You have to go back to the days of Covid and empty stadiums to break the French stronghold on European rugby.
Exeter were the last non-Top14 side to lift the Champions Cup, beating Racing 92 in front of a crowd of zero at Ashton Gate in October 2020. Since then, it’s been a Gallic domination – two wins for Toulouse, two for La Rochelle and Bordeaux winning their first European crown last year against Northampton.
From top to bottom, French rugby is in rude health – Les Bleus were once again crowned Six Nations champions last month and it seems clear that for an English team to conquer Europe this season, they will at some stage have to get the better of French opposition, quite likely away from home.
That is the daunting challenge facing both Bristol and Leicester this weekend, as they travel to Toulouse and Bordeaux respectively in the last 16. On the face of things, their task looks close to impossible, particularly given Geoff Parling’s Tigers will be without three of their international forwards – Ollie Chessum, Joe Heyes and Nicky Smith – due to mandated rests having played both PREM games following the Six Nations.
English club wins on French soil have become rarer than hen’s teeth, but they do happen – with Harlequins’ 2024 success over Bordeaux one example. So, what are the secrets to winning in France?
‘We saw with the England game against France in Paris in the Six Nations that if you can put pressure on the French, a lot of teams can struggle to deal with it,’ says former England and Lions forward Courtney Lawes, now playing over the Channel with second-tier Brive.
Exeter Chiefs celebrate winning the 2020 Champions Cup at an empty Ashton Gate – the last time a non-French team won European rugby’s elite competition
Bordeaux’s Damien Penaud evades Northampton’s defence to cross for a try in last year’s final, as they won their first European crown
English wins on French soil are getting rarer and rarer – but Harlequins’ victory at Bordeaux in 2024 showed it is still possible
‘French teams can feel the weight from the fans. They really do get on top of them when they’re not performing. We’ve been booed a couple of times with Brive going off at half-time! It’s certainly different, the fans are very passionate.’
England’s powerhouse display in Paris on Six Nations ‘Super Saturday’ wasn’t quite enough for victory as Steve Borthwick’s side succumbed to a heartbreaking, late defeat thanks to the boot of Thomas Ramos. For many, that game showed the way England should always play.
There are, however, many different ways to skin a cat when it comes to playing in France. Two years ago, Harlequins abided by their ‘swing the bat’ mantra, fighting fire with fire on the basis that if Bordeaux scored five tries, they’d score six. In a 12-try thriller, it was the English side who came out on top by a single point.
Bristol operate in a similar way to Harlequins and are likely to go for broke away to Toulouse – widely seen as rugby’s equivalent of Real Madrid given the star-studded nature of their squad. Leicester must somehow keep the likes of Louis Bielle-Biarrey, Matthieu Jalibert, Damien Penaud and Yoram Moefana quiet.
‘Leicester and Bristol both play in very different ways,’ says former Ireland, Bristol and Leinster No 10 Ian Madigan, who also had a season with Bordeaux. ‘When you’re coming up against a side like Bordeaux, they’re happy for you to have the ball and go high into the phase count. They’re then very selective on what rucks they target to try and get turnovers.
‘Where they’re particularly lethal is when they get those turnovers and they move the ball wide. The threat of their backs like Bielle-Biarrey is even greater when the team they’re playing against has guy has gone high into the phase count and then they’re fatigued when they’re defending.
‘I think the key for Leicester is they’ve got to keep it tight and then play the contestable aerial game, win those duels, and try to keep progressing up the field efficiently. The worst thing you can do against this Bordeaux side is over-play around the middle of the field. I wouldn’t be going any higher than six or seven phases.
‘I’d then be looking to turn Bordeaux and kick the ball effectively off the field, because that then gives your team a breather.’
Leicester will have to somehow keep France flyer Louis Bielle-Biarrey quiet on Sunday
Former Ireland fly-half Ian Madigan believes Leicester have the best chance of an upset this weekend
Bristol will stick to their guns and go for broke away to record six-time European champions Toulouse
Lawes adds: ‘For any team going to France, you want to play with as structured a game as you can because the French really do like to keep the ball alive and punish you that way.
