Ranking Europe's Top 15 Club Teams After Weekend of December 11-13

Saracens and Toulon last met in the final of the 2013-2014 Heineken Cup, and the signs are they will be the teams to beat in pursuit of the European Rugby Champions Cup trophy this season.

The second weekend of December saw both sides put in impressive displays in their pools while other big names, such as Munster, Clermont Auvergne and Toulouse, all got beaten.

Rising fast, Exeter Chiefs and Ulster claimed scalps that signalled their quality and boosted their hopes of a route to the knockout stages.

And they are also joined in that bracket by the Ospreys, for whom Dan Biggar continues to pull rabbits from hats.

Here is how the weekend's action has shaken up the order of power in Europe.

15. Bath (New Entry)

Bath pulled a 25-23 win from the fire with George Ford's conversion of Anthony Watson's try against Wasps.

They have pulled themselves up to second behind the Coventry side in Pool 5 and still have a four-point lead over Toulon.

Mike Ford's men, ninth in the Premiership, now have to follow up with another win over Wasps, but they still have to face Toulon twice.

14. Connacht (Last Week, 12)

Connacht beat Newcastle Falcons 25-10 in the Challenge Cup, but the Pro 12 high-fliers slip here as a result of the rest of the sides in this ranking playing in the higher-grade competition.

They can stick around if they can continue to jostle for top spot on the Pro 12 and go deep into the Challenge Cup.

13. Glasgow (New Entry)

Glasgow Warriors put their Pro 12 problems aside to lay waste to the Scarlets at Scotstoun, with ex-Waratahs wing Taqele Naiyaravoro plundering a hat-trick in the 43-6 victory.

Gregor Townsend's side have lost already to Northampton, but with the Saints losing in Paris and the Scarlets down and out, the champions of the Pro 12 can still scrap their way back into contention for promotion into the knockout stages.

With their not-so-secret weapon in this kind of mood, they are capable of causing damage to anyone.

12. Stade Francais (New Entry)

Stade Francais did not miss a step in a 50-17 destruction of Treviso, taking the Italians apart on their own ground and reviving their campaign in a pool being dominated by Leicester Tigers at present.

Stade still have to play Munster home and away and are yet to entertain Leicester in Paris, a contest that could prove pivotal to their chances of progression.

Another handsome week at home against the same whipping boys will deliver another dose of much-needed confidence.

11. Northampton Saints (9)

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Northampton Saints were comprehensively seen off by Racing 92, 33-3, in Paris to suffer a fall in this ranking and a major blow to their qualification hopes.

The Saints were run ragged by the same side in last season’s pool encounter at home, having thrown away a winning position in France.

They now must seek to beat them, and beat them well, at Franklin’s Gardens next week to keep the wheels on the bus.

10. Ospreys (11)

Ospreys could count themselves lucky they ended up playing 14 men of Bordeaux Begles, and even then they still had a late penalty miss from the traveling French side to thank for preserving the 19-16 victory.

By hook or by crook, Steve Tandy's men are top of Pool 2 at the halfway mark and will need a better performance than this to stay there after next weekend's trip to Stade Chaban-Delmas.

Dan Biggar, who seems to have become the man Ospreys rely on more than any other, scored all the points in thie win and was lucky to escape a beheading after the stiff-arm to the chin administered by Jean-Baptiste Dubie.

It was he who subsequently departed, reducing Raphael Ibanez's side by one and rather letting the Ospreys off the hook.

9. Wasps (7)

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Wasps were undone by George Ford’s last minute conversion in Coventry as Dai Young’s men slipped to a second straight defeat at home.

Having fallen to Exeter last weekend, they still held sway in Pool 5 after wins over Leinster and Toulon, but that work has now been undermined by a defeat to their English rivals, which they must now remedy if they are to retain some of their bargaining chips going into the last two rounds of pool play.

They must still visit Toulon, who showed in their win over Leinster they will be in no mood to allow Wasps to do the double over them.

8. Toulouse (6)

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Toulouse, the three-time winners of Europe’s most prized silverware, were a shadow of the side that has touched the heights in years gone by as they were swamped under the Friday night lights in Belfast.

Having been thumped on opening weekend at Saracens and now humbled 38-0 on the road to Ulster, Toulouse’s chances of qualification are hanging by the thinnest of threads.

French sides are notorious for a Jekyll and Hyde persona when it comes to the difference between their performances home and away, and their fans will be expecting to see the good side next week if they are to salvage both points and pride in their return clash with the Red Hand Gang.

7. Ulster (14)

Toulouse were embarrassed at Ravenhill as Ulster ran riot on Friday night for a 38-0 win.

Les Kiss’ side ran in five tries to take them temporarily top of Pool 1 before Saracens played on Sunday and placed themselves back in with a fighting chance of progression from a tough group.

They have lost to Saracens at home already so could ill afford another slip up, and they will now need to replicate this intensity when they visit Toulouse—who are sure to be a different proposition on home soil.

