Quarter-final weekend in the Heineken Champions Cup rarely, if ever, does dull and this one almost certainly will be no exception. Not for the first time, Leinster and Munster are the last two Irish teams standing and opposing them in the same half of the draw is fellow European royalty in Toulouse and Leicester.
Between them this quartet have reached the quarter-finals on 64 occasions, and have claimed half of the 26 European Cups to date.
Such is Irish rugby’s investment in the competition that Munster and Leinster’s season will be at least somewhat defined by Saturday’s events against Toulouse in the Aviva Stadium (kick-off 3pm) and against Leicester at Welford Road (kick-off 5.30pm).
As the semi-finals arrive with indecent haste, come 7.30pm or so we will know whether they are destined to meet at the semi-final stages for a third time, after the seismic and defining clashes of 2006 and 2008, next weekend. Or alternatively whether one will have maintained Irish interest. Or, almost unthinkably, if there is to be no Irish team in the semi-finals for just the third time in 15 seasons.
…
- May 7, 2022
Quarter-final weekend in the Heineken Champions Cup rarely, if ever, does dull and this one almost certainly will be no exception. Not for the first time, Leinster and Munster are the last two Irish teams standing and opposing them in the same half of the draw is fellow European royalty in Toulouse and Leicester.
Between them this quartet have reached the quarter-finals on 64 occasions, and have claimed half of the 26 European Cups to date.
Such is Irish rugby’s investment in the competition that Munster and Leinster’s season will be at least somewhat defined by Saturday’s events against Toulouse in the Aviva Stadium (kick-off 3pm) and against Leicester at Welford Road (kick-off 5.30pm).
As the semi-finals arrive with indecent haste, come 7.30pm or so we will know whether they are destined to meet at the semi-final stages for a third time, after the seismic and defining clashes of 2006 and 2008, next weekend. Or alternatively whether one will have maintained Irish interest. Or, almost unthinkably, if there is to be no Irish team in the semi-finals for just the third time in 15 seasons.
…