Power Ranking Europe's Top 15 Club Teams After Weekend of September 12-14

Last weekend was notable for some impressive away performances that have sent several sides surging up the power ranking.

Both Clermont Auvergne and Stade Francais recorded valuable victories on the road, as did Saracens and Leicester.

The theme continued in the PRO12 with Glasgow, Ospreys and Connacht winning on enemy territory, while Irish powerhouses Leinster and Munster shook off round one setbacks with victories.

Here’s what it all means

15. Edinburgh (PRO12)

Edinburgh will be kicking themselves.

After scaling the mountain last week to beat Munster on their own patch, a homecoming against supposedly far weaker opposition in Connacht was the ideal follow-up to ensure a strong start to the season.

Instead, it went horribly wrong for Alan Solomons’'men, who were undone by Willie Faloon's late try. The coach hinted to The Scotsman afterwards that his side could simply not get psychologically right for the clash after the high of round one:

"

We spoke about all week how we peaked against Munster and we spoke about making sure that we were in the right frame of mind, mentally and physically. We took things relatively easy during the week and obviously Connacht are a side never to be underestimated. We just weren’t at the races.

"

14. Cardiff Blues (PRO12)

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The Blues were sucker-punched at home by Glasgow.

They would have gone into the game knowing the Scots, who finished second last season, would be no walkover, buoyed by a win over Leinster in round one.

But at 12-13 with less than half an hour to go, Mark Hammett's men would have fancied their chances.

Instead, they were undone by Niki Matawalu's double in the space of 10 minutes. WalesOnline’s Simon Thomas concluded the home side:

"

[...] just couldn’t match the visitors at the breakdown in terms of recycling quick ball, frequently being penalised, with players being isolated. They were also guilty of far too many errors with ball in hand and lacked a cutting edge in attack. So Hammett now knows exactly the scale of the job he has on his hands.

"

13. Exeter (Premiership)

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The Chiefs are tough to beat at home by even the top sides, but they lost out in a gritty arm wrestle with Leicester, clinching a losing bonus point in the process.

They fall down the rankings after the defeat but were by no means embarrassed by a club with far greater resources.

12. Munster (PRO12)

Ten points in four first-half minutes put Munster in control over Treviso, eventually conquering the Italians 21-10 away from home.

Not the try-fest the Red Army may have expected from this fixture, but it puts Anthony Foley's men on the board following a home defeat to Edinburgh on opening day.

The coach, however, was far from happy, as reported in the Irish Independent:

"

Certainly in the first half, we played with a lot of intensity and physicality in our game. Good discipline, good use of ball, but unfortunately we didn't turn around in the second half and have the same level of performance. We fell back in the penalty count and after that Treviso played a lot more rugby in our half. It was disappointing because any time we got into their half we looked very threatening.

"

11. Leinster (PRO12)

Leinster atoned for their round one loss to Glasgow by thumping the Scarlets 42-12.

A fit-again Rob Kearney bagged a double, as did No. 12 Ian Madigan, who converted all six of the champions' tries.

Madigan is the source of many a column inch in Ireland sports pages currently.

With the return of Jonny Sexton to Leinster next season, Madigan may struggle for game time in his favoured No. 10 shirt. But former Irish international and Irish Independent columnist Tony Ward is in no doubt what both Leinster and Ireland should do with him:

"

I would say to Matt O'Connor and Joe Schmidt: pick Madigan and then select the other 14 around him.

The player is coming into his prime and must not be seen as the 'impact sub' I fear he is becoming. Yes, he can perform that role if required but the gifted Leinster man has so much more to offer.

With Brian O'Driscoll now retired, all the talk is about his successor at outside-centre.

The list is impressive: Robbie Henshaw, Jared Payne, Darren Cave, Fergus McFadden, possibly Tommy Bowe, but turn the clock back to May's Pro12 final and O'Driscoll's enforced departure, whereupon Gordon D'Arcy - who I still believe has what it takes at the highest level whether inside-centre or outside-centre - and Madigan took the game by the scruff of the neck.

Much will depend upon D'Arcy's form upon his return, but Madigan must be in the Leinster and Ireland starting line-ups, preferably wearing No. 12, with D'Arcy leading the charge to play alongside.

The case for Madigan rests. Knowing Schmidt, I suspect he might just be seeing it along similar lines.

"

10. Connacht (PRO12)

Two wins from two for Pat Lam's men, who travelled to Edinburgh and put one over the conquerors of Munster from round one.

A 13-6 half-time deficit was overhauled thanks to a Darragh Leader penalty and Willie Faloon's 75th-minute try, which more than made up for the flanker's earlier yellow card.

Could the men from Galway be this year's surprise package in the PRO12?

9. Bath (Premiership)

Bath sit second in the Premiership table after putting London Welsh to the sword to make it two wins from two so far.

The Dragons shipped 50 points for the second week running as the West Countrymen racked up seven tries, with braces for Semesa Rokoduguni and Jonathan Joseph and 18 points from the boot of George Ford.

