The short side: Anglo-Irish clashes and back-row battle

Colin Newboult

The short side returns to Planet Rugby as we study the major talking points ahead of this weekend’s fourth round of pool games in the Champions Cup.

Champions Cup games to watch

Leinster v Northampton Saints

After last week’s demolition, this seems a foregone conclusion, but observers have made that mistake before when these two sides have gone head-to-head.

While it appears highly unlikely that Northampton Saints will repeat their efforts from 2013, when they followed up a 40-7 home thrashing to Leinster with a shock 18-9 triumph in Dublin, the Saints at least have something to cling on to.

The Midlanders are also a much better team than last weekend’s 43-16 defeat to Leinster suggests. Chris Boyd’s men actually played some excellent rugby at times versus the four-time European champions, but their execution in the opposition 22 was poor.

In contrast, the Irish province displayed all their experience and qualities to take their chances as they racked up seven tries in total. By producing that superb all-round display, the Leinstermen showed their title credentials and they will expect to move a significant step closer to the quarter-finals by overcoming the Saints.

Leo Cullen’s charges are yet to lose so far this season having garnered 10 victories in succession and Northampton will have to play exceptionally well if they are to challenge one of the pre-tournament favourites.

Saracens v Munster

These sides will resume hostilities at Allianz Park on Saturday after going head-to-head at Thomond Park last weekend when Munster drew first blood courtesy of a narrow 10-3 victory.

That result put some daylight between the traditional heavyweights of the Irish game and the Premiership champions in the Pool 4 standings with Munster occupying second place in the table with 11 points, while Saracens are third with six points.

Racing 92 are currently in top spot in the table – just a point ahead of Munster – and should pull further ahead after this weekend’s games as they take on the pool’s bottom-placed side, Ospreys, who are still without a point.

Although Sarries came off second best last weekend, they will be happy with their effort as they fielded an understrength team, which was without the likes of Billy and Mako Vunipola, Jamie George, Owen Farrell, George Kruis and Elliot Daly, and coming away from Thomond Park with a losing bonus-point could prove crucial in the grander scheme of things.

Most of those big names should return to action this weekend and bolster the Londoners’ squad, but they can expect another tough challenge from Munster, who will hope their experienced players Peter O’Mahony, CJ Stander, Keith Earls and Conor Murray take the fight to their opponents.

Player to watch – Kyle Sinckler (Harlequins)

All eyes will be on the England front-row, who will captain his club against Ulster at Twickenham Stoop in the absence of regular skipper Chris Robshaw. Needless to say, there will be a huge responsibility on Sinckler’s broad shoulders and it will be interesting to see how the leadership role affects his game.

Earlier this year, during the Six Nations, former Wales head coach Warren Gatland referred to Sinckler as an “emotional timebomb” after there were some incidents where his emotions got the better of him.

Despite those episodes, Sinckler’s game has come on leaps and bounds over the past 12 months and he is arguably the best prop in the world today. He did well during a 68-minute performance against Ulster at Kingspan Stadium last week. That was his first game since leaving the field during the early stages of England’s loss to South Africa in the Rugby World Cup final and he will be hoping to continue his fine form this weekend.

Team to watch – Exeter Chiefs

After struggling to impress in the Champions Cup in previous seasons, Rob Baxter’s troops have hit the ground running this time around and have won all three of their matches so far. That means they are sitting pretty at the top of Pool 2 with 14 points.

This, after they notched impressive victories over La Rochelle and Glasgow Warriors in their first two matches, although they were made to work very hard for their third result – a 22-20 victory against Sale Sharks at the AJ Bell Stadium last weekend.

They raced into a 22-8 lead inside the opening 30 minutes of that match but allowed Sale to come back into the match. There were some tense moments at the the end of that match as the Sharks finished stronger, but the Chiefs managed to secure the win.

The sides meet again this weekend in the corresponding fixture at Sandy Park and the Chiefs will be determined to continue their excellent run in the tournament and consolidate their position at the top of the table with another commanding performance.

One-v-one battle to watch – Billy Vunipola (Saracens) v CJ Stander (Munster)

Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall has stated that they will go in fully loaded against Munster after playing a weakened side at Thomond Park and that means some enticing battles will take place.

One of those is in the back-row with the current English and Irish number eights set to go head-to-head at Allianz Park on Saturday. Vunipola has only played once since returning from the Rugby World Cup – against Bath in the Premiership – so he should be fresh, but the 27-year-old has struggled to find his best over the past few months.

Although the back-rower was prominent during the Red Rose’s run to the final in Japan, it was not vintage from the powerhouse ball-carrier. You could possibly make the same claim about Stander, with the 38-times capped international not quite as destructive as he used to be in the loose.

However, Stander’s work ethic is invaluable to the Irish province and that was shown in his man of the match performance last weekend. Expect it to be a titanic clash between these two talismanic back-rowers, who will be crucial components of the game on Saturday.

Subplot to watch – Contenders or pretenders?

This is the weekend where we shall truly find out who will be in contention for the qualification spots in Rounds Five and Six. There were not too many shocks in the previous section of games, which means that Exeter, Leinster and Toulouse are the only sides in dominant positions in their respective groups.

Victories for those teams – and remember two of them are at home – will surely decide three of the quarter-finalists, but it is tighter in Pools 3 and 4. French duo Clermont Auvergne and Racing 92 should put themselves in fine shape when they take on Bath and Ospreys respectively, but it is slightly more complicated for Munster and Ulster.

Despite winning, those Irish teams did not play particularly well in Round Three and they have away games at Saracens and Harlequins. Should they both succumb to defeats in London then it will damage their Champions Cup prospects and potentially provide the English clubs with a route back in.

There are interesting stories in all five groups and, whatever happens, this is almost certainly a defining weekend for a number of the teams involved.

Champions Cup