Champions Cup Round 1 thoughts

[Heathen]

Some huge mismatches this weekend. Either through team selection or having a very strong squad.

In Pool 1, two sides had 5 pointers - Leinster away to Montpellier, who we play on Friday night at The Ricoh and ourselves. The other winners were Toulon. La Rochelle, Scarlets and UBB.

In Pool 2, 5 sides had 5 pointers - Lyon (against a weak Glaws), Exeter thumped Glasgow, ASM who scored 51 points at Ashton Gate, Toulouse who won at the Kingspan and Racing. The other side to win was Munster.

With only the top 4 from each pool qualifying for the 1/4s, it could possibly that even if you won all 4 of your pool games, you might might not even qualify for the next stage. Sharpens the minds though!

This was the MHR squad for the Leinster game : Some big names amongst them, including a certain EA on loan to them.

Montpellier: Rattez; Ngandebe, Reilhac, Vincent (capt), Martin; Lozowski, Paillaugue; Fichten, Guirado, Haouas, Chalureau, Willemse, Van Rensburg, Camara, J du Plessis.

Replacements: B du Plessis, Forletta, Lamositele, Picamoles, Timu, Foursans, Vallee, Bevia.

[HDAWG]

My inexperienced opinion on the matter is Exeter, Leinster, Lyon and Clermont were most impressive and they're my top 4 (not sure they can end up as final 4 because of the confusing layout this year but I think they're the top performers). La Rochelle are my Dark Horse pick, could do well if things fall in place.

I think collectively France have excelled, perhaps their style of rugby is working this year because they all play very similarly. Perhaps their performance in the International set up also motivated clubs. Pro14 have struggled, but England have been atrocious outside Exeter and us. Even Bristol, absolutely spanked by Clermont, and Bath underperforming with that squad is a travesty.

Highlighting us, I doubt we'll get too far, but maybe it's a case of getting our mojo back. This is the best we've looked in Europe since 2017/18, but it was against Dragons. Dunno man I feel like we'll not do amazing, but we'll use it as a platform to develop and improve. I think there are other teams already established who are more likely to win. I'm just glad we didn't add to the embarrassment of English rugby this weekend, even if it was against poor opposition.

[Bloke in North Dorset]

With only the top 4 from each pool qualifying for the 1/4s, it could possibly that even if you won all 4 of your pool games, you might might not even qualify for the next stage. Sharpens the minds though!

Baxter made that point during the in-game interview and said they were looking at points difference, which meant not only scoring lots of tries but keeping the opposition out.

[Shugs]

Biggest thing for me was that the French teams are well stocked, well rested and travelling better.

[Neils]

Biggest thing for me was that the French teams are well stocked, well rested and travelling better.

Because they didn't have to play so many stupid pointless internationals.

[Montague Withnail]

Highlighting us, I doubt we'll get too far, but maybe it's a case of getting our mojo back. This is the best we've looked in Europe since 2017/18, but it was against Dragons. Dunno man I feel like we'll not do amazing, but we'll use it as a platform to develop and improve. I think there are other teams already established who are more likely to win. I'm just glad we didn't add to the embarrassment of English rugby this weekend, even if it was against poor opposition.

My thoughts are that we can't compete on both fronts, the first 3 premiership rounds have given us a very rude awakening about the depth of our squad. We were very lucky to beat Bristol who were missing far more first choice players than we were, then we lost to a dreadful Gloucester team and then we were thrashed by a Falcons team that is canny and very physically committed but, let's face it, hardly a top notch side. On the other hand we know that if we have something like our best side on the pitch we can compete with the best teams in Europe, the prem final showed us that. The problem is that we are not going to be able to get that team out very often. My preference was to rest key players throughout the European games so that we could focus on making a run for the premiership play-offs.

Obviously Blackers has gone the other way. We should have a relatively easy ride through the pool, so the point is that we are now looking at trying to get our best team onto the pitch for the European knock-out stages. That means we can more or less forget making the premiership play-offs, but (as long as we don't get relegated, which I'm not too worried about) maybe that makes some sense - at least Wasps still get to compete in some high quality knock-out rugby and if we get our very best team on the pitch playing like we were I think we can compete with the likes of Toulouse and Leinster.

[RogerE]

Last season, six matches into the premiership season we all thought we could forget about making the play-offs, and were looking forward to the Wasps/Leicester match as a relegation decider....

[matelot22]

Highlighting us, I doubt we'll get too far, but maybe it's a case of getting our mojo back. This is the best we've looked in Europe since 2017/18, but it was against Dragons. Dunno man I feel like we'll not do amazing, but we'll use it as a platform to develop and improve. I think there are other teams already established who are more likely to win. I'm just glad we didn't add to the embarrassment of English rugby this weekend, even if it was against poor opposition.

