Champions Cup Final Preview

Following the denouement of the 2016 Champions Cup final there will be a new name penned in the history books as European Champions because neither Racing 92 nor Saracens have ever won Europe’s top flight competition before.

This match-up has everything that you could want from a European final with two back lines filled with class and two packs containing individuals that won’t ever take a backward step. Both sides are heading into the match in form and totally focused on the task at hand.

Now, whenever you say Racing 92 it is preceded, or quickly followed, by the name Dan Carter. The Rugby World Cup winner has made a seamless transition to the French side and looks like he has been part of their back line for years. Back in October at Twickenham Stadium the fly-half took hold of the Rugby World Cup final and made it New Zealand’s and the expectation is that he could do the same with this Champions Cup Final. Dan is not alone in orchestrating Racing’s back line either as Maxime Machenaud is an outstanding scrum-half and both of their kicking games and distribution skills means that Juan Imhoff and Brice Dulin will see plenty of ball.

As a side Saracens are unrelenting in their pursuit of victory, they know their game plan and how to win better than anyone else in the Aviva Premiership and this season have taken this onto the European stage with ease. This solid knowledge allows individuals to flourish and more often than not strangulates their opponents and forces them to succumb. At the heart of this Saracens’ output are the Vunipola brothers with their ball carrying, set piece work in the case of Mako and unrelenting physicality. Their work rate is then complimented by the broken field output of Schalk Brits, Owen Farrell’s steely focus at fly-half, Chris Ashton’s finishing ability and the class of the form full back in England Alex Goode.

Statically the Champions Cup Final will see the competition’s best attack meeting its best defence; Saracens have averaged the most points per game [34.1] while Racing 92 have conceded the fewest [12.8]. Saracens know that they’ll need to be at their inventive best to combat Racing 92’s fast line speed and unrelenting physicality. In what could be an arm wrestle of a rugby game moments of individual brilliance may decide the outcome and the million dollar question is which side, or should I say which individual, will deliver them? Imhoff? Carter? Goode? Wyles? Itoje? We’ll see!

Of course when it comes to a European final there’s something else, other than physical prowess, that comes into play; the top two inches. In this area Saracens have experience to fall back on, their 2014 final defeat against Toulon. This week Mark McCall openly admitted that they learned plenty from that difficult day and will head into the game as relaxed as possible in order to play their best rugby. This current Racing 92 squad may not have been in a top flight European final together before but given their personnel you’d hope they’d be experienced enough to handle the pressure, only time will tell though.

The long and the short of the 2016 European Champions Cup final is that we’ve got two outstanding European teams facing off against each other in front of a 59,000 strong crowd. Both know that there can only be one winner and it’s going to be an unrelentingly physical and a spellbinding game to watch.