Maybe clubs are reason England failed, not Eddie

The European Champions Cup has reached the quarter-final stage last weekend with a mixed bag of teams from the three leagues involved.

- JEFF PROBYN

The five French sides – La Rochelle, Toulouse, Racing 92, Bordeaux Begles, and ASM Clermont Auvergne – made up the biggest contingent followed by the Premiership with Sale and Exeter and just one, Leinster, from the PRO14.

Although we have had a strange season this year, teams have been playing more or less regular fixtures and so should be considered well prepared for this elite competition, particularly as all the clubs that qualified for the quarter-finals are currently at or near the top of their respective leagues.

However, the failure of the Premiership to get none through to the semi-finals is an alarm bell that should be ringing loudly at the RFU.

With just two teams making the quarters and, for only the second time in the history of the Cup, the Premiership failing to have a team in the semi-finals, coupled with England’s performance in the Six Nations, it would seem to indicate that the standard of the Premiership is beginning to decline.

Many of the games in the Premiership this season have been high-scoring, ‘crowd pleasing’ results that seem to show an improvement in the strength of the competition – but it now appears that may be wrong.

The dominance of the French clubs is matched by the improvement in their national side as French coach Galthie has been provided with a wealth of players to build an impressive squad.

England’s failure in the Six Nations was in part blamed on Eddie Jones picking players from Saracens who had not been playing and may therefore have not been match fit.