Rugby union: why are English clubs struggling in Europe?

“And then there was one,” said Stuart Barnes in The Sunday Times. For the second season in a row, English rugby teams have endured a “miserable time” in Europe: once again, Saracens are the sole Premiership side to progress to the quarter-finals of the Champions Cup, the top European club competition. None of the other six English sides in the Cup even came close to qualifying for the last eight; four of them finished bottom of their respective groups. English clubs have a distinguished history in the competition: they have triumphed eight times, a tally matched only by France. As recently as three seasons ago, five of them reached the quarter-finals, and three made it to the semis. But today, Sarries – the winners in 2016 and 2017 – “stand as England’s team apart”.

English clubs aren’t the only ones struggling, said Robert Kitson in The Guardian. Both Welsh teams have been knocked out of the tournament; only two French teams, Racing 92 and Toulouse, remain. Irish sides, meanwhile, are ascendant. Three of them – including Leinster, the ruling champions – have reached the last eight. In the group stage, they won nine of their ten matches against English teams, and drew the other. Scotland’s achievement is even more impressive, said Richard Bath in The Daily Telegraph. For the first time, it has two clubs – Glasgow and Edinburgh – in the knockout stages. At the start of the season, not even Edinburgh’s “most optimistic fans” expected them to get this far. But under their manager, Richard Cockerill, these “perennial underachievers” have been transformed into a “hungry band of brothers” who remain unbeaten at home this season.

It has certainly been a “dire campaign” for the English, said Chris Foy in the Daily Mail. But that’s because the Premiership is a uniquely competitive league: it’s so relentless that even the biggest clubs have to take every match seriously. By contrast, the best teams in the Pro14 – the league that includes clubs from Ireland, Scotland and Wales – can afford to rest their stars in domestic matches, in order to keep them fresh for Europe. Apologists keep making excuses for the English teams, said Mick Cleary in The Daily Telegraph. They complain about the £7m salary cap on Premiership clubs, which is £2.5m less than the limit in France – while the Pro14 doesn’t even have a cap. Yet the Irish sides don’t spend more than their rivals overseas. There’s a simple reason why they’re thriving: they “prioritise the tournament”. If English clubs want to do better, they should stop moaning and follow Ireland’s example.