After a busy week of training for our Aviva Premiership sides it’s almost time for them to take to the European field again. For some Round 2 represents the opportunity to build on a positive Round 1 and for others it’s all about redemption and finally getting off the mark in the competition. By the very nature of the new structure of the Champions Cup back to back losses in Rounds 1 and 2 would be very difficult to come back from so Exeter Chiefs, Leicester Tigers and Sale Sharks know that their European futures are on the line.
Of course this weekend will be an extremely difficult time over in Ireland. On Saturday afternoon the emotions at Thomond Park will be acutely felt as a province pays tribute to Anthony Foley. The minutes of silence, or applause, at every single game this weekend will be impeccably observed as we all remember a great player, coach and man. The world of rugby will never forget Anthony Foley, may he rest in peace.
Sale Sharks start the Champions Cup weekend by hosting Diego Dominguez’s Toulon. Steve Diamond has said that Toulon are the side with all of the pressure on their shoulders and while this is obviously his way of adding further to their pressure, he is right. The former champions know that nothing less than a victory will do and have selected a huge side to take on Sale. James O'Connor returns for Toulon and will be itching to make his mark and the Ma’a Nonu and Mathieu Bastareaud centre partnership will be a lot to handle for Sale. Toulon looked impressive in their second-half at home and need to start their match at that intensity. Sale welcome back Peter Stringer from injury, he’s taking to the field on a hugely difficult day and I know that the entire squad will be fully behind him. The weather in Manchester is looking good and with a bit crowd expected Round 1 should start with a bang. 
The next match with Premiership representation in the Champions Cup will be Northampton Saints’ trip to Castres. These two sides have met each other eight times in Europe already with Northampton winning five of those meetings. Of Northampton’s five changes to their starting team arguably the most significant is the return of Dylan Hartley. It will put a smile on all Saints fans’ faces as well as Eddie Jones’ and his leadership should add greatly to the visitors output. Northampton need someone else to assist Tom Wood in leading the side and in the backs they need to fire. I expect to see another outstanding game from Louis Picamoles who just gets better and better with ever week but they need to show more in attack in order to put the points on the board to deliver a victory. 
After heading over to the Stade Felix Mayol Saracens’ Round 2 should be more of a formality. With all due respect to the Scarlets the title holders have more than enough power and know how to ensure that this is a comfortable victory. George Kruis’ injury is a blow, for both Saracens and England, but second-row is an area of strength in depth for both. Personally I believe that we will see another Saracens performance that sends a real statement of intent to the competition saying that this is their title to lose. Scarlets have lost James Davies to injury and given his form this isn't ideal and Will Boyde has some big shoes to fill. The Scarlets’ performance against Sale was what they’ve been looking for but Saracens are a different kettle of fish completely and many a side have been undone by the ruthless nature of Mark McCall's men.
On Saturday evening Exeter Chiefs are travelling to the Kingspan Stadium with it all to do. After Round 1 Rob Baxter asked for a reaction, he wanted to see his players arrive in training with a bit of anger to push turning around their form. I’m sure that will have happened and Exeter need to head out to Ireland with real confidence - even if they don’t fully feel it. The Chiefs will be met by a strong Ulster challenge especially given the return of Charles Piutau of their back line. Piutau made the most metres, clean breaks and beat the most defenders in last season’s competition and he adds so much to their side. The Irish province were fuming at the manner in which they lost to Bordeaux-Begles, they led until the 70th minute, so I expect to see two sides with great motivation clashing with force. 
Sunday’s Champions Cup starts with Wasps heading over to the Stade Ernset-Wallon and facing the acid test of their form. Toulouse’s European pedigree is well know and it may not have been as strong of late but they will mean business. We all watched Wasps score points galore against Zebre but this match will showcase that they can do it against a side that will bring a huge physical challenge. The likes of Ashley Johnson, Nathan Hughes and their front three will need to lead this charge and not be pushed about like they were against Saracens. In that Premiership game Dai Young’s team looked liked rabbits in the headlights and although they’ve got the cushion of the Round 1 win they cannot afford to be in that situation again.
Finally Leicester Tigers are hosting Racing 92 at Welford Road and when you look at the threats that Racing in their armoury and the damage that they could do given the current form of Leicester’s defence could be sizeable. Dan Carter, Brice Dulin, Joe Rokocoko, Juan Imhoff and Maxime Machenaud are the type of individuals to spot gaps galore and all will be keen to make a positive first step in the competition that almost was theirs last season. Leicester’s output in Round 1 shocked us all, none of us saw that margin of defeat arriving and Sunday will be a huge test of character. JP Pietersen starts on the wing and Marcos Ayerza and Ed Slater return into the forward pack. In this match we need to see more defensive cohesion from the Tigers and plenty of sparks in attack because they didn’t make a line break against Glasgow. Welford Road will expect the ultimate reaction from Leicester and will want to see that their side can do a 360 about turn in just a week, will it happen? We'll see. 