Biggest Winners and Losers in World Rugby for Weekend of April 8-10

A standout weekend for English rugby saw Leicester Tigers, Wasps and Saracens each advance to the semi-finals of this season's Champions Cup after defeating Stade Francais, Exeter Chiefs and Northampton Saints, respectively.

Elsewhere, Racing 92 collected a 19-16 win over reigning champions Toulon to complete the last four, but the French teams fared far better in the Challenge Cup, where Montpellier and Grenoble managed to make it into the semis. 

While Europe's campaign ticks toward its end, the 2016 Super Rugby season is just getting into third gear, and this week saw the Queensland Reds buck Australia's recent trend of disappointment with a memorable victory.

We dissect all that and more in the biggest winners and losers in world rugby this weekend.

Winner: Aviva Premiership

The odds always appeared to be in England's favour heading into the knockout stages of the Champions Cup, but the Premiership now has major bragging rights with three of the four semi-finalists hailing from its borders.

Simon Thomas of WalesOnline noted this is the first time in almost a decade that England had produced so many semi-finalists in Europe's first-tier tournament.

Granted, Wasps beat English opposition in Exeter, as did Saracens in their victory over Northampton, but Leicester's 41-13 throttling of Stade Francais on Sunday was something of a shock result to many.

The official Wasps Twitter account made sure to take note of Jimmy Gopperth's last-gasp winning kick against the Chiefs to seal a 25-24 comeback win, and English clubs look to once again be imposing themselves in Europe once more.

Thanks largely to the dominance of Toulon, France has looked like the superior party in continental rugby of late. However, with three Champions Cup semi-finalists and one team in the Challenge Cup's last four, the Premierships can feel a sense of promise for things to come.

Loser: Top 14

Of course, for there to be winners, there must be losers, and while the Premiership is in the ascendancy, this weekend helped attest to the notion the Top 14 may be on a downward slope.

Toulon were far from their most inspired against Racing and BBC Sport's Sonja McLaughlan noted that Stade, reigning champions of France, were "ordinary" as they were clawed down to size by the Tigers.

Montpellier and Grenoble's victories over respective Challenge Cup quarter-final opponents Sale Sharks and Connacht provided some cause for comfort, but there is an underlying feeling that France is no longer Europe's in-form powerhouse.

Perhaps the influx of foreign talents and an unwillingness from some clubs to promote French talent has, as McLaughlan suggested, taken its toll on the clubs, and therefore the success of the Top 14 as a whole.

Winners: Queensland Reds

After Australia's Super Rugby outfits came under fire for a lack of competition against the higher powers of New Zealand, the Queensland Reds earned their first win of the season on Saturday.

And it came against none other than the reigning champions, the Highlanders, who suffered a 28-27 defeat at Suncorp Stadium, where Liam Gill, Nick Frisby and Samu Kerevi went over to score tries for the hosts.

Fox commentator Greg Clark highlighted this as the Reds' sixth consecutive home victory over the Highlanders, proving them to be a bogey team for the New Zealand side.

A first win of the season for the Reds means Japan's Sunwolves are now the only Super Rugby team yet to clinch a win this year, with the Reds defying the odds to pull off a morale-boosting result on home soil.

Losers: Defending Champions

Dan Mullan/Getty Images

It was a bad weekend to be a reigning champion of Europe, it seems, after Champions Cup title-holders Toulon suffered defeat at the hands of Racing 92 and Gloucester exited the Challenge Cup at Newport Gwent Dragons' hands.

New Zealand legend Dan Carter helped kick Racing to a three-point victory over Toulon, winners in Europe for the last three successive seasons, and the fly-half was unsurprisingly humble in victory.

Meanwhile, a late Charlie Davies try booked Newport a 23-21 triumph at Kingsholm and meant the Cherry and Whites took their leave of the Challenge Cup, with Dorian Jones slotting five penalties for the visitors.

Toulon's strength in depth has had some under the impression the French giants were almost invulnerable in continental competition, but even the glossiest fairytales have to come to an end.

Winners: Fiji Sevens

Fiji extended their run at the top of the 2015-16 World Rugby Sevens Series standings on Sunday after defeating New Zealand in the final to go five points clear at the top.

Jerry Tuwai, Kitione Taliga and Semi Kunatani each scored to book a 21-7 win for Ben Ryan's side, who were deserving victors over the Kiwis, who remain in second place with three legs of the series left to play.

Fiji and the All Blacks have now each won three legs apiece, and the competition is reaching fever pitch ahead of Rio 2016, where sevens is set to make its Olympic debut.