‘You need a structured set-piece game, with a really sharp set-piece attack. It’s just about trying to keep the pressure on them and if you can get them under pressure, that’s when you can make the most out of it. If they’re able to get momentum, it’s really difficult to stop.’
Bristol are likely to ignore Lawes’ advice and stick to their attacking guns. It is sure to make their game with runaway Top14 leaders and record six-time European champions Toulouse eminently watchable for the neutral.
‘Toulouse is a great challenge and a great occasion for the club to be able to compete in that sort of environment,’ said Bristol captain Fitz Harding, whose team has lost back-to-back PREM games since the league returned. ‘There’s no time to feel sorry for ourselves. We’re focused on the game plan we need to go there and win.
‘When you come off the back of a loss, it does scar you a little bit but we’ll be ready to right some wrongs.’
Bristol haven’t been helped by losing key forwards Pedro Rubiolo, Joe Batley and Bill Mata to injury. Their boss Pat Lam does know what it takes to win in Toulouse though, having done so when in charge of Irish side Connacht in 2013. His Bristol team also beat the Bulls 61-49 on South African soil in this season’s pool stage when completely unfancied then, too.
‘What a challenge for us. Bristol has never played Toulouse in its history,’ said Lam. ‘When you look at all the stats and their personnel, we should get a hiding. I love that about sport and we can take confidence from that win in South Africa. This is the closest thing to international rugby. I was fortunate when I won there with Connacht. I got messages from all over the world.
‘It’s a huge task. It is pretty much the French team, led by the best player on the planet (Antoine Dupont) and with the best goalkicker on the planet (Ramos) as well. The pressure is massive but this is what you want to be involved in. Our only chance of winning is us being at our best.’
Pat Lam’s Connacht celebrate a famous away victory at Toulouse in December 2013
Bordeaux are an astonishing 1-100 with the bookmakers to beat Leicester, even with the Tigers going strong in the PREM.
Tigers head coach Parling admitted his decision to play Chessum, Heyes and Smith in league wins over Bristol and Gloucester – meaning they couldn’t feature against Bordeaux – was a ‘real balancing act’. He added: ‘It’s what happens if you have quality players, so I suppose you’d rather have the problem than not.’
Leicester’s task against Bordeaux is undoubtedly hindered by their absence. Hanro Liebenberg, Leicester’s hard-nosed back-row, said: ‘You’ve got to make the game as structured as possible. We’ve spoken about ways to do that. Hopefully, we can create as many rucks as possible.
‘We want to force them into the breakdown. We’ve found a few ways to try create a contest and make it a tight affair. ‘Saying it is one thing, but doing it is another.’ Well, quite.
It looks unlikely that either Leicester or Bristol will come back home with a famous scalp. But the same thing was said of Harlequins ahead of the 2024 quarter-finals.
And while Leicester have endured some dark times on French soil in recent years – the scars of an 80-12 defeat at Toulouse last season will take time to heal – they did win 16-13 at Bordeaux in 2021, thanks to a 77th-minute George Ford penalty.
Madigan, a pundit for Champions Cup broadcaster Premier Sports, adds: ‘With the way the game has gone over the last two years, what the best teams are doing is creating unstructured attack – when the opposition defence doesn’t have time to get set – by winning an aerial contest or playing with an offloading game.
‘The French have always played that way and now that the game has swung more in that direction, they’re the most comfortable attacking in situations where they can just trust their instincts. English and Irish sides are generally a lot more structured.
Leicester will be without England star Ollie Chessum (right) after he played in both of their PREM games post-Six Nations
Leicester do have form for winning in Bordeaux, after George Ford (10) kicked a last-gasp penalty to win there in 2021
‘I think Leicester would have the better chance of the two English teams in France this weekend. They’re in good form and have the power to compete with the French opposition. They need to stay in the game for as long as possible and really force Bordeaux to force the game.
‘Bristol are very different. They’ll always play the Bristol way – run from deep and look for it to be a very open game. They’ll back their fitness.
‘They’re not going to change drastically their style of play just because of the opposition they’re coming up against. Getting out in front early doors is going to be really important for them.’
Ian Madigan will be part of the Premier Sports team showing 11 live EPCR games over the Easter weekend with every Champions Cup knockout game live – www.premiersports.com.