European Rugby gets underway

The Investec Champions Cup, aka the European Rugby Champions Cup saw its 2023/24 season get underway the first 2 weeks of December. Formerly sponsored by Heineken, this annual competition pits the best professional clubs from the English Premiership, France’s Top 14 and the United Rugby Championship (including South African sides since last season) against each other.

24 clubs in 4 pools play 4 matches in the round robin phase before moving to the knockout stage starting in April 2024. At that time, 16 teams will compete to reach the final in London on May 25 of that year.

Taking time off from their regular league play, the 24 teams played 2 consecutive weekends against different opponents and while early days, the power teams are starting to emerge:

7 teams have 2-0 records: Northampton Saints, Union Bordeaux-Begles, Exeter Chiefs, Bath, Stade Toulousian, Leinster and Leicester Tigers. 6 Teams have ground to make up starting the competition 0-2: Connacht, RC Toulon, Stade Francais Paris, Stade Rochelais, Racing 92 and Cardiff Rugby.

Refereeing note: In a welcome development for fans, the referee in Sunday’s Harlequins vs. Stade Toulousain match penalized the French team’s scrum half, Antoine Dupont early in the first half for taking too long to use the ball from a ruck. How many times do spectators hear the plaintive “use it” bellowed by the ref while teams organize their caterpillars. The referee is instructed to move the game along at a decent clip and penalize any unnatural/unnecessary delays - this was the first time I’d seen this and speaks well of the future.

Team note: French star #9 Dupont will not be seen in the Six Nations this season as he is preparing to represent France in Rugby 7s at the Paris Olympics. No doubt he is hoping to win a larger prize in front of his home crowd after the disappointment of the World Cup.

Another Olympic Note: The U.S. is the reigning Rugby 15s champion at the Olympics having taken home the gold in 1924, the last time it was played in that format. Rugby 7s was introduced in 2016.

Premiership Rugby, the URC and France’s Top 14 all restart their campaigns on Friday, December 22.