Heineken Champions Cup round up: 5 Things we learnt
- Charlie Hynes
- Jan 14, 2019
- 4 min read
The penultimate weekend of the Heineken Champions Cup group stage was packed full of talking points with the picture becoming clearer as to who will be advancing to the knockout stages. Here's what we picked up from this weekend's action:
Joey Carbery really wants that green 10 shirt
Friday night saw Munster visit Kingsholm with Gloucester still in with a chance of qualification and needing a win to put themselves in with a chance. The atmosphere inside Kingsholm was lively as ever but Munster were not without their support with a large number making the journey. The sides traded points early on but Munster began to show their class and dominate the game with Joey Carbery and Rory Scannell both crossing from 10 metres out. The second half was when Carbery truly turned the screw on Gloucester with his controlling of the play and displaying his natural flair with a delicious weak foot grubber through the Gloucester line to set up Andrew Conway for his try. The young Irishman's evening got even better when he read a loose Ben Morgan pass to cross from fifty-metres out. Munster ran out 15-41 winners with Gloucester unable to match Munster defensive stability as well as their great attacking play. Carbery, on loan at Munster from rivals Leinster, really staked his claim to Joe Schmidt for the Ireland fly half jersey with his unstoppable display and is putting pressure on World Player of the Year Johnny Sexton who was absent from Leinster's win over Toulouse. What Schmidt will certainly learn from this weekend is that he has an embarrassment of riches with a number of players from both Munster and Leinster putting in big performances. The returning Chris Farrell had a strong game for Munster making yards with strong ball carries and opening up space for Conway and Keith Earls outside him. Munster return home to Thomond park next weekend in the final round to face Exeter in a shootout for the top spot in the group.
Credit: Irish Independent
Jacob Stockdale is 'The worlds best winger'.
These are the words of BT Sports' Ugo Monye after the Irish winger bagged a brace of tries in Ulster's thrilling victory over Racing 92. Both tries showed the mark of a prolific finisher with him fending off the opposing winger for the first and getting the ball from deep and shrugging off the tackle and chipping over two Racing players and regathering to score his second. He once again proved his class after the great 2018 he had in an Ulster and Ireland shirt with his second try resembling that of his sensational finish against the All Blacks. His ability to beat defenders in no space at all is hard to beat at the moment with only the likes of Cheslin Kolbe of Toulouse being able to get out of tight spaces that well. The result meant that Ulster have an opportunity to top the group if results go their way but are relying on Leicester getting a result away at Racing who were humbled by Scarlets so the odds are against them.
The Scots aren't half bad
Both Edinburgh and Glasgow put in top performances this weekend to put themselves in contention for the quarter final places with big wins. Edinburgh recorded a historic win against the 3 time champions Toulon on their own turf whilst Glasgow came out on top in a thrilling encounter against Cardiff Blues. Edinburgh's new revolution under Richard Cockerill continued to move on forwards with a resilient performance producing some great scores, in particular the spectacular team try coming from Viliame Mata's sensational reverse offload to set up Jamie Johnstone. Glasgow got caught in an end to end encounter with Cardiff but came out on top to take them into a group decider against Saracens on Saturday with them ideally needing a bonus point win or win without allowing Saracens a bonus point.
Newcastle's European fairy tale doesn't get its happy ending
After famous wins against Toulon and Montpellier, Newcastle were needing a win to even give themselves a hope of reaching the quarter finals. However, Newcastle took their Premiership form into the game instead of their previous Champions Cup form, being thrashed 45-8 by a rampant Montpellier side that looked determined to get revenge and not allow an upset to occur once again. It wasn't the best weekend as a whole for the English sides with Wasps and Bath playing a dead rubber game with the west country side coming out on top. Saracens and Exeter were the only sides pulling their weight with Sarries beating a poor Lyon side and the Chiefs beating top of the table Castres with the returning Jack Nowell scoring a sensational solo effort.
Refereeing issues
A returning issue of European rugby was the inconsistencies in refereeing. Many have said that due to the amount of different referees from different governing bodies that there is a unclear understanding of certain laws. A prime example of this was Saracens tackling against Lyon with the London side looking as if they had committed a number of high tackles, yet the referee didn't seem to agree. The different styles of refereeing is shaping the way sides play as the English teams only have RFU referees in the Premiership yet when they come into Europe they tend to be penalised by Pro 14 and Top14 Referees. This means that the Pro 14 teams probably benefit the most in regards to Europe as they are exposed to the different interpretations of the laws frequently meaning that they can adapt their style of play whilst also playing to their own strengths.
Next weekend offers some more exciting Rugby with a number of teams still fighting for those last remaining Quarter final spots. My games to look out for are Saracens vs Glasgow and Munster vs Exeter with both matches having a lot resting on them.
If you agree or disagree with any thing raised in this piece reach out to us on Twitter @ballersblog1 or @Hynesjourno .
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