Donal Lenihan: It's the Champions Cup but not as we knew and loved it

If South African teams opt out of the Champions Cup, a swift return to a 20-team format with home-and-away pool games and direct quarter-final progression would be ideal

Munster’s Tadhg Beirne celebrates a try against Castres in the Champions Cup. Picture: ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan

Round three of Champions Cup action kicks off in Glasgow on Friday night when Franco Smith’s Warriors take on a struggling Racing 92 side under the direction of Stuart Lancaster. Given the demise of the revamped European competition since the dark days of covid, apart perhaps from fans of Toulouse, Leinster, La Rochelle and Bordeaux-Begles, does anyone else really care?

Sadly for a once brilliant tournament that captured the hearts and minds of a growing rugby audience soon after the game turned professional in the mid nineties, the Champions Cup no longer grips the imagination, at the very least, until the quarter-final stage. There are many factors at play here, not least an imbalanced and convoluted draw that leaves even the most dedicated of fans scratching their heads at times.