old, Ireland-qualified No10 Joey Carbery: the under-20 international scored two tries on his debut against Treviso last month including a thrilling first-half effort in which he shimmied, dummied, stepped and scorched his way over from just outside his own 22. However, Treviso is one thing – stepping in for tight-hamstring-afflicted Jonny Sexton in a European Champions Cup opener against the 2014-15 Top 14 champions is quite another. No one seemed to have told Carbery, though, as he ran Castres ragged in Leinster’s bonus-point win. True, he was given an armchair ride by a dominant pack in this otherwise uninspiring match, but those dummies, those shimmies, and those steps, if not the scorching pace, were on display to settle the nerves of those who worried when Ian Madigan hopped off to Bordeaux-Bègles at the end of last season. DL
8) Connacht recover to make statement
A Connacht victory seemed an unlikely prospect at half-time in Galway, when the Pro12 champions trailed Toulouse 21-11, but Tiernan O’Halloran and Bundee Aki scored second-half tries and Craig Ronaldson’s cool kick from the sideline sealed a memorable 23-21 win. Connacht have given themselves hope of reaching the quarter-finals and must now capitalise; the format of the competition, with three runners-up from the five pools progressing, means bonus points are critical and even points difference could be a factor. Last year this played into the hands of Stade Français, who benefitted from having the Italian strugglers Benetton Treviso in their group; Treviso picked up no points at all and the French side took the full 10 available from their contests. Treviso’s fellow Italians Zebre are in the same pool as Pat Lam’s men and showed in their first match of this year’s tournament that they could go the way of Treviso, having been thrashed 82-14 by Wasps. Connacht go to Zebre next and must sense an opportunity not just to win but rack up tries if they are to emerge on the other side of the group stage. LO
9) Madigan edges No10 battle as Ulster rue late collapse
Sometimes in European contests sub-plots are tricky to identify, sometimes they are staring you in the face and in this instance, the clash of No10s was ladened with narrative. Ian Madigan v Paddy Jackson – fly-halves who have spent their Ireland careers waiting in the wings behind Jonny Sexton, even if the former was often deployed outside him at Leinster. Between them they have 46 caps but only 14 of those have been starts and it is a place on Joe Schmidt’s bench that the pair are vying for this autumn – Leinster are hopeful Sexton will recover from his hamstring injury in time to face Montpellier at the weekend. Jackson appears to be in the box-seat – Madigan reportedly facing an uphill battle to convince Schmidt he warrants selection while playing at Bordeaux – but Madigan who edged the duel on Sunday even if he had been replaced well before the French side’s flurry of late tries. Of more concern for Jackson will be that Ulster ended up empty-handed despite leading 13-9 with seven minutes to go. Ulster failed to reach the knockout stages last season despite impressive away wins against Toulouse and Oyonnax, having started their campaign with a 27-9 defeat by Saracens in which they led 9-5 just before the hour. With Clermont in such imperious form, progress looks equally hard this time around. Gerard Meagher
