Celts show their strength as the Champions Cup comes of age

The egalitarian nature of Europe’s premier competition is finally starting to take effect

This was the weekend that the Champions Cup came of age. This was the weekend that the English clubs got wiped out. This was the weekend that all talk of the English and French clubs stitching up their Celtic and Italian cousins to rule Europe forever and a day was knocked into a cocked hat.

This is the fourth year of the modernised Champions Cup, the competition that was wrested from the unions and taken over wholly by the clubs in order to make it more streamlined (24 clubs to 20), more meritocratic (no guaranteed point of entry) and more competitive. The Celts were less than enamoured with the proposal, feeling they were bushwhacked and seeing it as a way for the richer English and French clubs to call the shots.

The tournament has taken time to make its mark and the spectatorunfriendly kick-off times – which are under serious review – remain an irritant but so many other reservations were blown away by the events of this weekend.

It was the finest cross-section of pool games in the tournament’s brief history and one of the most engaging and illuminating in more than 20 years of watching European action. That the Premiership clubs have received a bloody nose, with all seven teams losing, the first time such a number of defeats has been registered in one fell swoop, is proof that the Champions Cup landscape is truly level.

The Pro14 has had something of a chip on its shoulder with regard to how it is perceived and that slight, real or not, should no longer feature in any evaluation of the strengths of the various leagues.

On Sunday evening, Leinster became the first side to win at English champions Exeter in a year while Munster did a proper number on Leicester at Thomond Park some 24 hours earlier. Ulster, too, brooked no argument with the authority of their win over Harlequins at the Twickenham Stoop. Ospreys’ demolishing of Northampton was also something to behold. All power to the Pro14.

Of course, one swallow does not make a summer and any indulgence on the part of the victorious Celts would be inappropriate, as well they know.

There was certainly no crowing in these columns when the English and French sides dominated the quarter-final line-up in 2016 with a record five Premiership teams making it through to the final eight. If anything, such lopsided representation ought to have been a grave concern to the organisers (European Professional Club Rugby) for there is nothing so dull as a foregone conclusion.

The apparent shift in power is the stuff that sport is made of. Just as the Celts have shown that there is strength in their provincial and

regional set-ups to reflect their international status, so the English clubs will have to get their act together to show that this weekend was just a blip.

As ever, the French are hard to comprehend. As their national team struggle, so the emergence of La Rochelle, with a host of fine French players, indicates that there is enough talent in the country for it to prosper again. And to those who would advocate ring-fencing either the English or French leagues with no promotion or relegation, then consider that if it were so we would not be genuflecting this morning before recently-promoted La Rochelle.

Finally, there is a case to be made for allowing an Italian side carte blanche entry given the fierce commitment on offer from Benetton Treviso, winless but admirable nonetheless.