CHAMPIONS CUP PREVIEW: Is SA ambition to end French hegemony realistic?

It seems you can press a save get key and re-run the same preview at the start of every Investec Champions Cup season. The identity of the title holders going into each campaign may change, but the nationality remains the same - they’re French.

It’s been thus since the 2019/2020 season, when the English club Exeter Chiefs surprised Racing 92 in the final. Since then Toulouse have won twice, La Rochelle have won twice and it is Bordeaux-Begles who head into this new season as champions and searching for a three-peat.

The only team outside of France that has come close, and they have come tantalisingly close on too many occasions for their comfort, are the Irish giants and reigning Vodacom URC champions Leinster, who have been the losing finalists on four separate occasions in the past six years.