Champions Cup ties offer hope of glorious knockout stage

This season’s Heineken Champions Cup has been a logistical nightmare but the tournament’s knock-out stages could yet offer some seriously good viewing. Despite the Covid issues that prompted the cancellation of several games in the past month, some potentially fierce two-leg contests now await in the last 16.

Leicester, the current Premiership leaders, now face a fascinating home and away duel with Clermont Auvergne while the English champions Harlequins will be up against Montpellier, who have managed to sneak into the last eight despite shipping 89 points at Leinster in round three.

Among the other stand-out ties will be the all-Irish encounter between Leinster and Connacht and a Parisian ‘derby’ between Racing 92 and Stade Français. The defending European champions Toulouse also face a potentially tricky assignment against Ulster while last year’s beaten finalists La Rochelle are involved in another all-French rendezvous with Bordeaux.

Bristol, for their part, can look forward to an all-English collision with Sale, which will at least simplify the travel arrangements of both sides, and Munster will meet Exeter following a fluctuating final afternoon of pool action. Exeter’s see-sawing 37-26 loss in Montpellier and Wasps’ convincing 45-7 defeat at Thomond Park ultimately tipped the balance, with a total of five English clubs joining seven French sides and four from Ireland in making it through the pool stages.

The quarter-final lineup is also looking tasty with Leicester, if they progress, potentially in line to meet Leinster in the last eight. Quins, similarly, would be up against the winners of La Rochelle v Bordeaux with a trip to Paris to face Racing 92 potentially in wait for either Bristol or Sale.

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