Sarries look the clear favourites for smaller Euro crown

WHO WOULD have thought it only a few years ago when they were jockeying for the title of the best club in Europe, but Saracens and Toulon are the headline acts in this season’s Challenge Cup.

They are among three former winners of the Champions Cup in the tournament along with Brive, while Biarritz and Perpignan have contested finals, both losing to Toulouse.

It is harder not to qualify for the last 16 than to make it through the group stage. There are three groups of five teams: the top three in each will qualify along with the highest rank team which finishes fourth. They will be joined by six teams who failed to finish in the top eight in their Champions Cup pools.

So only five of the 15 sides in the Challenge Cup will miss out. There are six French clubs, five from the Premiership and four from the United Rugby Championship. The group matches will be spread over five weekends because, with an odd number of teams in each pool, everyone will have a bye.

There is an incentive to be one of the top two seeds because they will be drawn in the last 16 against the lowest qualifying sides from the Challenge Cup. The remaining six will have home advantage against the teams who drop down from the Champions Cup.

Lyon are the only one of the French contingent who were in the top half of the Top 14 going into this weekend, Edinburgh were third in the URL and Treviso eighth while Saracens and Gloucester were in the Premiership’s top six and London Irish were occupying the middle position.

The tournament starts on Friday when Newcastle and Worcester, who drew last weekend, meet again at Kingston Park and the following day Saracens meet Edinburgh at StoneX Stadium. Sarries have met Glasgow a number of times over the years in Europe, but it will be a first against the side from the Scottish capital.

There are few pool matches which look stimulating, although Gloucester’s trip to Lyon on Friday night has potential if they both field representative sides. Newcastle will back themselves in a pool that contains Zebre and Biarritz. Toulon also lurk there, but they are not quite the force of old, still searching yesterday for their first away win of the season.

It is hard to look beyond Saracens, even after the Champions Cup drop-outs link up, but Europe’s second tournament looks exactly that.