Saracens scandal casts long shadow but Europe’s best ready to shine as Champions Cup returns

With Saracens likely to be out of the picture for the Champions Cup as they focus on avoiding domestic relegation, this season’s competition could be the most open in years

The sport's premier European competition kicks off this weekend (Getty)

If rugby needed a quieter month to reflect and recuperate after an action-packed World Cup, the news a 35-point deduction and the levying of a hefty fine against the European champions and two-time defending Premiership winners was not perhaps the way to begin it.

After years of rumours and suggestions that something wasn’t quite right, it was finally ruled by an independent panel that Saracens had breached the salary cap, and a stiff punishment was handed down.

The club responded by avoiding the official launch of the Champions Cup, despite winning the competition last season. Exeter’s owner responded by calling for the stripping of titles while Gloucester fans threw fake money at Saracens’ players in a recent match.

An appeal may be coming, with rumours that the issue may not be fully settled until the spring, and exactly how the club will be impacted on the field this season and next is entirely unclear. It has been a lively couple of weeks.

All of that means is that as the Champions Cup begins this weekend, the wonderful events in Japan seem curiously distant, swept aside by the scandal that has since overwhelmed the build-up to Europe’s show-piece club competition.

While Saracens have received no punishment in Europe, the knock-on effects of their pending points deduction in the Premiership will be felt. Director of rugby Mark McCall has already indicated that should the 35-point deduction be upheld, as most expect it to be, then Saracens will focus on their domestic campaign, perhaps sacrificing their chances in this competition in order to avoid relegation.

How exactly such intentions will manifest themselves specifically are unknown, but if Saracens do look to rotate more, and save their large contingent of internationals for Premiership fixtures, then that will see the tournament’s leading contenders taken off the table. The club has, after all, won three of the last four Champions Cups.

As such, this could make for the most open competition in years – a development that is rather welcome. For all the great rugby that has been played in the last decade in Europe’s premier competition, only three sides have lifted the Champions Cup since 2010.

Logically, then, the on-paper favourites are Leinster, beaten finalists last year after their success in 2017/18. Leo Cullen and Stuart Lancaster’s men move into this year’s competition largely intact, with a familiar squad that has an excellent blend of youth and experience, and a couple of top-class overseas imports complementing the Irish core that will be keen to go again after World Cup disappointment. With another crop of exciting young players starting to really develop, and a squad with the depth to compete on all fronts, the Dublin-based side will be confident.

The French will fancy their chances this year, particularly the expressive sides assembled at Clermont Auvergne and in Toulouse. Clermont finally got over the trophy hump last season, winning a Challenge Cup they were arguably much too good for, and return to the Champions Cup with a typically deep and diverse side – one backed by the screaming masses at the Stade Marcel-Michelin.

However, they fell short in last season’s Top 14 final, suggesting they are not fully over their big-game ills – and it was Toulouse that denied them the title. With a pack carved from granite and gristle, and a backline full of exuberance implementing some rather interesting tactical quirks, Ugo Mola’s men will be looking to right the wrongs of last year where they tumbled out of the tournament with a meek showing at the Aviva Stadium against Leinster.

Fly-half Handre Pollard arrives at Montpellier, once the post-World Cup festivities are concluded, as the side's new conductor after thriving in a similar role with South Africa, while Finn Russell will hope to continue setting defences alight with Racing’s potent backline.

The Pro 14 is represented by four countries this year, with all four Irish provinces looking to push their cases. Munster will be desperate to break from the shadows and progress to a final, hoping a coaching reshuffle will push them forward, while Ulster will provide sticky opposition in Pool 3. There is a little bit of doubt about the future of Glasgow’s coach Dave Rennie, with Australia circling, but assuming he is not unsettled then the Warriors could contend too. The injury-ravaged Ospreys are the only Welsh side in this year’s competition, while the growth of Benetton Treviso is welcome, with the Italians here on merit for the first time.

English hopes may rest on the shoulders of Exeter in the absence of a genuine challenge from Saracens. Premiership clubs are finding it increasingly hard to compete in the Champions Cup in addition to the considerable exertions such a competitive league demands. The last two campaigns have seen only Saracens progress to the quarter-finals, and the season before only Wasps were able to join McCall’s side.

World Cup winner Handre Pollard is on his way to Montpellier (AFP via Getty Images)

Which brings us to the Chiefs and their curious inability to translate continuing domestic excellence into Europe. If we now caveat all of Saracens’ recent achievements, what Rob Baxter and Co have been able to build in the South West becomes all the more impressive. Yet, it all feels rather empty without taking that next step in the Champions Cup.

However, this year could be different. They begin with a new Scottish star in town. Stuart Hogg was lured to Sandy Park with the promise of potential for progress in Europe, a marquee man to boost their continental hopes. The 27-year-old will add stardust to the backs, and the tight-knit group of forwards looks stronger than ever with another year of growth behind them. If they can overcome the difficulties of the past, and learn to tweak their style in certain scenarios to better prepare for success, this might just be their year.

Talk of rest weeks and minute management for those with particularly relentless seasons will come, and the Saracens situation will develop, but for now everyone seems rather keen to get on with the on-field activities and put the off-field chatter to the side. The shadow cast by the scandal is long, but European rugby’s best and brightest are ready to shine in battle again.

Heineken Champions Cup Pools

Pool 1: Benneton Rugby, Leinster, Lyon, Northampton Saints

Pool 2: Exeter Chiefs, Glasgow Warriors, La Rochelle, Sale Sharks

Pool 3: Clermont Auvergne, Bath, Harlequins, Ulster

Pool 4: Munster, Ospreys, Racing 92, Saracens

Pool 5: Connacht, Gloucester, Montpellier, Toulouse