English clubs braced for another poor season in Europe after early Champions Cup shortcomings

It was meant to be the day when the English Premiership re-wrote the wrongs of last season and stamped its collective authority back on European rugby’s top-flight competition.

The brand was back, we were told. This time it meant business.

Last year’s dire Champions Cup showing, when Saracens were the only English club to scrape into the knock-out stages, was the fault of fatigue, caused by an imbalance following the British and Irish Lions tour.

It was the fault of referees misunderstanding the breakdown and of dodgy calls made in games decided by the narrowest of margins. It was anyone’s fault, just not the Premiership’s.

Saturday was going to be redemption day.

Ok, the signs weren’t good following Wasps’ Friday night demolition by a Leinster outfit every bit as good as any to have ever graced this competition.

Yes, Wasps are going well in the Premiership, third in the table with four wins from six and odds on to be one of four teams to make the play-offs come the end of the season.

But Leinster are as good as any national team in Europe. Anyone could ship eight tries to them in Dublin. A heaviest-ever defeat for Wasps in European Champions Cup history? A blip. An aberration.

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Saturday was going to be judgement day.

By 7.15pm on Saturday night, as Leicester trudged off the Kingspan Park pitch having lost 24-10 to Ulster (who currently lie fifth in conference B of the Pro14) in Belfast, judgement had indeed been passed.

Four English teams had tried and four English teams had failed to record a Champions Cup win.

Wasps? Swatted away.

Exeter Chiefs? Another unconvincing home draw which hands Munster all the aces in Pool 2.

Leicester Tigers? A once champion club now also-rans in Europe.

Bath? Leave them. Freddie’s suffered enough.

We can forgive Burns’s blunder, an act which will haunt the affable west-countryman for the rest of his playing days, but Bath’s home defeat to Toulouse already leaves them desperately behind the curve in a pool also containing Wasps and you know who. It is very hard to see a route back now.

Leicester’s loss to Ulster follows an all too familiar pattern for the once mighty Tigers, who have slipped firmly back into the pack in both Europe and England and no longer command the respect they once did.

Not withstanding Wasps shellacking in Dublin, in many ways it was Exeter’s hard-earned draw with Munster at Sandy Park which should alarm Gallagher Premiership fans most.

Rob Baxter’s men have swept all before them at home and away this season, dropping a solitary bonus point in six games while strangling the life out of teams who’ve visited Devon with a combination of controlled, possession-based rugby and occasional sparks of brilliance from a backline containing plenty of English-qualified beef.

The Chiefs have not been at their best, but that was, we were told, because they had Munster in mind and were determined to make this the season they delivered in Europe after one knock-out appearance in five attempts.

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By focusing on the style needed to beat the best, we had to accept some performances a notch below what we have come to expect in the Premiership. That call also feels hollow this morning.

Gloucester host Castres at home today while Saracens, last season’s only English entry in the last eight and easily the best equipped to compete again this year, travel to Scotstoun to face Glasgow.

The Premiership’s bottom placed club Newcastle travel to the Stade Marcel Michelin to face three-time champions Toulon on their home patch. Toulon’s own domestic issues provide a glimmer of hope for the Falcons travelling fans but they would need to pull off one of European rugby’s biggest ever shocks to travel back victorious tonight.

Three wins would certainly help cheer the mood in English club rugby, and make this article obsolete in the process. I hope it happens, I really do.

But, less than halfway through the first weekend of European rugby’s top competition and the early indicators already suggest last season may not have been a blip after all. Perhaps the problems run deeper?

I’ll be accused of being negative journalist only looking at the glass half empty. It’s easy mud to sling.

But it’s also our job to make early calls. So here goes: This could be another season of slim pickings for English clubs in Europe. At the moment, the brand isn't delivering.