Whichever team ends up winning the Champions Cup this will go down as the year of the European clanger. Maybe Leinster, Munster and Toulouse would still have made the semi-finals but the quarter‑finals of club rugby’s showpiece tournament in the northern hemisphere will be remembered as much for a series of game-changing misjudgments as their considerable entertainment value.
Small wonder, in particular, that Bath’s Freddie Burns used social media to console Ulster’s Jacob Stockdale in the wake of Ulster’s 21-18 defeat by Leinster in Dublin, which turned on the Irish wings glaring second-half failure to ground the ball properly in the Aviva Stadium’s in-goal area. Burns endured a similarly chastening moment against Toulouse in the pool stages and was quick to point out that, occasionally, these things happen.
It was a kind-hearted message but, unfortunately, Stockdale’s blooper was as high-profile as anything this tournament has witnessed in the 15 years since Clément Poitrenaud famously presented Wasps’ Rob Howley with the winning try in the closing moments of the 2004 final. Having eluded the cover, skinned his international teammate Jordan Larmour and crossed the try-line Stockdale’s inability to finish similarly denied Ulster a potentially famous win. “To the Ulster fans I just want to say I am sorry, I let you down,” said Stockdale. “Sport can be cruel and sometimes you have to learn your lessons the hard way.”
Team of the weekend
15 Liam Williams Saracens
14 Teddy Thomas Racing 92
13 Sofiane Guitoune Toulouse
12 Stuart McCloskey Ulster
11 Keith Earls Munster
10 Finn Russell Racing 92
9 Antoine Dupont Toulouse
1 Pierre Schoeman Edinburgh
2 Jamie George Saracens
3 Tadhg Furlong Leinster
4 Tadhg Beirne Munster
5 Maro Itoje Saracens
6 Peter O’Mahony Munster
7 Jordi Murphy Ulster
8 Jack Conan Leinster
Ford focus
Leicester have responded to the threat of Premiership relegation by recruiting the former England defence coach Mike Ford to assist director of rugby Geordan Murphy. Ford, who will again be working with his son George, will commence his new role this week with Leicester just five points off the bottom of the table with five matches left.
Rising to the challenge
The prospect of at least one English club featuring in the European Challenge Cup final for a fifth year in succession is looking realistic after Sale Sharks and Harlequins overcame Connacht and Worcester in their quarter-finals. Bristol Bears and Northampton, though, were both well beaten by La Rochelle and Clermont Auvergne in France.
Try of the weekend
Maxime Médard, Toulouse There were several contenders in the Saracens-Glasgow game but nothing to match Toulouse’s first-half score again Racing. Even in this era of outrageous offloads the righthanded flick from Lucas Tauzin to Sofiane Guitoune was something extra special before the elusive centre cut back inside to release Médard on a mazy run to the line.
At this point it is only fair to repeat Stockdale’s splendid try stats for Ireland – 14 in 19 internationals – but as recently as last year his former U20 coach Nigel Carolan was flagging up a potential technical flaw in the wing’s finishing technique. “As a coach he gave us the odd heart failure,” Carolan said. “He could run the ball past defenders in the in-goal area and still be upright. It’s not a question of actually scoring but his technicalities of scoring and dropping his body when he’s going over the line.”
That was precisely the problem this time, just when an inspired Ulster were threatening to record their finest result in Dublin since conquering Europe two decades ago. With John Cooney outstanding at scrum-half the visitors overcame the early loss of their injured captain, Rory Best, to play a full part in a storming contest, played in an atmosphere rarely less than screeching. Without a rather more clinical Adam Byrne touchdown and a penalty by Ross Byrne, who could barely walk at the time, the defending champions would have been buried before a thrilling finale in which the ball stayed in play for a breathless 7min 10sec.
Instead they live to fight another day but a place in the final in Newcastle on 11 May is not yet guaranteed. As with the national side the compelling rhythms of last year are proving more elusive particularly when Johnny Sexton, sidelined again at the weekend, is not fit and firing. Their No 8, Jack Conan, had another crunching game but the horrible knee injury sustained by Dan Leavy, which would appear likely to rule the flanker out of the World Cup this autumn, is another heavy blow.
The good news is they now have a home semi-final, courtesy of Toulouse’s equally dramatic win against Racing 92.
Racing will be kicking themselves at the manner of their 22-21 defeat, failing to capitalise on a first-half red card shown to Zack Holmes for a high hit on the winger Juan Imhoff. Last year’s beaten finalists held all the aces against a 14-man Toulouse in their futuristic Parisian lair in La Defence, only to lose the plot tactically and miss out to a decisive penalty from Thomas Ramos. Toulouse have already beaten Leinster in the pool stages this season but a repeat in Dublin would be some achievement.
It will also require all Munster’s legendary resilience to cope with Saracens in the other semi-final, due to be played 24 hours earlier at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry. The last time the two sides met at the same venue at the corresponding stage in 2008, Munster won 18-16 en route to winning the title but their excellent defence will have to dig in for another epic shift to secure a repeat.
Munster will also be mindful they have already enjoyed a hefty slice of fortune, their success owing much to a brain fade by Edinburgh’s otherwise outstanding prop Pierre Schoeman which led him to take out Tadhg Beirne off the ball and prompt a crucial penalty reversal in the Irish province’s favour. Up the other end went Munster and the ever-sharp Keith Earls’s second try ultimately trumped Edinburgh’s valiant efforts.
Saracens will be far less generous opponents, particularly if they can reproduce the dominant second‑half form that swept Glasgow aside 56-27 at Allianz Park. Even without Owen Farrell, whose wife had gone into labour, and the injured Mako Vunipola they had too much power for their Scottish opponents and have now reached their sixth European semi-final in seven years.
Munster are into their 14th European semi-final but nine of the previous 13 have ended in defeat. This time they will not have to contend with Saracens’ indomitable captain, Brad Barritt, who maintained the trend of sidelined skippers when he cruelly sustained ankle ligament damage near the end against Glasgow, but Saracens are not short of talented replacements. If a British & Irish Lions squad were touring this summer the selectors would be seriously spoiled for choice.