My thoughts are that we can't compete on both fronts, the first 3 premiership rounds have given us a very rude awakening about the depth of our squad. We were very lucky to beat Bristol who were missing far more first choice players than we were, then we lost to a dreadful Gloucester team and then we were thrashed by a Falcons team that is canny and very physically committed but, let's face it, hardly a top notch side. On the other hand we know that if we have something like our best side on the pitch we can compete with the best teams in Europe, the prem final showed us that. The problem is that we are not going to be able to get that team out very often. My preference was to rest key players throughout the European games so that we could focus on making a run for the premiership play-offs.

Obviously Blackers has gone the other way. We should have a relatively easy ride through the pool, so the point is that we are now looking at trying to get our best team onto the pitch for the European knock-out stages. That means we can more or less forget making the premiership play-offs, but (as long as we don't get relegated, which I'm not too worried about) maybe that makes some sense - at least Wasps still get to compete in some high quality knock-out rugby and if we get our very best team on the pitch playing like we were I think we can compete with the likes of Toulouse and Leinster.

Are you forgetting that our, mostly, second string team thrashed Sarries a matter of weeks ago?

[Montague Withnail]

Last season, six matches into the premiership season we all thought we could forget about making the play-offs, and were looking forward to the Wasps/Leicester match as a relegation decider....

As I wasn't posting here then, I am very tempted to claim I wasn't ever worried about relegation. It would be a total lie though 

The turn-around in our season was awesome to behold, but do you think we'd have made the final and been so competitive if we had had to play in the European knock-out games? I don't. Also if we hadn't had a long break to get so many of our squad fit and playing. It suited us more than most because we have a really excellent top roster but much less depth than most other good teams.

This season we don't start from anywhere near such a bad place. The reason for our dip in form is obvious, but it doesn't change the fact the we have barely even begun to feel the impact of attrition this season. As I said above, I think we are capable of competing with any side in Europe, but our squad is a lot more fragile than most of our competitors.

[DGP Wasp]

There were some eye-catching performances this weekend.  Lyon were the team of the round for me.  But so many mis-matches due in part to the format that pitched 1st/2nd placed teams from each league against 7th/8th placed teams from the other 2 leagues, and partly due to some teams clearly not fussed this year, perhaps driven by the strange format.

In theory, the top 3 in each pool get a fairly easy passage to the quarters, and that largely went to form this weekend.  Toulouse's win at Ulster the one that bucked that trend, but can hardly call that an upset.  The interest really should be in the games between the 3rd-6th seeded teams - more evenly matched and likely to be scrapping for one QF spot between them.

Glad this format is (hopefully) just a one off.

[Montague Withnail]

Are you forgetting that our, mostly, second string team thrashed Sarries a matter of weeks ago?

I'll probably never forget that game, it was heroic, but you can't expect results like that week in week out.

[Montague Withnail]

There were some eye-catching performances this weekend.  Lyon were the team of the round for me.  But so many mis-matches due in part to the format that pitched 1st/2nd placed teams from each league against 7th/8th placed teams from the other 2 leagues, and partly due to some teams clearly not fussed this year, perhaps driven by the strange format.

In theory, the top 3 in each pool get a fairly easy passage to the quarters, and that largely went to form this weekend.  Toulouse's win at Ulster the one that bucked that trend, but can hardly call that an upset.  The interest really should be in the games between the 3rd-6th seeded teams - more evenly matched and likely to be scrapping for one QF spot between them.

Glad this format is (hopefully) just a one off.

The mismatches will probably get worse. Due to the format, unless you got at least one league point from the first round you can probably consider yourself more or less out of the running already - especially if you lost at home like Montpellier did. Logically they should turn up with their academy at the weekend but let's see, logic isn't everything in rugby.

[matelot22]

Are you forgetting that our, mostly, second string team thrashed Sarries a matter of weeks ago?

I'll probably never forget that game, it was heroic, but you can't expect results like that week in week out.

I'm not saying we could, or should, expect that on a regular basis, merely pointing out that our strength in depth isn't, perhaps, as wanting as you're implying. I think there are a couple of weak areas, 2nd row most notably, where we could do with an uplift, but I don't think we're that much worse off than most teams.

[Neils]

Logically Montepellier having lost the first match without even a losing bonus point and being fourth bottom of the Top 14 would rest senior players for the covid ravaged journey to England and concentrate on their next domestic match. However, what you might get is a bunch of enthusiastic kids out to make a name for themselves not forgetting a past it EA miffed that he left Wasps for more money, glory and caps (well that worked out well).

[andermt]

As has been said, I think a number of teams will turn to their academies from round 2, I saw someone post somewhere that they thought Pat Lam had said that was his plan.

Would be good to get through to the knockout stages as will be a big moral booster for the squad.