CHAMPIONS CUP REVIEW: The Kings are dead and new stars have risen

The Kings are dead. And the unthinkable happened.

The exit of the heavyweights of European club rugby - defending champions Stade Toulousain and Irish juggernaut Leinster in this weekend’s Investec Champions’ Cup semifinals were not only seismic in their results, but also underlined the pure passion that the world’s best club competition is played in.

There is a massive lesson for South African fans and teams in Europe. This is the standard you will need to live up to if you are to be successful in this massive tribal competition that dominates the European rugby mindset.

It wasn’t hard to see. Two heavyweight teams - who between them have dominated the tournament over the past few years to such an extent that it was unthinkable they wouldn’t meet again in the final - are out. Beaten by passion and pride, by some beautiful rugby, and by some rising stars in the game.

Stars, after all, are what it is about in the Champions’ Cup. The winner adds a permanent star on their jersey. Leinster have four - the last one won back in the 2017/18 season while Toulouse have six. Both are packed to the brim with internationals and have a bench a mile long, and both unexpectedly lost.

But this weekend the stars aligned for new ones to emerge. The underrated wing talent of Tommy Freeman, who contributed three beautiful tries, while the upstart Henry Pollock, who must have cemented a place on the British and Irish Lions tour, were the Kings of Dublin. A powerful performance by Juarno Augustus, the forgotten South African No 8, was also poetic in the victory.

Virtually everybody with a rugby brain had Leinster to win and win comfortably. After all they had demolished Glasgow and Leicester by 52 and 62 points respectively without conceding a point.

They had beaten Northampton comfortably last season at the same stage, and yet, things didn’t go to plan from the start.

The 37-34 loss was seismic because it hit home so hard on so many levels. How did a defence coached by Jacques Nienaber - miss 41 (or 30 per cent) of their tackles? But Northampton were simply sensational, they took the attack to Leinster and once again found holes when it mattered most.

The fact that Leinster have failed in the last four seasons to win a Champions Cup or Vodacom United Rugby Championship title will be all the focus this week. And while the URC is still an option, the Irish juggernaut is creaking under the weight of its own expectation.

Northampton were superb. And belief in their own abilities - that romanticism that drives all of sport - showed the underdog can win.

"We learned a lot from the two knock-out games coming into this, in terms of Glasgow and Quins and how to attack that defence," Northampton’s Director of Rugby Phil Dowson said afterwards.

"We've been working on our own game all season long and the belief inside was very strong. We talked about the belief we had in ourselves, regardless of what was said on the other side.

"I thought we finished the first half very well and started the second half very poorly, which gave them a huge amount of momentum and it was a rear guard effort after that.

"There's obviously things we can do better but the effort and intent that we had to work hard for each other was incredible."

On Sunday Bordeaux took a step closer to confirming themselves as the Kings of France in waiting, even though Toulouse are still likely to walk to the Top 14 title.

Coach Yannick Bru, who Sharks fans will remember was their assistant coach last season, has turned the side into the best attack in Europe, with possibly the world’s best rising star - winger Louis Bielle-Biarrey scoring another two tries as they demolished Toulouse 35-18.

Perhaps in Bordeaux’s case, there was less surprise in the result, particularly as Toulouse were missing the likes of Antoine Dupont, Blair Kinghorn, Thomas Ramos and Peatu Mauvaka to injury, but it was still massive either way.

Bielle-Barrey was undoubtedly the star of the game, but Bordeaux in every department other than the scrum seemed to have Toulouse’s number. The winger added two to his already impressive six tries in the tournament for the season, although he is still eclipsed by Damian Penaud on 12 tries. Penaud was uncharacteristically overshadowed by his teammate during the semifinal.

The key moment at the Matmut Alantique stadium was Bielle-Biarrey’s second try - a moment of beauty as he somersaulted over the line after Romain Buros had carved open the Toulouse defence.

Speaking post-match, Coach Yannick Bru explained how proud he was of his men.

"My main feeling right now is pride. Pride for what my players have done", he started.

"They really got stuck throughout the week building up to today and really believed they could do it".

Bordeaux have now qualified for their first final ever, ironically beating the side that stopped their march in their only other playoff match - their 2021 semifinal.

And so the stage has been set for Cardiff’s finale, with two sides that embrace the attacking mantra facing off in an epic clash. A clash where new stars of the game hope to become giants, and add a single star to their jersey.

In the EPCR Challenge Cup, Johann van Graan’s side were way too strong for Sean Everitt’s Edinburgh, leaving some hope for a South African hand in the victory.

Their 39-24 win was not only testament to a great performance by their forward pack, with Sam Underhill starring and Thomas du Toit playing a cameo role, but also to Finn Russell’s excellence at flyhalf.

They will face Lyon, who stopped Racing 92 29-15 in their semifinal.

RESULTS

INVESTEC CHAMPIONS CUP

Semifinals

Leinster 34 Northampton 37

Bordeaux-Begles 35 Stade Toulousain 18

EPCR CHALLENGE CUP

Semifinals

Edinburgh 24 Bath 39

Lyon Olympique 29 Racing 92 15

FINAL

Cardiff

EPCR Challenge Cup

Friday 23 May

Bath v Lyon Olympique (21h00)

INVESTEC CHAMPIONS CUP

Saturday 24 May

Northampton Saints v Bordeaux-Begles (15h45)