Heineken Cup Quarter Finals - Brief
It’s been 11 weeks since the favoured Rugby Union
competition of the Vic Page, the Heineken Cup, was last on our screens, and
it’s easy to lose track of the form and circumstances surrounding the team.
With the 6 Nations having been and gone, all of this weekend’s quarter
finalists will now be at full strength, which can make things confusing for
some. However before considering anything, one of the most important stats of
the tournament, taken straight from the ERC Website;
The 60 Heineken Cup quarter-finals to date have ended with
the home team winning 46 times and
the away team going through to the semi-finals on 14 occasions - an average of less than one away win per
season. It means almost 77% of the quarter-finals have gone with home
advantage with four-times champions Toulouse accounting for seven of those home
wins, Munster Rugby six and Leicester
Tigers five.
Munster Rugby are also the only side with 3 away wins in the
quarter-finals, but Toulouse also have two of them, having beaten Dax in one of
the first ever renewals in 1997 before edging past Biarritz in Spain after
extra time. It’s also worth noting that they pushed Leinster just as hard as
Northampton did in the final when going down bravely in the semis last year. Another thing to note is that only once since
2001 have the quarter finals not yielded one away win – that came in 2010 when
Ospreys and Clermont lost by a point to Biarritz and Leinster respectively.
Teams who have struggled on the road at this stage notably
include Cardiff Blues, who travel to
face reigning champions Leinster Rugby at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday, and ASM Clermont Auvergne, who head to
Watford the next day to meet English champions Saracens, have each lost three quarter-finals away from
home.
Recommended advice –
4 pts Munster, Leinster, Toulouse (2.23 Blue Sq)
3 pts Munster, Leinster, Toulouse & Saracens (4.27 Blue
Sq)
2 pts Toulouse by 1-12, Leinster, Munster & Saracens by
1-12 (10.85 general)
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