Loose Pass: Champions Cup format a hit, England’s one that got away and long-range drop goals

This week we will mostly be concerning ourselves with tournament formatting, England’s one that got away, and an occurrence (nearly two) we are surprised has not happened a lot more already…

Loose Pass must confess, that since the heady days of the Munster–Leicester–Wasps-Toulouse-Leinster stranglehold on the Heineken Cup (which ended in 2013 after 13 years), the ongoing battle to ‘renew’ the competition (really meaning the ongoing battle for the cash on offer), plus the sudden emergence of a largely-bought team in Toulon, had ensured that our interest in the tournament had waned somewhat.

Then came the new format, then came the dilution of all competition integrity due to the pandemic (nobody’s fault particularly, a trying time, yet it just wasn’t a very satisfactory repair job at the time). Had it not been for SANZAAR making an even worse job of ‘revolutionising’ Super Rugby, loyalties to the Heineken Cup would have been sorely tested.

But this weekend, out of nowhere, the retained format tweak gave a labouring competition a whole new look. And Loose Pass – we suspect many others also – likes!

Harking back to the bygone era of six four-team pools leading to quarter-finals where two of the pool winners could find themselves away in a quarter-final, some of the most memorable clashes were those on the December weekends, the back-to-back home and away epics. Some of the others were those final weekend clashes, with teams needing bonus points in the toughest places, or needing four tries against the most watertight defences. Some of those epic away wins in places like Clermont or Perpignan, some of those amazing Munster finales, showdowns in the Welford Road mud.

The new format, the reduction to only five pools plus the