Investec Champions Cup: Round 1 Predictions
The Premiership, Top 14 and United Rugby Championship are all on pause as we move into European action, where the very best teams from each of those leagues play against each other.
It's always fun to see how matches play out between teams from those three competitions, and we have an attractive Round 1 fixture list to get us into the Predictor.
Don't forget that in addition to our Predictor game for the Champions Cup there's a full Investec Champions Cup Fantasy game and a Predictor game for the EPCR Challenge Cup. If you aren't already reading this on the Superbru Rugby app, that's the best place to enjoy all three tournaments.
Here are my picks for Round 1 of the Investec Champions Cup.
La Rochelle and Leinster meet in the first round, having met in the final of the previous two tournaments, and it looks like the game of the weekend. Based on their superior record over Leinster and home advantage, I’ve gone with La Rochelle, but it could go either way.
Elsewhere, I expect the Bulls to beat Saracens in what should be another great occasion, and actually I’ve picked all the home teams to win - despite trying to judge each game on its individual merits!
How do these compare to your own picks? Have you predicted any away wins?
It's always fun to see how matches play out between teams from those three competitions, and we have an attractive Round 1 fixture list to get us into the Predictor.
Don't forget that in addition to our Predictor game for the Champions Cup there's a full Investec Champions Cup Fantasy game and a Predictor game for the EPCR Challenge Cup. If you aren't already reading this on the Superbru Rugby app, that's the best place to enjoy all three tournaments.
Here are my picks for Round 1 of the Investec Champions Cup.
La Rochelle and Leinster meet in the first round, having met in the final of the previous two tournaments, and it looks like the game of the weekend. Based on their superior record over Leinster and home advantage, I’ve gone with La Rochelle, but it could go either way.
Elsewhere, I expect the Bulls to beat Saracens in what should be another great occasion, and actually I’ve picked all the home teams to win - despite trying to judge each game on its individual merits!
How do these compare to your own picks? Have you predicted any away wins?
Good luck.
I picked Bordeaux Begles to win, only two of us out of 19 in my pool got that right. I was wrong with Northampton Saints, where only one out of 19 in the pool got that one right. So tell us how great your picks were before you criticize Hutch 9 Dec 07:16
New Zealand are not in this competition so disregard them. South Africa relied heavily on their overseas Springboks to win the World Cup, so that means our local teams, without the core Springboks, are watered down between Bulls, Lions, Sharks, Stormers and Cheetahs. This makes our teams relatively vulnerable.
Very few Irish players play outside of Ireland. But in Ireland there are three teams that generally dominate, Leinster, Munster and Ulster. Any other Irish teams will struggle.
Very few French players play outside of France. In fact with all the foreign players playing in France, I believe that the French rugby league is the strongest league and needs to be taken into account when making your picks.
England also have most of their players playing in their league, and it is more of a strength vs strength lea