Having faced Sale and Welsh, tougher tests await Mike Ford's squad.

8. Glasgow (PRO12)

Glasgow followed up opening-day victory over champions Leinster with a romp away to Cardiff Blues, flaying the Welshmen 33-12 per BBC Sport.

Two tries from replacement Nikola Matawalu were the centre-piece of a victory that came despite Lions tight head prop Adam Jones helping his new side make mince meat of the Glasgow scrum.

Despite the impressive win, flanker Chris Fusaro was at pains to point out to The Scotsman that his teammates still have plenty of room for improvement:

"

There was a period when our scrum creaked a bit in the second-half and Cardiff made it very hard in the breakdown for us, where it was as physical as I have experienced things for a long time. Obviously you have to factor in the 4G artificial surface, which was a bit tricky, particularly with the bounce of the ball, but we just feel like we have not found the fluidity we would like yet.

Our ball security was not what we would have wanted, also when you have the three tries you’d obviously like to add a fourth to collect the bonus point, but we didn’t quite manage that.

"

7. Ospreys (PRO12)

Ospreys put in a competent away performance at the Dragons to come away with a tight 17-15 win.

They were in control after Dan Biggar's 48th-minute penalty made it 17-6, but three Angus O'Brien penalties made them sweat for the victory.

One interesting sub-plot to the clash was the meeting of Taulupe Faletau and the man who wants his Welsh No. 8 jersey, Ospreys' Dan Baker.

WalesOnline's Andy Powell was left in no doubt as to which man emerged in greater credit:

"

Dan Baker out-played the man he wants to oust from the Wales team, Taulupe Faletau.

Faletau is the man in possession of the national No.8 jersey but hugely promising youngster Baker under-studied him in South Africa during the summer and wants more.

During their 57 minutes of combat in front of a disappointing crowd of 7,199 at Rodney Parade, both carried the ball 10 times but Baker, often operating off a retreating scrum, made 66m to Faletau’s 31m.

"

6. Northampton Saints (Premiership)

The Saints tumble down the ranking thanks to an away defeat to Wasps.

The Adams Park outfit were largely in charge on the scoreboard throughout, but the possession and territory stats were hugely in the Saints' favour, per ESPNScrum.com, with Ben Foden's try two minutes from time the only moment Jim Mallinder's men crossed the stripe.

With 61 per cent of territory and 57 per cent of possession, that dominance should have yielded more points for the champions.

5. Montpellier (Top 14)

Montpellier caught the Top 14 disease of away-day blues, going down 27-21 to Bordeaux-Begles.

Having squared the game with 20 minutes left, it looked as though the leaders would stretch away.

But a yellow card for Rene Ranger gifted Pierre Bernard an easy penalty chance, and he slotted another one to condemn Fabien Galthie's side to defeat for only the second time this season.

4. Leicester (Premiership)

Picking up a win at Exeter is going to be a rare treat for visiting sides this season.

For the Tigers to have done it in week two with almost an entire team missing through injury and unavailability is impressive, indeed.

If last week's home triumph was made in the South Seas with a hat-trick from Fijian Niki Goneva, their 24-20 win at Sandy Park was built on English endeavour, with tries from Anthony Allen and Ben Youngs allied to 11 points from Freddie Burns.

Burns was also the architect of Allen's try with a deft grubber into the dead ball area for the centre to pounce on.

3. Saracens (Premiership)

Last year's Aviva Premiership runners-up made a big statement in Week 2 with a 39-0 demolition of Harlequins at the Stoop under the Friday night lights.

They showed dominance at the scrum, giving Quins youngster Kyle Sinckler a torrid time in the front row, and simply didn't let the home side breathe.

Sixteen first-half points from Charlie Hodgson put them in the box-seat, but the former England man was binned after the break to blot an otherwise perfect evening.

A second yellow, this time for lock Alastair Hargreaves, made life harder still for the Fez Heads, but all it did was give them a chance to display their defensive steel, which they did wonderfully.

2. Stade Francais (Top 14)

Four wins from five suggest Stade mean business this season.

Securing the fourth of those victories away at Stade Felix Mayol only serves to underline that.

The Parisians' scrum was brutal, their defence solid and they took their opportunities well.

There was strong evidence of some impressive mental fortitude from Gonzalo Quesada's men as well.

They went 19-13 down early in the second half, but a cool Jules Plisson kicked four penalty goals and a drop goal at the death to seal an excellent win.

1. Clermont Auvergne (Top 14)

Clermont's great start was given a major boost with an away win at Toulouse.

Their 13-9 victory was secured by Julien Bardy's 49th-minute try.

It puts Clermont top of the Top 14 and leaves Toulouse pondering the first time they have lost three games on the bounce since the 1970s.

Franck Azema's players may have lost their home ground invincibility, but with performances like this at places like Toulouse, they appear to be in rude health.