Donal Lenihan: South Africans add beef but La Rochelle and Leinster remain teams to beat

Winning the Champions Cup requires so much more than just being a very good team.

COOL RUNNINGS: Connacht players training at the Sportsground on Tuesday. Picture: INPHO/James Crombie

On a historic weekend for Heineken Champions Cup rugby, with the addition of the top South African sides for the first time bringing an even greater layer of competitiveness, it was significant how last season’s hardened finalists, La Rochelle and Leinster, sent a clear message to everyone else about the standard required to make it that far.

Winning this tournament requires so much more than just being a very good team. That has always been the case dating back to a time when Munster would welcome a far superior force from France or England to Thomond Park only to send them packing with their tails between their legs.