OTB Sports’ Neil Treacy looked ahead to the start of the Heineken Champions Cup in his Tight Five on Wednesday’s OTB AM.

The new season brings with it a completely new format, which likely will have a major impact on the competition as a whole.

Not only will it be more difficult for teams to make the play offs, but the increased need to finish above other teams could result in a change in the way teams play.

Treacy broke down what he is looking forward to ahead of the start of the competition this weekend.

Champions Cup new format

This year’s 24-team Champions Cup consists of two groups of 12, which were drawn from a tier system, meaning that the top ranked teams will play the lowest ranked teams home and away.

Only the top four teams from each of the two pools will move on to the quarter finals, meaning that this year, points on the table are that much more important.

Treacy believes that this could mean a return to attacking rugby, over the traditional knockout rugby expected in the tournament.

“So much of this is going to be outside of teams’ hands,” Treacy said.

“You could realistically win three out of your four games, just by virtue of the fact that you missed out on a couple of winning bonus points, or maybe you didn’t get a losing bonus point in that one game you lost, you could potentially be playing Challenge Cup rugby.

“I think we could be seeing a lot more attacking rugby. I think we could be seeing teams turn down the easy three points in favour of maybe taking a scrum ten metres from the line, or putting it in the corner to go for a try.

“Bonus points are going to be absolutely massive. I think once teams get that little element of a foot on the throat, they are going to absolutely go for it.”

Treacy also suggested that, due to how difficult it will be to make the Champions Cup play offs this year, teams will no longer be judged on their results, but rather the actual performances.

Making the quarter finals will likely not be the absolute judge of whether a team was successful this year or not.

Ulster's Stuart McCloskey is tackled by Harlequins' Semi Kunatani during the Heineken European Champions Cup pool three match at Kingspan Stadium, Belfast. Niall Carson/PA Archive/PA Images

The importance of winning early

It has never been more important for teams to get off to a winning start in the Champions Cup than it will be this year.

With teams wanting to get ahead in their group and stay there, Treacy thinks that the first weekend could influence a teams’ performance throughout the rest of their campaign.

“It is a criticism that the competition always would have had,” Treacy said.

“Maybe after a team has lost the opening game, and didn’t quite get the bonus point they needed in round two, Premiership and French teams have been criticised for basically throwing in the towel after that and putting out second string teams.

“Because we are playing even fewer games this time around, that is going to hammer home the importance of actually getting a win in the opening game.”

Treacy suggested that, if a team like Harlequins for example lost big to Munster in the opening round, this year it would be increasingly less likely that they will be able to qualify for the quarters.

For that reason, they likely would choose to focus on the Premiership, and so, put out a second-string team in the fourth round when Munster travel to Twickenham Stoop.

Similarly, if Munster happen to lose to the Quins, they would need to pick up a big win away against Clermont to still be in with a shout at making the quarters.

“So we could see teams throwing in the towel a little bit earlier, absolutely hammering home the importance of getting off to a good start,” Treacy said.

Josh Wycherley of Munster during the Guinness PRO14 match between Munster and Zebre at Thomond Park in Limerick. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

Munster’s young guns in the Champions Cup

Off The Ball will have live commentary with Treacy and former Ireland captain Keith Wood for Munster’s opener against Quins on Sunday.

The thing that most excited Treacy about that match is whether Munster will show faith in their young players, who have all played exceptionally well in recent weeks for the province.

“We have seen a load of these young players over the last few weeks, and to be honest they have played brilliantly,” Treacy said.

“We are probably only going to see some of them; I would say Craig Casey and Ben Healy involved, probably off the bench.”

Treacy thinks that Munster’s line up for this weekend could include the likes of James Cronin, one of Rhys Marshall or Kevin O’Byrne, John Ryan and Stephen Archer.

He added that Tadhg Beirne alongside Jean Kleyn could start in the second row, with Fineen Wycherley possibly in the back row.

He is also expecting Shane Daly to feature somewhere in the starting backline.

“We were talking about the production line only a couple of months ago when they lost against Leinster,” Treacy said.

“It does feel like a promising time to be a Munster fan at the moment, because they have a rake of young players coming through who are either towards the tail-end stages of the academy or the beginning stages of their professional career.

“If in five or six years Munster have picked up silverware and are back eating at that top table again, we would be looking back at this period as being the formative period for this group of players.”

Munster forwards coach Jerry Flannery arrives ahead of the Guinness PRO14 semi-final match between Leinster and Munster at the RDS Arena in Dublin. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

Jerry Flannery’s return to Thomond Park

Former Munster player and coach Jerry Flannery will be making a return to the province this weekend, as the forwards coach of Harlequins.

Unlike other former players, such as Ronan O’Gara and Simon Zebo, who returned as opposition to Thomond Park to warm welcomes from fans, Flannery’s return will be met with silence.

Despite this, Treacy and Munster head coach Johan van Graan agree that Flannery’s influence on the game will be felt.

“He knows Munster so well, knows a lot of those players, and you would imagine he knows a lot of the systems that they would have used,” Treacy said.

“He would know a lot of the strengths and weaknesses of a lot of those players. He is someone that would be highly regarded at Munster.”

Van Graan suggested that it will be tough to go up against his former colleague this Sunday.

“Obviously Fla' has got a lot of in-depth knowledge on Munster Rugby, it's his previous team but come Sunday it'll be Munster versus Quins, and it'll be a big challenge for us,” Van Graan said.

Ross Molony of Leinster wins possession in the lineout during the Guinness PRO14 match between Leinster and Edinburgh at RDS Arena in Dublin. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

Leinster to inherit Ireland’s lineout woes?

The Autumn Nations Cup proved one thing to many Irish fans: the set piece is a real worry for the national side.

Although the stats suggest Ireland did not lose the majority of their lineout ball, the ball that they did win was seldom clean, and the lineout itself was far from an attacking set piece.

Similarly, Ireland struggled to gain dominance at scrum time throughout the international series.

With the sheer number of Irish international forwards in the Leinster squad, Treacy wonders how the international form of the set piece will translate into Leo Cullen’s side.

“I am eager to see how it gets on against Montpellier,” Treacy said.

“To get a read of if we are talking a players’ issue, if Ronan Kelleher is throwing the ball fantastically well over the next while, you are starting to ask questions about what is happening in the Irish camp.

“So if the Leinster lineout is an absolute mess over the next few weeks it probably answers a lot of questions.

“If it is fantastic over the next few weeks, it probably raises a few more.”

Listen to LIVE commentary of Munster v Harlequins this Sunday on Off the Ball, with Neil Treacy joined by Keith Wood at Thomond Park for the 5.30pm kickoff.

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