In three-of-four pools, clubs of the Gallagher Premiership are at or near the top of their groups after the first round of battles for the Investec Champions Cup trophy as the eight from the English league went 7-1-0 on opening weekend. Them of the Top 14 and United Rugby Championship each counted a brace of victories, five losses and an incidence of drawn scores for their collective efforts. By the Numbers: Pool 1 Clubs (league pos.) Bordeaux (7) Bristol (8) Bulls (3) Lyon (12) Saracens (4) Connacht (8) 6 12 11
6
16
l 0 0 0 1 1 1
d 0 0 0 0 0 0
+/36 2 11 -2 -11 -36
table points 5 5 4 2 0 0
try Bordeaux Bègles broke open a close, 12-5, midpoint tussle with 4 unanswered touch downs in the second stanza for a convincing, 5-point, 41 - 5 victory over Connacht at the Sportsgrounds in Galway; for Bulls 10, Johan Goosen, on 3-and-2 from his shoe and Vodacom are lossless after stymying Saracens at Loftus Versfeld, 27 - 16; for Bristol Bears 10, Callum Sheedy, on 4-and-1 shooting, and it was his last volley, a dropped goal in the 85th minute that won it; 36 – 34 the final over Lyon at Ashton Gate; double for 15, Thacker Abrahams, in defeat;
Pool 2 Clubs (league pos.) Toulouse (6) Bath (2) Harlequins (3) Racing 92 (1) Ulster (7) Cardiff (12) 13
w 1 1 1 0 0 0
w 1 1 1 0 0 0
l 0 0 0 1 1 1
d 0 0 0 0 0 0
+/45 23 3 -3 -23 -45
table points 5 5 5 2 0 0
for Toulouse 15, Thomas Ramos, on 5-and-1, shooting with 100% accuracy and the French Giants blasted Cardiff at Ernest-Wallon on Saturday, 52 – 7 for a fiver; double for home 15, Blair Kinghorn, his second coming during injury time; points the margin of separation at the half with Bath on the wrong end, 8-14, requiring 4 trys from homeys in the last half to record the 37 – 14 win; double for flyer, Joe Cokanasiga, in the happy over Ulster; for travelling 10, Marcus Smith on 3 conversions, 1 grounding, and a dropped goal as Harlequins brought five points back across the Channel after 31 – 28 joy past Racing 92 at Stade Jean Bouin; 18 for Racing 9, Nolann Le Garrec, on a double and all 4 conversions in the losing effort; home side were up, 28-17 after a brace of touchdowns by the hour mark to start the second stanza, but the Quins responded with a pair of converted groundings to make the result;
Pool 3 Clubs (league pos.) Northampton (5) Exeter Chiefs (6) Bayonne (10) Munster (4) Toulon (2) Glasgow (2) 13
13 17
w
l
d
+/-
table points
1 1 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 1 1
0 0 1 1 0 0
9 1 0 0 -1 -9
4 4 2 2 1 0
for Northampton Saints 10, Fin Smith, on 2-and-3 from the tee, plus a double from 15, Tommy Freeman, made a hash of Glasgow on a sleety Scotland day and 28 – 19 the happy road joy for the Holymen; also the deficit at the break for Exeter Chiefs, 5-18, before a brace of converted, last half trys made for the return and the outcome over Toulon at the Felix Mayol 19 - 18; for every manjack in Thomond Park as Bayonne fought back from 3-14 disadvantage after forty to draw level with Munster;
Pool 4 Clubs (league pos.) w l d +/- table points Leicester (7) 1 0 0 9 5 Sale Sharks (1) 1 0 0 23 4 Leinster (1) 1 0 0 7 4 La Rochelle (9) 0 1 0 -7 1 Stormers (10) 0 1 0 -9 0 Stade Français (5) 0 1 0 -23 0 21 for Leicester Tigers 10, Handre Pollard, on 3-and-3 plus 1 try as the RWC penultimate numbers guy led the Tigers to 36 – 25 victory over visiting Stormers at Welford Road; down 10-17 at the midpoint, 4 trys in the final forty put the match in the win column for the English Cats; 16 for travelling 10, Jurie Matthee on 2-and-3 off his tee plus a dropped goal; double for Tigers flyer Solomone Kata in the win; 1 the measure of separation at the break, 6-5, with Sale Sharks ahead, became 28 – 5 victory after the Big Fish blanked Stade Français in the second stanza to record a 28 – 5 win; 7 points on a grounding by Leinster flyer, Jordan Larmour, the difference after numbers guys, Antoine Hastoy for La Rochelle and Ciarán Frawley for the Irish, each slotted a trio of sticksplitters; travelling Leinster celebrated 16 – 9 happiness at the Marcel Deflandre on the French western coast;
Upcomes Round 2 – clubs (with table points) all fixtures live on FloSports Friday, December 15, 2023: Aviron Bayonnais (2) v (0) Glasgow Warriors, 1pm MT at Parc de Sports Jean Dauger: visitors lose, and they can most likely write off their Champions Cup campaign; Bayonne overachieving just now? Have to see, Prediction: Bayonne 25 – 15 Glasgow and seeya Warriors; Northampton Saints (4) v (1) Toulon, 1pm at the Rec: see above, but Saints are freal; Prediction: Saints 32 – 25 Toulon and pretty much adios, Toulonnais; Saturday, December 16: Saracens (0) v (0) Connacht, 6am MT, at StoneX: Sarries will look to make a statement here after their loss last weekend down south, but Connacht are capable of surprising; Prediction Saracens 29 – 15 Connacht; Stormers (0) v (1) La Rochelle, 6am MT at Cape Town Stadium: this will be a belter with the underperforming South Africans (1-and-5 in their last half dozen overall) versus last season’s Champions Cup titlists (4-and-6 overall this season); one or both will come into form this day and that’s why this is the Match Of (the) Weekend; Bordeaux Bègles (5) v (5) Bristol Bears, 8am MT at Chaban Delmas: one of these’ll crack and it’s apt to be Bears; Prediction: Bordeaux 42 – 20 Bristol; Leinster (4) v (4) Sale Sharks, 10:30am MT at the RDS: the other MOW; top clubs from their leagues, but it’ll be a tough ask for the Fish on the trot; Prediction: Leinster 21 – 20 Sale; Lyon (2) v (4) Bulls, 10:30am MT at Groupama Stadium: home XV will top travel-weary Africans; Prediction: Lyon 35 – 25 Bulls; Cardiff (0) v (5) Bath, 1pm MT at the Arms Park: should be travelling joy for the English against a Blues side that has yet to obtain their form this season; Prediction: Cardiff 13 – 25 Bath; Ulster (0) v (2) Racing 92, 1pm MT at Ravenhill: both need it to stay in the hunt, or else the early exit; Prediction: Ulster 27 – 39 Racing; Sunday, December 17: Exeter Chiefs (4) v (2) Munster, 6am MT at Sandy Park: gonna be close, but will go the way of Los Jefes; Prediction: Chiefs 31 – 29 Munster; Harlequins (5) v (5) Toulouse, 8am MT at Twickenham: the other, other MOW of the weekend and this’ll expose Quins weaknesses in their power plant; Prediction: Harlequins 35 – 37 Toulouse; Stade Français (0) v (5) Leicester Tigers, 10:30am MT at Stade de France: Pollard may not be able to provide the necessaries, and Stade must win; Prediction 30 – 30 siskiss;
Summer 15s in the Mountains – there’s NOTHIN’ like it!