Champions Cup team of the week: Joe Marler pulverises Racing scrum to remind England of his talent

This was a weekend where the cream very much rose to the top in Europe's premier rugby competition. Leinster, Toulouse, Leicester and Saracnes were all dominant winners, while the Bulls and the Sharks sent travelling sides to South Africa home empty handed. 

But who did enough to make Telegraph Sport's team of the week?

15. Elliot Daly (Saracens)

Hugo Keenan shone for Leinster and Kurt-Lee Arendse’s pace tormented Exeter Chiefs in Pretoria but Daly wins out on the back of a first-half hat-trick that demonstrated his pace, acceleration and balance. There were also whipped passes, clever grubbers and one raking 50:22 that set up Saracens’ sixth try. Watching on at StoneX Stadium, Steve Borthwick will have been encouraged.

14. Alex Cuthbert (Ospreys)

Scored the opening try with the kind of short-range carry most of the Ospreys' pack would have been proud of, before adding a second to his tally in the second half as the Ospreys completed an impressive double over last season's Top 14 champions. A regular for Wales in the autumn and Warren Gatland will be pleased to see him playing well. Marnus Potgieter also impressed for the Sharks.

13. Wandile Simelane (Bulls)

Received the bounce of his life to score his first try against Exeter, rooting Jack Nowell to the turf, before completing a big win for the Bulls late on with an interception try from 60 metres out. Simelane only had his first start at centre the previous week, so it's fair to say he's settled in well. Ruhan Nel impressed for the Stormers with an interception try of his own against London Irish on Sunday.

12. Jamie Osborne (Leinster)

Ahead of his team’s trip across the Irish Sea to face Gloucester, Stuart Lancaster told reporters that Osborne reminded him of Robbie Henshaw in his rare ability to cover both midfield positions. As Lancaster explained, the 21-year-old is a sharp distributor as well as a balanced and powerful runner. How prescient that proved to be. Osborne was exceptional in another routine win for Leinster. He scored a weaving individual try in the first half and looks bound for Ireland honours sooner rather than later.

11. Harry Simmons (Leicester)

The electrifying steps of this scrum-half-turned-wing would perhaps have been better suited to the ballroom than the bearpit of Clermont Auvergne. But his try, giving Leicester daylight at the Stade Marcel-Michelin, was as impressive and eye-opening an individual score as any that will be scored this season; beating Alex Newsome off the left, then Alivereti Raka off the right, he scooted across the line. Handre Pollard's shell-shocked reaction, head in hands, said it all.

10. Marcus Smith (Harlequins)

That was a lively return. A superb arcing run across the field before slipping inside the defence to set up Cadan Murley's try was vintage Smith, and welcome proof that he seems to be well over the ankle injury which had kept him out since facing South Africa in the autumn. He will get another run-out against the Sharks on Saturday to press his claims again for selection against Scotland, but this was an encouraging return with Smith outplaying his opposite man, Finn Russell.

9. Jaden Hendrikse (Sharks)

Two tries from the scrum-half in the thrashing of Bordeaux-Begles, with Hendrikse's quick thinking from a tapped penalty catching the visitors out for the opening try before powering over for his second with a dummy. Came off the bench against England in the autumn and more international caps might be coming for the young South African.

1. Joe Marler (Harlequins)

Back from suspension and with some impact, scrummaging superbly up against both Cedate Gomes Sa and then Trevor Nyakane to give both a torrid time. Steve Borthwick wants England's pack to become a scrummaging force again, so Marler's performance is food for thought. James Whitcombe impressed for Leicester and Val Rapava-Ruskin had his moments on a tough afternoon for Gloucester.

2. Jamie George (Saracens)

His team stuttered somewhat in the second period as Lyon rallied with their dangerous runners, but George, standing in for Owen Farrell as captain, delivered a neat and tidy display. In between Mako Vunipola and Marco Riccioni, he spearheaded and dominant scrum and threw accurately. In the loose, he began with a breakdown turnover and carried strongly as well.

3. Joe Heyes (Leicester)

Given it is another Leicester tighthead, Dan Cole, attracting all the attention ahead of England's Six Nations squad announcement, there was a lot riding on the shoulders of Heyes on Friday night. Heyes was the principal victim of that Ospreys scrum drubbing in December, but he exorcised those demons against Clermont with a scrummaging showing, alongside Whitcombe, of explosive technique and grit.

4. Emmanuel Meafou (Toulouse)

Uh oh. France have another game-breaker on their hands. Sale Sharks will suffer nightmares about the mighty Toulouse lock, who dismissed Manu Tuilagi with a destructive charge in the second half. It will be very interesting to see if Fabien Galthié considers teaming up Meafou with Paul Willemse in a humongous lock partnership that would reinforce the scrum. Scarily, France could do this because their back-rowers are all lineout jumpers.

5. Ollie Chessum (Leicester)

Word on the street is that Chessum will be more involved in Borthwick's England than he was under Eddie Jones. And, if Friday night is anything to go by, it is easy to see why. The marauding lock did the unseen, thankless tasks so well in Leicester's win. As well as the physical, it is the mental with Chessum that impresses: the lock-turned-flanker is a true, until-the-death warrior, but his rugby IQ is high. That is a potent blend.

6. Tommy Reffell (Leicester)

In a mammoth performance by the Tigers, the Welsh openside was easily man of the match. A honeybee work-rate, allied to the shrewdness of a fox, Reffell was a thorn in the side of Clermont Auvergne at the breakdown, coming up with sundry crucial turnovers. His would-be try-saving tackle for Clermont's third try was a peach, in vain, too. Let's hope Warren Gatland was watching and, for the sake of Wales, liked what he saw.

7. Justin Tipuric (Ospreys)

What a talent. The kick building up to his try was ambitious - kept in brilliantly by Keelan Giles - with Tipuric then having the speed and determination to beat Montpellier's defenders to the ball to score. He also produced an assist to set up Alex Cuthbert and no one will be more pleased to see Tipuric playing well than returning Wales head coach Warren Gatland ahead of the Six Nations.

8. Caelan Doris (Leinster)

Is there a better number eight in the world at the moment? Ardie Savea and Grégory Alldritt must be in that conversation, but the consistent quality of Doris keeps hitting home. His contributions to a pair of quick-tap tries in the first half at Kingsholm, first swivelling to deliver a scoring pass to Michael Ala’alatoa and then shunting over himself from close range, underlined the 24-year-old’s all-round class. He is dynamic, skilful, intuitive and tough. Gavin Coombes put in a sensational effort for Munster with two tries and an assist.