Heineken Cup Could Eclipse

Whilst New Zealand rugby sulked with Eden Park a third full for the NPC final between those giants of the Kiwi game, Auckland and Wellington, France was preparing to lift its disappointed rugby self with the re-emergence of the club game. Stade met Clermont Auvergne in the Stade de France and 80,000 supporters pitched up. If the sport needs a safety net against the disappointments of an underperforming national side, the club game in Europe has the answer.

New Zealand has to reassess not just their team's reason for failure to handle World Cup pressure but its very obsession with one team. Europe's highly competitive club system is a better template and one which will continue to thrive.

It is no surprise that the clubs reacted with anger to any attempts by the Barbarians to pull club players for the match with South Africa at Twickenham; enough is enough and until the 6 Nations a different priority exists and rightly in Europe.

Peak
That system has its own pinnacle, the Heineken Cup, and whilst it lacks the excitement generated by rarity value, it is becoming more anticipated by the year.

This year it has a chance to eclipse the World Cup; obviously not in intensity and drama - and that is as it should be, the World Cup is the pinnacle of the sport - but in terms of ambitious and attractive rugby. The world's premier tournament lacked fluency - it was its major weakness. The Heineken and Challenge Cup have a chance to address this and thrill us.

Friday night's game in Belfast between Ulster and Gloucester is a smart choice for a Heineken opener. We visit a venue as passionate as any in the tournament, Ravenhill, where the one-time European champions, Ulster, host an ambitious English outfit, full of positive thinking in Gloucester. A packed house and a healthy television audience; it is a beauty.

And then we have Wasps, struggling in the Premiership but reunited with their major players, defending the Cup and facing Munster, as Ireland strives to pull itself from the bitter mire of their desperate World Cup. Evidence suggests a Wasps win but write off Munster at your peril. The decision to switch venue to Coventry might come back to haunt Wasps if enough Irishmen can make it to the West Midlands to cheer Munster on.

Leinster and Leicester is almost equally fascinating. It is a game Brian O'Driscoll's men will have to win given the quality of the group. Home defeats in both the aforementioned pools will probably equate with elimination.