Champions Cup team of the season: best XV from this year’s tournament

Welcome to The Breakdown, the Guardian’s weekly (and free) rugby union newsletter. Here’s an extract from this week’s edition. To receive the full version every Tuesday, just pop your email in below:

The fact that Lowry made the most metres in the tournament as well as the joint-most clean breaks despite Ulster going out in the last 16 says everything about what a running threat he is. His performances in the pool stages earned him a nomination for the European player of the year award and though Ulster were edged out by Toulouse despite a famous away win in the first leg, Lowry lit up the competition during the dark winter months.

Other wingers scored more tries, made more clean breaks and more metres than Thomas but statistics only tell you so much about the Racing flyer. The three-time runners-up blew hot and cold throughout their campaign but there are few better sights than Racing in full flow, and that is when Thomas comes to life. His finish against Sale, somehow avoiding going into touch, was remarkable and his effortless change of pace is still deceptive.

“I’ve seen the future and it runs, tackles, scores tries and is called Gaël Fickou,” wrote Shaun Edwards in the Guardian back in 2012 and, as is often the case with France’s defence coach, he wasn’t wrong. Whether it be for France or for Racing, Fickou is a consistently supreme performer these days, robust in defence and constantly a threat in attack.

Toulouse have more heralded backs but Ahki is a reliable presence in midfield for the five-times champions. In their shootout victory over Munster, Akhi was the glue who held Toulouse together as they clawed their way back into the contest. He is not one to revel in the limelight but a number of New Zealanders