Europe’s best too hot for England

IT took the 2022 European Cup until the quarter-finals before it delivered in terms of the quality and drama that have made it the best club/provincial tournament not just in the Northern Hemisphere, but globally.

It also provided the Premiership with a very clear reminder of its declining competitiveness, with its leading teams failing to hit the heights in Europe either in attack or defence. Despite the overblown hype from the vested interests involved in the top English league, no Premiership club qualified for the European Cup semi-finals for the second year in succession.

The gap between Europe’s best and England’s best was evident as Leinster had too much fore and aft for Leicester at Welford Road, while, after a competitive firsthalf in Paris, Sale had no answer to the remarkable finishing skills of Racing’s Finn Russell and Teddy Thomas after the break.

For the second year running the Top 14, the elite league in a promotion-relegation pyramid, supplied three of the semi-finalists. If the RFU Board or its lapdog Council need a measure of the damage done by their decision to put a so-called ‘moratorium’ on promotion-relegation to the Premiership 16 months ago, it is staring them in the face.

The closest call for the French came when Toulouse won a penalty shoot-out 4-2, after extratime saw them locked in a 24-24 tie with Munster. The shoot-out was high tension, well organised, and infinitely better than the flip of a coin.

However, it would be more in keeping with Rugby Union’s core character to play on for a sudden-death golden point, even if it meant a further 20 minutes tiebreak time, with each team losing a player (bar front row) every five minutes.