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European Rugby Champions Cup; Round 1
Topic Started: Monday, 20. October 2014, 20:53 (319 Views)
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This weekend saw the launch of the new European Rugby Champions Cup (a title even further from the truth than even the Champions League!) which one journalist described as "19 decent teams and Treviso!"

I managed to cram in the 5 matches on BT Sport so indulged in 2 Welshmen, 2 Frenchmen and an Irishman.

Harlequins vs Castres - Nigel Owens
In a match that hardly needed refereeing Nigel Owens, armed with slippers and pipe, kept things moving along nicely and his banter with the players, including asking what Marlon Yarde was doing for the rest of the weekend was priceless. The game lacked the intensity of some of the others over the weekend but I can remember few errors on the officials parts and certainly none that were game changers. I trust Bath vs Montepellier this Saturday will be a better test of Mr Owens

Saracens vs Clermont - John Lacey
A repeat of last years semi final saw a very competitive match, won evenutually by Saracens. I have been a big fan of Mr Lacey in the past and was hoping to see a performance to push Clowncy down to Ireland's No.2. Although there were no major errors there was something missing from him, no real authority in certain situations and I think more difficult/tetchy matches could stretch him yet further. His decision making was OK, consistent in the main but he did have to be helped out majorly by the TMO to rule out a Clermont try. Hopefully Lacey will shine next week as I do think he is a very good referee

Glasgow vs Bath - Jerome Garces
When Monsieur Garces broke onto the scene he often gave the impression of a startled rabbit. His steady progress through the ranks and with experience I thought those days were behind me. He had a very successful year last time out and was pushing Poite for the number 1 French spot. If I'm honest I think the pace and the intensity of the match caught him out, his positioning at times was awful, things went unspotted or called back so late as one of his assistants tried to dig him out of the mire. Fortunately Glasgow were that much better on the day that nothing the officials did or did not do affected the final result. Disappointed as I, for one, praised him to the hills last year and was pleased to see him get an England international this autumn

Leicester vs Ulster - Romain Poite
Although not convinced that the beard does him many favours lookswise, I thought Poite did a decent job of this Anglo Irish clash. The majority of his decisions were spot on, although I felt he allowed players of both sides to slow the ball down at rucks. One thing we do get in the Premiership is quick ball or a penalty. For me he still needs to command a bit more authority on the pitch and he is one of the more experienced guys around so should be able to make an impression. Was good, not great

Leinster vs Wasps - Leighton Hodges
In the past I have never been convinced by Hodges' ability to control the difficult/pressure matches. I am sure it doesn't help when you have such a world class referee from the same country. I was very pleased with what I saw. He was very precise with his decision making, clear on what he expected and good positioning allowed him to get most things right. Highlight of the match however was Derek Bevan's face when the Leinster try was referred to him, he looked like the weight of the world had fallen on his shoulders. For what its worth I agreed with him that from the angle from above the player had made it to the line, just.

The standard of the rugby I saw was pretty good and certainly there was an intensity about a lot of it which will help the international players and officials get ready for November and beyond.
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