English quintet face uphill task at business end of Champions Cup

Heavy defeats during pool stage suggest Premiership teams lack the power of the best French and Irish sides

- Robert Kitson

Five English clubs have made it beyond base camp in the Champions Cup this season, but scaling the summit feels like an impossible dream. While Northampton, Saracens, Leicester, Sale and Harlequins have all secured qualification for the last 16, they will need something truly special if they are to make any kind of impact at the sharp end of the competition.

The sight of Leicester, one of the Premiership's handful of pool survivors, enduring a record annihilation in Toulouse was just another stark reminder that the bigger French and Irish sides continue to be the tournament's dominant forces. The last English club to win the title was Exeter in 2020 and there are few obvious signs of the gap closing.

Saints are the only ones to have earned a home draw in the last 16, and will host Clermont Auvergne. Leicester, thrashed 80-12 in their final pool fixture, will be away at Glasgow Warriors, the United Rugby Championship holders. Saracens must go to Toulon, while Sale and Quins will visit the defending champions, Toulouse, and Leinster respectively - two of the toughest tasks in the club game.

"Scary" was the verdict on Antoine Dupont's Toulouse side from the former England captain Chris Robshaw on Premier Sports and watching Sarries' England contingent succumb at home against an understrength Castres side was also to wonder what might lie ahead in the looming Six Nations championship.