Investec Champions Cup quarter-final preview

La Rochelle head to Dublin looking to end Leinster’s hopes of a fifth Champions Cup title for the fourth consecutive season in a hugely exciting weekend of quarter-final action.

That contest is preceded by Harlequins hoping to reach a first-ever semi-final at Bordeaux-Begles, and followed by Northampton Saints looking to end their 13-year wait to return to the last four against South Africa side Bulls.

The action ends on Sunday with Rob Baxter’s young Exeter Chiefs heading to the tournament’s most successful club, Toulouse.

Saturday

Harlequins won a Champions Cup knockout game for the first time in their history as they beat Glasgow Warriors last Friday night, returning to the quarter-finals for a fifth time after appearances in 1997, 1998, 2009 and 2013.

Each time they’ve reached this stage previously they’ve been beaten, and after Bordeaux hammered Saracens for the second time this season last weekend it is hard to see the Londoners pulling off what would be a huge upset at 3pm.

Quins themselves have twice been pummelled by Saracens, and though they’ll fancy their chances if they can find their best form, Bordeaux’s brilliance might just be a stretch too far for the club game’s great entertainers.

At 5:30pm, it’s back to Dublin for a rematch of last year’s final and an earlier pool stage match this season, as Leinster meet La Rochelle for the fifth time in four campaigns looking to finally end their knockout stage hoodoo against Ronan O’Gara’s side.

A gutsy 16-9 win in December saw Leo Cullen finally get the better of his opposite number, but memories of the last two finals where Leinster twice came short as favourites against the Les Jaune et Noir will still need exorcising – at the same venue where they were beaten in the second of those showpieces.

Later on, in another game that looks harder to predict than the fixtures on French Soil, Northampton Saints host Bulls hoping to continue their magnificent season and reach the semi-finals for the first time since 2011.

They are back at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens for a second weekend in a row, while the Bulls have faced travel chaos after flying in from Cape Town following their easy win against a weakened Lyon last Saturday.

Riding the crest of a wave it is hard to look past the Saints, but if the visitors can get themselves in the right frame of mind by the 8pm kick-off time Saints will know they face a tough challenge against a Bulls side looking to become the first South African team to reach a semi-final.

Sunday

Many thought Exeter would struggle this season after a huge turnover of players that saw several stars integral to their 2020 success in this tournament heading elsewhere.

But solid form in the league has been accompanied by a fourth quarter-final appearance in five years in this tournament, after a superb win against Bath at Sandy Park set up a trip to Toulouse (3pm).

Few are giving Exeter a chance of making another semi-final, and the way Toulouse – recently bolstered by the return of Antoine Dupont and Romain Ntamack – dispatched Racing 92 last Sunday makes it easy to see why.

But whether it was last Saturday’s win against Bath, a narrow victory against Toulon away from home or a stunning fightback against Munster, Exeter have had a habit of making big statements in this year’s tournament, and they’ll be hoping to make another huge one in the last of four mouthwatering quarter-finals.

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