The Daily Mail’s Orla Bannon wrote: "Ulster clearly grasped the seriousness of the situation and played with an intensity that was on a different level to what they mustered in that home defeat to Sarries last month."

With both Munster and Leinster losing on the same weekend, the men from the northerly province may well be the only Irish side in with a shout of carrying the flag into the knockout stages this season.

6. Clermont Auvergne (2)

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Clermont Auvergne slip from second to sixth after coughing up a 14-3 lead at Exeter to go down 31-14.

They have always had the ability to capitulate away from home every now and again, and they did so in Devon to perpetuate the perception of Les Jaunards as a team plagued by inconsistency.

Breathtaking one week, abysmal the next, it is not the sort of pattern that ends with silverware next year.

5. Racing 92 (8)

Racing hammered Northampton 33-3 in Paris as Dan Carter made his bow for the French side.

Carter's beastly forward pack gave the Saints all the trouble they could handle, leaving the ex-All Black in something of an armchair as he glided around behind them, kicking three of his four conversions on his debut.

Racing looked much more clinical than their 15-15 draw with Pau in the Top 14 last week suggested, and they were never in danger against a Saints outfit who had gone back to basics to string a few wins together after a shaky start to the season.

4. Exeter Chiefs (3)

Result of the weekend went to Exeter, who thumped Clermont Auvergne 31-14 at Sandy Park.

Rob Baxter's men came back at the Top 14 leaders after conceding the game's first two tries, with old-stager Thomas Waldrom bagging a double among the four tries that secured the Chiefs a bonus point and put them level on points with Ospreys at the top of the group.

Having won from 14-3 down, the Telegraph's Daniel Schofield credited this win as the finest in the Chiefs' history:

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When it comes to budget and star power, Exeter were hopelessly outmatched by Clermont but in terms of heart and sheer bloodied mindedness, the Chiefs have few equals. The watching Eddie Jones must have wondered how he could go about bottling the indefatigable spirit that seems to spring eternal from this corner of Devon countryside.

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This win was achieved despite the absence of four of Exeter's first-choice players in Henry Slade, Dave Ewers, Luke Cowan-Dickie and Sam Hill, and it also saw England's Jack Nowell—until now a wing in his international career—excel in the outside centre position in front of watching England head coach Eddie Jones.

3. Leicester Tigers (4)

Munster's Thomond Park is no longer the stronghold it used to be, but a handsome win there is still a result to be savoured.

And so Leicester's 31-19 victory that puts them firmly in charge of Pool 4 will go down as a win to remember for the Welford Road faithful who made the trip to Limerick.

That is certainly how scrum-half Ben Youngs was viewing it, per the Leicester Mercury's Martin Crowson:

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That is the best win I have ever had in a Tigers shirt. I could not be prouder of the boys.

For us to stay on top, even when Munster got a foothold in the game, was fantastic.

We showed self-belief and character, even when Munster got back on top after half-time.

They are a huge side with a huge amount of pride for their shirt, and our mental application was great to be able to beat them.

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The Tigers can strengthen their case for a home quarter-final by doing the double over Munster next weekend, and they also still have to play Treviso at home before rounding off with a trip to Stade Francais.

With several injured players still to come back, it is shaping into a promising season for Richard Cockerill's men

2. Toulon (3)

Toulon all but ended Leinster's Champions Cup campaign with a 24-9 win over the Irishmen down on the Med.

The juggernaut French pack was too much for the Dubliners, rumbling Steffon Armitage over for their first try and happy to smash the blue-shirted runners back all afternoon in the narrow channels.

With Ma'a Nonu and Mathieu Bastareaud solid in the champions' midfield and Matt Giteau calling the shots from fly-half, Bernard Laporte's backs were able to do as they pleased behind a pack that shunted Leinster around at will and also forced many a turnover.

Armitage was prominent at the breakdown and also scored a second try to finish the game off.

1. Saracens (1)

Oyonnax were swiftly dealt with by a Saracens side showing no signs of ending their 100 per cent start to the season.

This 45-9 win was capped by a fine performance from full-back Alex Goode and, according the Guardian's Andrew Gwilym, it was further evidence that the famed Saracens pragmatism is now accompanied by no little adventure:

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The north London side have often been criticised for offering little in the way of entertainment, but that cannot be thrown at them on the evidence of the season so far.

Owen Farrell looks reinvigorated by his return to club action, giving the lie to those who consider him a purely conservative No10, while Alex Goode was once again sensational at full-back.

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But the win was followed by an admission from boss Mark McCall that new England head coach Eddie Jones has offered the Sarries' defence coach Paul Gustard a role in his new setup, per BBC.co.uk.

Gustard is the man responsible for creating the "Wolfpack"—part sophisticated defensive system, part bloody-minded—mentality that has served the champions so well, and as a coach under Jones during his own spell at the Fez Heads, the ex-back rower is clearly a man the Australian knows well and admires.

Should Gustard opt to join the Red Rose staff, it will be a test of the team he leaves behind as to how they maintain the philosophy he has so successfully ingrained.