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Rugby talking points
Andy Goode, Dylan Hartley and Jacques Burger all had weekends of contrasting fortunes. Photograph: Action/Getty/Rex
Andy Goode, Dylan Hartley and Jacques Burger all had weekends of contrasting fortunes. Photograph: Action/Getty/Rex

European Rugby Champions Cup talking points from the weekend

This article is more than 9 years old

Wasps are enjoying home comforts, Racing resolve can be difficult to stop and Castres have put up the white flag


1) Wasps settling in nicely at the Ricoh

There was a lot of chat around the ground before the game about how long the journey took up the Ms – the 1, 6 or 40 – to reach the Ricoh. Enough to suggest that Londoners formed a large part of the crowd of 23,493. These travellers were from far enough away to dismiss the cheeky Leicester poster – “On your doorstep since 1880” – with a smile. Whose doorstep? A few drivers looked a bit confused working out the ABCD of the car parks but in general everyone seemed to know where they were going, what they were watching and when they would be back next. What is called the match-day experience seemed already familiar. And the rugby was excellent. From being a homeless spent force on the brink of financial ruin, Wasps seem reborn. Moving house does not seem to have been stressful at all. Eddie Butler

Wasps draw 20-20 with Leinster – video highlights Guardian


2) Racing resolve can be hard to stop

Benjamin Lapeyre of Racing Métro celebrates his try during the match againstNorthampton Saints Photograph: Clive Mason/Getty Images

There may be no French clubs left in the European Challenge Cup, a tournament that does not carry the carrot of a place in the Champions Cup for the winners, something that will surely be rectified in the coming years, but they have made far more of an impact in the main event. Racing Métro, who before this season had won only seven out of 24 matches in the European Cup, doubled the Premiership champions and leaders to finish at the top of the pool. French clubs have a reputation for being poor travellers, coming from a league where away victories are rare, but the resolve Clermont Auvergne showed in Munster and Toulouse’s victory in Bath suggested a sea-change. Racing reinforced that: Northampton like playing down the slight slope at Franklin’s Gardens in the second half but found themselves going uphill when they conceded two tries in three minutes as Racing never released the early grip they had taken on the game. Their Wales centre Jamie Roberts had said after the opening-round victory over the Saints in Paris last October that the club was targeting the European Cup. When resources and resolve combine, they are difficult to stop. Paul Rees

3) The Stade Marcel Michelin atmosphere is intoxicating

There is a lot still wrong with Europe’s leading club tournament – see Castres’ talking point below – but there is so much right too, and none more so than the colour and verve that Clermont Auvergne bring to the party. They inspire fondness on the field because they are brilliant but far from infallible. Off it, though, the vibrancy of the club, set among its volcanoes, is a joy to experience. Forgive the excitement of this virgin to the Massif Central but the atmosphere at the Stade Marcel Michelin is intoxicating. Is it the most feral bear-pit in Europe? Their fans may not travel in the numbers that Munster’s do but at their place they put on a show of noise and colour that is at least the equal of the Thomond Park experience. Ravenhill and Stade Mayol are two stadiums still unvisited, so definitive pronouncements would be inappropriate. Suffice it to say, if you get the chance to go to Clermont-Ferrand to watch rugby, take it (and it was not even a very good game). Michael Aylwin

4) Ulster continue to thwart Leicester

Ulster’s Darren Cave is cheered off by fans after his three tries during their Pool 3 match against the Leicester Tigers. Photograph: Charles McQuillan/Getty Images

Ravenhill is fast becoming Leicester’s least loved European venue. They have visited Belfast four times, only once coming within a sniff of troubling Ulster. Martin Johnson’s side started the trend in 2003, two season’s after Leicester’s back-to-back Heineken titles. He went down 33-0 and two days later announced the end of his Test career but the worst walloping came in 2012 when Tigers lost 41-7. On Saturday night they needed a bonus-point victory to keep hopes alive of going through to the quarter-finals but instead conceded four tries in under 50 minutes to a side which was already out of the competition. Mike Averis

5) Castres have put up the white flag

We were supposed to have moved on from the bad old days when the natural course of the pool stages in Europe was skewed by the predictable capitulation of French teams with nothing to play for, but the tradition remains alive and kicking in Castres. Vaguely competitive they may have been in their first two games – and for about 60 minutes of their third – but since then they have waved their competitors through. Wasps, Leinster and Harlequins have put 44, 50 and 47 points past them respectively. The implications for teams in other groups are significant. Wasps’ points difference on the back of their two big wins over Castres, for example, might have knocked Saracens out of the competition, had Montpellier not proved more serious about the competition by beating Toulouse. Mark McCall, Saracens’ director of rugby was scathing after the game against Clermont. “It’s so disappointing to see a club like Castres put up the white flag,” he said “as they have now for four games in a row. This is meant to be an elite competition and that shouldn’t be tolerated.” It is true that Castres have more pressing concerns, namely their survival in the league they were champions of only the season before last, but no matter the format of Europe’s premier competition, it seems some things are more resistant to change than others. Michael Aylwin


6) Bath and Glasgow talents set to international impact

Mike Ford, Bath’s director of rugby, spoke afterwards of the fine margins involved at the top level. He also rated Glasgow an extremely well-coached side who made life very awkward for his team at times. He was right on both counts, the Warriors coming within a few centimetres of ruining Bath’s quarter-final push. There was enough promise from Sean Maitland, Tommy Seymour, Alex Dunbar and Mark Bennett behind the scrum to suggest Scotland’s strike-rate will improve in this year’s Six Nations but perhaps the individual highlight of the game came from the Fijian Leone Nakarawa. His stunning one-handed line-out take in the second-half was the work of a gifted athlete whom Gregor Townsend, his coach, reckons has plenty more improvement in him. With Glasgow’s Bath-bound scrum-half Niko Matawalu also looking sharp, the pair could yet make Fiji dangerous opponents at this year’s World Cup. Robert Kitson

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