EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS CUP: FINAL 8 CONFIRMED

So as predicted a couple weeks ago, there will be 3 x Irish, 2 x French, 2 x Scots, only 1 English and no Welsh teams in the quarter finals of the European Champions Cup. This is the second season that Saracens have been the sole English club to make the knockout stages. Many reasons have been given over the last week for this happening - my take is it is a combination of Irish and Scots improvement, plus the fact that the best players in these countries are concentrated across 2-4 sides, whereas in England and France it is 12 and 14 respectively. On the issue of relegation causing English Premiership teams to focus on the league at the expense of Europe, I think this may have been a consideration for Newcastle, but cannot be used as an excuse by Exeter, Gloucester, Wasps or Leicester.

No Ospreys or any other Welsh region in Europe's knockout stages this year

So the knockout stages of Europe's premier competiton look like this:

QF 1: Saracens v Glasgow Warriors, Allianz Park
QF 2: Edinburgh Rugby v Munster Rugby, Murrayfield
QF 3: Leinster Rugby v Ulster Rugby, Aviva Stadium
QF 4: Racing 92 v Toulouse, Paris La Defense Arena

All games to be played on weekend of 29th - 31st March 2019, with the winners of QF1 playing winners of QF2, and winners of QF3 playing winners of QF4. On form this should be a Saracens v Leinster final, with losing semi finalists being Edinburgh and Racing 92 respectively. However the romantics will be praying for a Glasgow v Edinburgh semi final (at a neutral Scottish football ground), or an Ulster v Toulouse semi final between two clubs who have won the trophy before. That could then set up an unlikely pairing of Edinburgh and Toulouse in the final. Let's wait and see what injuries each squad suffers over the next few weeks...