All the key questions ahead of the Champion Cup

And we’re back. Welcome to European club cup rugby for a 24th time. The 2018/19 Heineken Champions Cup campaign kicks off tonight in Dublin as title-holders Leinster open their Pool 1 account against Wasps at the RDS. For rugby supporters across the continent, the feelings of expectation are akin to a kid’s on Christmas Eve: Hope, excitement, anticipation.

Even the thought of embarking on a road to Newcastle rather than the alluring (and warm) Bilbao, scene of Leinster’s fourth European triumph last spring, cannot quell the desire to make a big weekend of it around the festivities at St James’ Park on Saturday, May 11, 2019.