With the European Champions Cup kicking off this weekend, I look to five key players who will look to stand up tall and inspire their respective teams to victory.
Joe Marler
England loosehead prop Joe Marler will be captaining Harlequins in Europe for the first time against Castres on Friday night. He will lead out a Quins side which has been struggling for consistency this season thus far, and will be key in influencing the course of this match. Having been sin-binned last week against Leicester Tigers, Quins will need their main man to keep a cool head in order to come away with victory. He will also need to be at the top of his game at scrum time to nullify Castres tighthead Paea Fa’anunu in what will be an important tussle in the race for superiority.
Brad Thorn
Big Bad Brad is back in Europe this weekend as his new club Leicester Tigers face Ulster at Welford Road. The 39-year-old All Black will have to show every ounce of his 13-years worth of experience in order to pull Leicester out of their recent struggles. Of course, Thorn is no stranger to European victory over the Ulstermen, having won the Heineken Cup in 2012 with Leinster, and Leicester will use him to add fight and guts into their back-pedalling forward pack.
Rhys Webb
Ospreys face a relatively straightforward match as they take on arguably the weakest side in this very strong competition, Treviso. They’ll be eager to put Treviso to the sword by scoring a hatful of tries. Their main source of tries this season has been Wales Scrum-Half Rhys Webb, who has 5 tries to his name from only 6 matches in the Pro12.
Matt Giteau
After Jonny Wilkinson’s retirement last summer (sob!), Matt Giteau will slot into the Fly-Half position when Toulon face Scarlets on Sunday. And what big boots he has to fill too. The raucous Toulon fans will be expectant of the former Wallaby to perform as if he’s been playing there for Toulon for years, and it would not be too surprising, if Giteau were to exceed expectations and perform superbly too, as he frequently does so, in a match where Toulon will be looking for a four-try bonus point to start off their title defence.
Danny Cipriani
Many people have been calling for Danny Cipriani to be included in the England squad for the coming season (announced on Wendesday) and what better way to prove these people correct, as his side Sale Sharks take on two-time winners Munster. Cipriani himself will need to use his range of kicking to keep Munster on the back foot, and to show his dynamism and flair with ball in hand to ensure Sale have the best possible chance of coming away with victory. Naturally Munster will be slight favourites but with Cipriani at Fly-Half, Sale shouldn’t be ruled out too soon.
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