Champions Cup Talking Points: Power grabs, the stars to savour, Owen Farrell and ROG

Looking ahead to Rugby's European Cup, warts 'n all - and there are still plenty of those, starting with the format

WINNERS: Le Rochelle lift the Heineken Champions Cup - now the Investec Champions Cup, of course.

1 - Can We Have Our (Heineken) Cup back please?

I know. I know. There are some blockbusting fixtures on the schedule for this opening weekend – who doesn’t look forward to drawing up a chair in front of the fire to take in La Rochelle against Leinster on Sunday afternoon and stay put for Lanny and Siya’s Racing 92 versus Harlequins a couple of hours later – but, tell me, truly and honestly, why, oh why, were Saracens trooping through the departures lounge at Heathrow earlier in the week, bound for Pretoria and a Saturday gig against the Bulls? It has never made sense for South African teams to be considered European. The matches themselves may be high-end encounters but context and integrity matter in sport no matter what the administrators might tell you. Or the money men. If Kolisi were to hold aloft the Investec Champions Cup (for that is what the tournament is now called) at the Tottenham Stadium next May, then all fine and dandy. If, however, if it were to be one of his countrymen from the Bulls or the Stormers it would be a nonsense.