French dominance and the chase for a seventh title

Bordeaux-Begles, Toulouse and La Rochelle have shared six consecutive Champions Cup titles, keeping the trophy in France for six seasons in a row. Toulouse and Bordeaux look alone in the top tier on paper, with Leinster, Bath, Northampton Saints and perhaps Montpellier just below them. Leinster lost four of the finals in that run and five since 2019, and Leo Cullen's side is seen as the most likely challenger to the French clubs. Irish provinces have struggled at the scrum early in the season, with Leinster away in South Africa, Connacht against Benetton and Ulster against Munster cited as examples. Across global club rugby in the 2025-26 season, the top 10 teams for scrums won on opposition put-ins all came from the Top 14, with Toulouse leading on 23.6%.

Toulouse23.6%

Stade Francais23.4%

Montpellier22.6%

Toulouse

23.6 %

Stade Francais

23.4 %

Montpellier

22.6 %

Data from the article text

Format, fixtures and travel

The pool stage needs 48 pool games to reduce 24 teams to 16, and the tournament only really catches fire from the quarter-finals onward. Clubs and fans were given just one week to make arrangements and mobilise support for the fortnight around the last 16 and quarter-finals. The fixture lists are uneven, with some teams playing two sides at home and two different sides away, and no clear pattern behind it. For English, French and South African clubs, long-haul travel in a congested calendar has led to weakened teams and blowout wins. Critics of the structure want fewer teams and higher quality, but the tournament has only eight weekends to run.

Cardiff's return to the top tier

Cardiff return to the top tier after two seasons in the Challenge Cup, facing Northampton at Franklin's Gardens on Sunday, 18 October, at 17:30 BST. Northampton are fresh from running in 11 tries against Bath in the Premiership. Wales internationals Taulupe Faletau and Josh Adams are in line for their first appearances of the season. Cardiff then face a five-day turnaround to a United Rugby Championship game against Sharks at the Arms Park, and Sharks play at Lyon in the Challenge Cup on Saturday, 17 October. Cardiff head coach Corniel van Zyl called the schedule a challenge and said the squad has to be managed through it.

“It sometimes happens in World Cups with bigger squads and it's just something to manage.”

Sprint, marathon and a tight calendar

Bath head of rugby Johann van Graan compared the Champions Cup to a sprint and the Gallagher Premiership to a marathon, arguing that it is very hard to be good at both. Bath were losing semi-finalists both domestically and in Europe in the 2025-26 season. Van Graan noted that Bordeaux won the competition last season without finishing in the Top 14's top six, and he said winning it takes luck and health.

“You need a bit of luck, you need a bit of grace, you need very few injuries.”

The new campaign starts with a one-week window in October and then a two-month pause, with the Champions Cup only picking up in earnest in the New Year. A launch in December has been dropped, and there is close to total agreement across the sport that the competition needs a complete revamp. Many would prefer a slimmed 16-team competition, possibly in straight knockout style, but contracts run until 2030, so that change is not imminent. The mooted Club World Cup appears to have been shelved for now.

A tournament questioned from within

The Champions Cup was created in the 1990s, survived a bitter civil war among the unions that ended with its offices in neutral Switzerland, and navigated a global pandemic. EPCR chair Dominic McKay said in 2025 that a Rugby World Club Cup had been discussed at EPCR for two or three years. Plans that would pause the tournament every four years after the knockout stages in favour of a World Club Cup are still in circulation. Former England international Anthony Watson spoke at the launch in Lyon in September about the tournament's history.

“There's so much history and tradition behind the individual fixtures, as well as within the competition itself.”

Talk of a 16-team tournament without pool stages has not gone away.