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The Champions Cup returned for the knockout stages as Europe’s elite went toe-to-toe for a place in the quarter-finals.
Premiership teams didn’t have much joy, with Northampton Saints the only team through to the next round after a convincing win over Top 14 side Clermont Auvergne.
Meanwhile, the rest of the continent showcased some outstanding rugb,y and we saw some outstanding performances from both individuals and squads.
Here is Charlie Elliott’s Team of the Week from an entertaining weekend.
Outside Backs
15- Kyle Rowe (Glasgow Warriors)
Glasgow impressively beat Leicester Tigers 43-19 at Scotstoun Stadium with a dominant performance that they could have won by even more.
Fullback Rowe was central to a lot of the pressure that the Warriors kept on, as Tigers‘ endless kicking game often fell into his hands and forced him to make things happen for his team.
That is exactly what he did, with an unreal 154 metres carried and a try assist across the 80 minutes.
It was night and day comparing Rowe to his opposite number, England international Freddie Steward, and the fact that he outplayed such a seasoned Test player shows just how good he was.
14- Tommy Freeman (Northampton Saints)
A hat-trick of tries for the unstoppable Saints man, he just had to be in this team.
Northampton breezed past Clermont Auvergne 46-24 at Franklin Gardens thanks to an outstanding effort from a number of backs, none more so than Tommy Freeman.
The first couple of tries came from simply finding space out wide and finishing, while his third was a neat run from the 22 line in which he breezed past a couple of tackles to dot down.
Could have had another but showed some good unselfishness to allow Henry Pollock to score.
11- James Lowe (Leinster)
Running down the wing at full speed, Lowe is almost impossible to stop.
When he connects well with his left boot down the line, defenders know that they are going to be in trouble.
His boot wasn’t perfect against Quins, but when you win by over 60 points, some things can slide.
Two tries right at the end were the least that he deserved from this game.
Centres
13- Garry Ringrose (Leinster)
Leinster blew Harlequins out of the water with a 62-0 win at Croke Park, unsurprisingly the biggest winning margin of the weekend.
With such a strong team, they needed some of their players to take a slight step back and be an air of calm amongst the dominance.
Ringrose was just that, with a solid performance in which he found the right pass at pretty much every opportunity he had, allowing his teammates to work their magic.
Good defensively, as can be expected when your opponent scores zero, Ringrose can be very happy with how he played.
12- Fraser Dingwall (Northampton Saints)
Dingwall just keeps absolutely everything ticking in that Saints side, which was exactly what he did against Clermont.
Super consistent and knows exactly who to pass to and when, he may not steal the headlines for this game, but he was absolutely instrumental in their win.
Exactly what the Saints team littered with stars needs to hold it all together.
Halfbacks
10- Jack Crowley (Munster)
The Player of the Match in Munster’s 25-24 away win against La Rochelle, Crowley showcased all the essential attributes that a top-level fly-half must have.
His kicking was on point, scoring ten points, including a drop goal which turned out to be the winner.
He dictated play and kept Munster on the front foot, while also making ten tackles in an impressively solid defensive performance.
Crowley has been under a lot of pressure recently with the rise of Sam Prendergast, but he continues to block out the noise and put in some great shifts.
9- Baptiste Serin (Toulon)
A bonkers game at the Stade Mayol saw an unfancied Saracens team with an eight-point lead at half time, before losing by 30 to Toulon, with 114 points scored in total.
Serin was one of the key orchestrators in the dominant second half and ade all the difference off the bench.
It was a masterclass in being a scrum-half, with every impact imaginable made by him.
Everywhere on the pitch with some unreal kicking, tidy passes and some trademark running past any defender who attempted to tackle him.
He was rewarded with a score of his own near the end, but created a fair few more as a result of his playmaking.
The spark that Toulon needed.
Front Row
1- Thomas Gallo (Benetton)
Benetton were so unlucky to lose to Castres Olympique 39-37 away from home and can be proud of how they played in a tough place to go.
Gallo was one of the main men for the Italian side, with a try scored and some good work across the pitch.
30 metres carried and 13 tackles are not bad numbers at all for a prop, and he did the basics at scrum time very well too.
From the start, it looked like a scrappy game, and it needed someone physical to take the game by the scruff of the neck.
2- Theo Dan (Saracens)
Much of the talk ahead of the Sarries game was about the players missing, but Dan had a great game in the absence of Jamie George.
Like the rest of his team, it may have tailed off towards the end, but the work in the first half, especially, was hugely commendable.
Plenty of bulldozing runs into the Toulon defence created havoc, with his highlight being an outstanding run and offload to Ivan van Zyl.
Solid from his bread and butter, the lineout, while also being good in the tackle.
Potentially showing himself as another strong option in the England hooker department and may get his chance in the summer if George or Luke Cowan-Dickie end up on the Lions tour.
3- Zander Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors)
Warriors’ backs only managed to get as much joy as they did against Tigers because of a dominant forward pack.
Fagerson was unsurprisingly key to much of the good work from the forwards.
From scrums, they had the upper hand and forced plenty of turnovers against a side known for their physicality a lot of the time.
Nicky Smith was nowhere near Fagerson all game.
Second Row
4- Joe McCarthy (Leinster)
Leinster are an absolutely unstoppable team, and the second row of McCarthy and RG Snyman is key to that.
In their huge win against Quins, the Irish lock got himself a try and did his basics to a very high level.
Huge in contact and consistent from the lineout, it was a game where the lock was crucial in the Leinster machine.
Won’t take the headlines but had a very good game.
5- Tadhg Beirne (Munster)
Ten tackles and two absolutely crucial turnovers against La Rochelle gets Beirne a well-deserved berth in this team.
Captain by name and captain by nature, as he led the Irish side to a huge win that will be remembered for years to come.
Stepped up at the end to see out the one-point victory.
Back Row
6- John Hodnett (Munster)
Another Munster forward who stepped up was flanker Hodnett, who is a machine at the breakdown.
Constantly disrupting La Rochelle and with a couple of turnovers to show for it, he also put up nine tackles.
Defence won this game for them and he was crucial in that solidity.
7- Henco Venter (Glasgow Warriors)
Venter’s inclusion is a controversial one, since there is an argument that he shouldn’t have been on the pitch following an early eye gouge on Dan Cole.
But as it happened, he got away with it and was absolutely outstanding.
Much of the Warriors’ success was created by their forward pack, with the South African back-row crucial in it.
He brought energy on both sides of the ball, with some quality runs with it in hand and some great tackling to stop Tigers from getting any momentum.
Was awarded Player of the Match for his efforts.
8- Facundo Isa (Toulon)
What an up-and-down game it was for Isa, but the good work he did outweighed the negatives that he will take from this game.
Like most of his side, he didn’t get going early on but eventually settled down and scored a hat-trick of tries.
Two very weak turnovers to start gave Sarries an unexpected lead.
Once he settled down, he managed to make some powerful runs and breach the defence a fair few times.
READ MORE: Jeremy Guscott – Champions Cup still has a role to play
