Champions Cup knockout stages look lopsided and diluted

The Champions Cup pool stages have drawn to a close and the knockout pairings are now known.

It is an indictment of the competition when some teams can win just one game yet still manage to make it through to the knockout stages of a tournament that is meant to pit the best of the northern hemisphere teams against each other.

Ulster's reward for scraping through thanks to a single win is to travel away to a side that beat them convincingly at the Kingspan Stadium in the group stages. It still took 60 minutes for Bordeaux to distance themselves from Ulster and that would be Richie Murphy’s message to his players when the rematch comes around.

However, the objective view is that sending Ulster to Bordeaux for a knockout game on current form is like sending lambs to the slaughter.

Bordeaux are one of the three clear favourites to win the tournament, alongside Leinster and Toulouse. Ulster’s hopes of going to France and causing an upset don't seem fathomable at this stage, particularly after seeing what Bordeaux and Damian Penaud did to the Sharks last weekend, running in 10 tries in a 66-12 mauling.

The rebuild in Ulster is admirable. Watching their improvements is quite interesting because of the young talent that has come through. They might be at the earlier stages of developing a team but there are future internationals at the club.

Yet at the same time, they really shouldn't be in the knockout stages of a competition that's supposed to be about pitting the best of the best against each other.

The gulf between the top teams and the rest of the pack is more obvious than ever.

Toulouse scored a point per minute in their 80-12 drubbing of a traditional European stalwart, Leicester. Champions Cup rugby shouldn’t have such