Donal Lenihan: It's the Champions Cup but not as we knew and loved it

Gone are the days when an away defeat in southern France in December could be avenged when the victorious French club were tasked with traveling to the home of the vanquished in the new year, contests the likes of Munster thrived on.

Back then, with the frenzied support of a baying Thomond Park crowd, primed for revenge, the Limerick citadel proved impregnable against all comers. Sadly, with the disappearance of the home and away pool format, those days have been consigned to history.

The reality with the current model is that even clubs who pay scant respect to the pool stage from the outset by sending a largely second string squad to away fixtures, despite their best efforts, still find themselves destined for the Round of 16 in April. That’s why the current format fails to capture the imagination until the wheat has been separated from the chaff, at the earliest, from the quarter-finals onwards.

The tournament is further undermined by a structural deficiency that denies the South African-teams being rewarded with a home semi-final. It explains why many, including me, question the very presence of South African based clubs in, what has always been, a European tournament.

You can’t be half in. Quite why a team like the Bulls or the Stormers could, under the current format, remain unbeaten throughout the pool stage, the Round of 16 and quarter-finals yet find themselves having to opt for a neutral venue somewhere in France or England to host their “home” semi-final appears ludicrous.

The rules of the competition were amended when the South African teams joined and state that “the semi-finals will be played in Europe and the highest ranked clubs from the pool stage will have home country advantage”. Not quite if you’re South African. You’re either in the tournament proper or you’re not.

The travel demands already placed on the Bulls, Stormers, Lions and Sharks from their successful integration into the URC are hugely demanding. While they may be an element of intrigue a French or English club challenged with traveling south for a one off Champions Cup game, understandably, the South Africans don’t quite share the same level of enthusiasm.

Toulouse sent a very inexperienced side to La Rochelle last weekend for their Top 14 clash with coach Ugo Mola clearly prioritizing their game against the Sharks in Durban next Saturday, highlighting once again just how important the Champions Cup is to them.

Beyond the pool stage, a fellow URC side is not exempt from having to undertake an additional trek south in the knockout phase, as Munster had to do for a Round of 16 meeting against the Sharks in April 2023, just two weeks before having to repeat the journey for their regular back to back URC fixtures. That is incredibly demanding.

On the flip side, given the frequency with which the South African teams are tasked with traveling north due to their involvement in both competitions, how many times have we seen them send vastly understrength combinations, even from the outset of the pool stages.

In the six Champions Cup games played over the opening two rounds alone, only the Sharks have registered a win, at home over a struggling Exeter Chiefs side. The Bulls and Stormers have yet to register a win, home or away, this season with both sending diluted squads to London for their pool games against Saracens and Harlequins.

When the Sharks visited Leicester Tigers in round 2 they left nine Springboks at home which begs the question, do they really want to be involved in Champions Cup rugby? If it's the case that they don't, then the faster we revert to a 20-team competition, with home and away fixtures at the pool stage and eight teams progressing directly to the quarter-finals, the better for all concerned.

From an Irish perspective, this weekend’s action provides the game of the round when Leinster travel to La Rochelle in a contest likely to ask more questions of Leo Cullen’s side than any in their unbeaten run of 11 games to date this season.

Leinster will be buoyed by victories over Ronan O Gara’s men at both the pool and quarter-final stages last season with a number of question marks hang over La Rochelle at present given their indifferent form to date.

O'Gara will have noted how Leinster struggled for long periods to come to terms with the physical power of Top 14 compatriots Clermont Auvergne in their last Champions Cup outing at the Aviva Stadium before Christmas and will encourage his massive La Rochelle pack to create similar carnage up front.

On Saturday, Munster face a Saracens outfit totally revamped from their Champions Cup glory days of 2016, 2017 and 2019 under the stewardship of the most under appreciated Irish coach of all time in Mark McCall who has overseen the rebuild of another highly impressive squad.

Currently third in a very competitive Gallagher Premiership, Saracens are driven by a proven quartet of British and Irish Lions with Liam Williams, Elliot Daly, Maro Itoje and current England captain Jamie George leading the charge.

In addition they have the very impressive Argentine duo of Lucio Cinti and Juan Martin Gonzalez along with a trio of in form England forwards in Ben Earl, Nick Isiekwe and explosive No 8 Tom Willis who, on current form, looks certain to add to his sole England cap in the forthcoming Six Nations.

With their current injury profile and lack of real depth, despite the advantage of home comforts, Munster appear vulnerable entering this game. That said, they only need look back two games to the incredible 68-10 annihilation Saracens received away to Bath in the Premiership as evidence that they are still far from the complete side.

While there was mitigation in the fact that they had back row Toby Knight sent off after 15 minutes, it doesn’t account for a complete defensive meltdown which resulted in Bath scoring 10 tries in a record defeat for the former champions.

Saracens are nothing if not proud however and showed impressive powers of recovery in their defeat of second placed Bristol Bears 35-26 at home last weekend. The Munster brains trust will have seen enough evidence in that Bath loss alone to know that Saracens can be got at.

With an away trek to Franklins Gardens, where Northampton overturned Bath 35-34 in a riveting contest last Sunday, to follow in round 4, if Munster lose this weekend, they face the prospect of not even making the Round of 16, ending up instead the knockout phase of the Challenge Cup.

As always, the dawning of a new year leaves us passionate, sports mad followers pining for past glories. With the Cork hurlers now entering a 20th year without the McCarthy Cup, the release of state papers covered in this publication on New Year’s Day referred back to 1985 and the celebrations marking the 800th year since the city was granted a charter by Prince John in 1185.

That year long event, officially launched by President Patrick Hillery, offered my favorite piece of graffiti. Entering the city from Glanmire on my return from an Irish squad session in Dublin in early January, a large banner at the start of the dual carriage way proclaimed, Cork 800, to which some diehard rebel fan added “Tipperary Nil”. As we enter 2025, Munster rugby isn’t alone in looking to reclaim past glories.