Investec Champions Cup Round of 16 April 6, 2026

Two weekends of knock-out stage rugby got underway on April 3 with Premiership-leading Northampton Saints taking on Castres Olympique of France for a place in the Quarter Finals. The 49-41 final score evidenced a thrilling game that, but for Castres’ 3 yellow cards (all for foul play), could have gone the other way. Saints ran in 7 tries against the French team’s 6 for a 49-41 final score (14-15 at the half).

Bath hosted Saracens and were on the back foot for the entire first half but were only down 0-10 at HT. Play in H2 that illustrated why Bath are second in the English Premiership took them into the lead early in H2, finishing 31-22. The other all-England game was Harlequins vs. Sale which went to the visitors 17-26. Castres were the only French team to lose at the weekend with RC Toulon winning a squeaker over the visiting Stormers from S. Africa, 28-27 while Toulouse and Bordeaux showed they are the cream of the crop this season. UBB beat the Leicester Tigers 64-14 and Toulouse beat Bristol Bears 59-26 in overwhelming displays of rugby imagination and expertise. Glasgow Warriors beat the only other SA team in the competition 25-21 in another tight match and Leinster knocked out visitors Edinburgh 49-31.

So on to the Quarter Finals on April 10-12. The non-French teams can breath a sigh of relief that only 1 of the Bordeaux/Toulouse pair will make the Semi Finals as they play each other on Sunday, April 12. But RC Toulon play at Glasgow Warriors on Saturday in what will be spicy treat. The 3 remaining English teams face the same predicament as the French as Bath play the Northampton Saints (Premiership 2nd and 1st) on Friday April 10 while Sale visit the lone Irish contender, Leinster on Saturday.

The Semi-Finals will take place in 3 weeks (first weekend of May) all live-streamed by florugby.com and highlights of the quarters can be seen on epcrugby.com, the home site for the Champions Cup competition.