Critics of two-legged last-16 made to eat their words by compelling ties

The dyed in the wool doubters of the two-legged concept will have to dig their heels in that little bit more now, as those were two fairly compelling weekends of Heineken Champions Cup rugby.

Even the three ties which looked done and dusted after handsome away wins in the first legs were much more competitive than seemed likely. Granted, Leinster pulled well clear of Connacht but the Munster-Exeter, Ulster-Toulouse, Bristol-Sale and Harlequins-Montpellier ties were cracking contests, as the aggregate scores of 34-23, 49-50, 39-44 and 59-60 prove.

The concept added a new dynamic to the tournament, not least in giving life to what would otherwise have been fairly forlorn cases. After all, Harlequins trailed Montpellier by 34-0 in the second half of the first leg and ultimately came to within one missed conversion by Marcus Smith of winning the tie.

The aggregate lead exchanged hands three times at both Thomond Park and the Kingspan Stadium, with the format adding more intrigue over whether to take shots at goal or not. One ventures some, such as Exeter, might have a re-think on the merit of continually going to the corner.

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Spectators voted with their feet as over 150,000 people attended the eight second leg matches - with over 70,000 at the three games in Ireland. Add in the crowd at the Sportsground a week previously and almost 80,000 fans attended the four home legs hosted by the provinces.

By and large, the tournament organisers, EPCR, could feel vindicated and it would be no surprise to see them persist with the format next season.

For sure it can be pointed out that the tournament may not have ensured the best eight teams advanced to the quarter-final, although it’s arguable whether that has ever applied anyway. Yes, Montpellier have managed only two victories in earning a place in the quarter-finals, but that’s still one more than Sale achieved last season in reaching the same stage.

Given the number of games affected by the pandemic, and cancelled, over the last two seasons there were always going to be imperfections and cases like the above. But it was a minor miracle that EPCR contrived to even complete the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup last season.

Furthermore, the two-legged last 16 format provides the most level playing field of any of the knock-out rounds. Ulster and Harlequins will rue plenty of moments over the course of their two-legged ties but ultimately no one can have any excuses. Having home and away legs meant it was the same for everyone, and the pity in some respects is it can't be extended into the quarter-finals and semi-finals as well.

Yet despite its knock-out element, and until recent times the luck of the draw when it came to home advantage in the semi-finals especially, by and large the Champions Cup has a fairly uncanny habit of producing worthy champions. The roll of honour testifies to that.

Even with the tournament curtailed to just two pool rounds last season and a one-legged round of 16, meaning only five wins were required to reach the final, that again applied when Toulouse claimed their fifth star.

Top Dogs

Whether or not the last eight are the best eight teams in Europe, that should apply again this season too, as it's a fairly tasty line-up. In Leinster, Leicester and Montpellier, it has the leaders of the URC, Premiership and Top 14, as well as the holders Toulouse, the beaten finalists both last season, La Rochelle, and the season before, Racing 92, as well as two-time winners Munster, and Sale.

Yep, whoever comes through that lot will probably deserve the mantle of European champions.

Granted, the draw looks a little lop-sided with Toulouse, Munster, Leinster and Leicester in the same half. Between them they not alone have 13 cup triumphs combined, as against none in the top half of the draw, they are also the four most frequent quarter-final qualifiers in the history of the tournament.

When Munster host Toulouse in the Aviva Stadium they will each be contesting a record-equalling 19th quarter-final, while Leinster will be in their 17th at Welford Road against Leicester, for whom it will be their 14th.

By contrast, the quartet of clubs in the top half of the draw have just a dozen previous quarter-finals between them, and Racing account for seven of them.

On average home sides win 75 per cent, or three out of four, in the quarter-finals. The bookies still make Leinster favourites to both progress to the semi-finals and to win the tournament, but there’s no doubt Leo Cullen and his think tank would like it if the quarter-finals were two-legged as well rather than a one-off tie at a 24,000 sell-out in Welford Road.

Rampant Tigers

Leicester are unbeaten there in 13 matches since losing to Bristol 26-23 on the final day of the Premiership season last June. Furthermore, Leicester have not lost a home quarter-final, at Welford Road, in the Champions Cup since 2003 when they were beaten 20-7 by a Munster side seeking revenge for their Hand of Back defeat in the final the season before.

The Tigers only other home defeat at this stage was against Bath, 15-12 in 2006, when they moved the game to Leicester City’s Walkers Stadium. A little remarkably, this will Leicester’s first quarter-final in six seasons.

Leinster did win away to Exeter in the quarter-finals last season but tend to secure home quarter-finals. They’ve played ten at home, winning eight (one of the two defeats coming against Leicester) whereas they’ve won three and lost three away (including their sole quarter-final in Welford Road back in 2002).

Munster also tend to earn home quarter-finals and have won nine out of ten at home, including eight out of nine at Thomond Park, the exception being the defeat by Ulster in 2012. This also includes two wins against Toulouse, which will just compound the annoyance among Munster supporters that despite knowing the dates for the Champions Cup knock-out stages, the possibility of hosting a tie at Thomond Park was sacrificed in order to host Ed Sheeran concerts.

Admittedly, on the one previous occasion Munster moved a quarter-final to Dublin, they beat Perpignan at the old Lansdowne Road en route to winning the 2008 Cup.

However, it cannot be called a rugby decision, but rather a purely commercial decision. Wasn’t Thomond Park redeveloped specifically for days like their quarter-final with Toulouse? Shouldn’t giving the team the best chance of winning the Champions Cup be the priority?

The least the Munster Branch could do is provide subsidized or free travel to Dublin for the game.

gerry.thornley@irishtimes.com