The European Champions Cup has been dominated in the last decade by three teams: Leinster, Toulon, and Saracens. This ruthless domination offers up a common question: is there a specific blueprint to achieve European rugby success? Three key principles from that question stand-alone to assist a side to win a European Champions Cup. However, not […] READ MORE
Tag: Toulouse
South African prop Maks van Dyk signs for Exeter Chiefs
Exeter Chiefs have announced the signing of South African prop Maks van Dyk. The prop comes in largely to cover the exodus of tight-head props from Exeter to international duty. Rob Baxter’s men find themselves without Harry Williams and Tomas Francis for the upcoming Autumn Nations Cup. As a result, van Dyk joins Exeter after […] READ MORE
Saracens set to compete in Champions Cup semi-finals v Racing 92
In a tumultuous season to date, Saracens are now set to compete in another Heineken Champions Cup semi-finals match-up versus Racing 92 on Saturday, September 26. They secured their place with victory over Guinness PRO14 champions Leinster. Winning 25-17, it makes the 2020 season much improved for Mark McCall, as he can feel satisfied that […] READ MORE
Richie Gray excited by Glasgow Warriors return
Richie Gray is delighted to be back home in Scotland after re-joining Glasgow Warriors from Toulouse. The 30-year-old returned to Scotland last month and spent two weeks with his family in quarantine before joining up with the Warriors’ squad as they take part in voluntary fitness testing sessions at BT Murrayfield ahead of the return […] READ MORE
Top 25 Champions Cup pool stage performers
The 2019-20 Champions Cup campaign may be curtailed, but with plans to yet finish the competition off, Last Word takes a look back through the history books to bring you the top 25 teams in terms of points collected in the pool stages. Champions Cup history – Pool points The points are taken from every […] READ MORE
Northern Hemisphere Rugby Cities: Union and League representation
The Northern Hemisphere has a few cities that have both rugby union and league. These cities have one rugby code in the first-tier and a second-tier in another code. Furthermore, all three of these cities could very easily have a tier-one team in both codes of rugby. Two of them had first-tier teams in both […] READ MORE
French rugby renaissance good for northern hemisphere competition
With three wins from three played, many are wondering if the French are back to their best. Are we witnessing a French rugby renaissance? A strong start in 2020 saw four valuable points gained in their opening Six Nations match victory over England. Within sixty minutes of game two (against Italy) the try bonus point […] READ MORE
Champions Cup power rankings
With the final stages of Champions Cup pool matches completed Robert Rees takes a look at the final round of power rankings. 1st – Leinster – (-) Leinster retain the top spot and head into the quarter finals with 28 out of a possible 30 points. They rampaged through both Lyon and Benetton in their […] READ MORE
Louis Rees-Zammit walking without crutches as players enter Wales Six Nations camp
Louis Rees-Zammit saw himself called up to the Wales squad last week, but found himself hobbling off at the weekend in Gloucester’s game against Toulouse. Johan Ackermann had later acknowledged that it was an ankle injury, but the latest images suggest it wasn’t as serious as first feared. Rees-Zammit back on two feet Great […] READ MORE
Champions Cup 2019/20: time for a new champion
Following Saracens’ fine and points deduction in the Gallagher Premiership, the London club are unlikely to be able to compete on both domestic and European fronts this season. They will most likely to also not feature in the Champions Cup next season. Therefore, it is time for a new winner in the Champions Cup 2019/20 […] READ MORE