Ugo Monye ‘buzzing’ for Investec Champions Cup to begin on TNT Sports – ‘It’s a proper feast of rugby’
The 2023/24 edition of the competition will be played over eight weekends, with four pool-stage rounds and four knockout-stage rounds, culminating in the 2024 final at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium next May.
This weekend, 12 games will be screened on TNT Sports over a 48-hour period, beginning at 8pm on Friday with Glasgow Warriors versus Gallagher Premiership Rugby side Northampton Saints among the opening matches.
“It’s extremely exciting. I think the Investec Champions Cup is the greatest club competition that rugby has to offer,” Monye told TNT Sports.
“Off the back of the World Cup and with the introduction of the South African teams, it feels like the world is getting even smaller. The tournament feels like a bit of a global village where we get to see some of the best teams.
“The games, the moments, the history, and the magic which the tournament provides is just absolutely mouth-watering.
“I am buzzing. I’ve been covering the Gallagher Premiership where you’ve got five matches across a weekend; now you’ve got like 105.
“It’s a proper feast of rugby which people can enjoy. You could literally sit at home from Friday night 7pm through to Sunday night just feasting on rugby.
“As a rugby nut myself, I’d say that is a pretty good weekend.”
The rugby world will be tuning into TNT Sports on Friday night, with coverage of the Warriors against Saints beginning at 19:00 UK time.
“Glasgow have been flying in the URC [United Rugby Championship], they’ll be so confident. It’s going to be a cracking game because you’ve got two teams that stylistically play the game in a similar fashion.
“The way The Saints have started the season, the result they got against Saracens will give them so much belief.
“Franklin’s Gardens is an unbelievable place to play and go watch rugby. It brings a great atmosphere which befits the occasion of the best club competition on the planet. That’s going to be an incredible game to kick it all off.
“I think they fancy themselves and why wouldn’t they? They’re a team that can score points against anyone. They’ve just beaten the reigning Gallagher Premiership champions away from home.
“They’ve got players like Courtney Lawes who is absolutely on fire, George Furbank won the No. 10 shirt the last couple of weeks. They’ve got players right across the board that can hurt you. Where they’ve really improved is their defence – and a defence wins championships.”
And what is arguably the game of the opening weekend, Saracens travel to South African city Pretoria to play Bulls, a game that takes place on Saturday at 17:30 UK time.
It will be an early stern test of Saracens’ capabilities, says Monye, but it is one he is tipping them to get through successfully.
“There is a feel-good factor around rugby [in South Africa], winning back-to-back World Cups and they’ll certainly want to build upon that,” said Monye.
“But Saracens are an unbelievable side. Owen Farrell’s back in the mix this weekend and he’ll make any team that much better, he’s an incredible competitor.
“I fancy them to go there and get a result.”
He said: “I think when you’re looking for external motivation, it probably means the motivation internally is not strong enough. Saracens are an introspective team and they’ll know that if they can get their game on the park for long enough, they will be a challenge for anyone.
“Losing to Northampton last weekend at home for the first time in almost two years will sharpen their focus this week. I think we’ll absolutely see them getting back to their fundamentals, working really hard, being incredibly physical, taking their chances – and they’ll have to be all those things if they’re to match and beat Bulls.”
The excitement does not stop there – far from it – as reigning champions La Rochelle go head-to-head with Leinster in a repeat of last season’s final.
“That is just box office,” laughed Monye.
“It feels like we are jumping straight into games which would quite comfortably qualify as knockout rugby, straight from the word go. When you look at pool four, it’s like, every single game would be worthy of a quarter, semi or a final.”
With the four highest-ranked clubs from each pool qualifying for the round of 16, starting the competition with a win is “massive”, says Monye.
He said: “We’ve seen it at the Six Nations and the World Cup, momentum is massive in this tournament.
“You don’t win the tournament in round one and you certainly don’t lose it, but every coach and player would rather enter the tournament starting in a positive way. It’s crazy intense. You go back to back, hyper-intense for a couple of weeks and then you park it for a month and then go back to it, so you want to bank as much positivity and momentum as you can.”
This weekend’s fixtures
- Glasgow Warriors v Northampton – Friday 20:00
- Connacht v Bordeaux Begles – Friday 20:00
- Toulon v Exeter – Saturday 13:00
- Bath v Ulster – Saturday 15:15
- Toulouse v Cardiff – Saturday 15:15
- Bulls v Saracens – Saturday 17:30
- Munster v Bayonne – Saturday 17:30
- Bristol v Lyon – Saturday 20:00
- Sale v Stade de Francais – Sunday 13:00
- La Rochelle v Leinster – Sunday 15:15
- Leicester v Stormers – Sunday 15:15
- Racing 92 v Harlequins – Sunday 17:30
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