Crusaders, Toulouse, Leicester, Munster, Ospreys - the club battle to rule the rugby union world

Statistically, it would be hard to go past the dominant provincial team of the last decade – the Canterbury Crusaders - as potential World Club Champions.  

The six-time champions hold every major record in the Southern Hemisphere's premier domestic tournament, most significantly contesting eight finals in 12 years. They maintain an 80 per cent winning record in the Deep South – and have won five New Zealand Provincial titles.

They are the primary feeder union for the All Blacks. World Cups aside, they have been the dominant team in the world for at least the last four years, contributing players such as Richie McCaw, Daniel Carter, Leon Macdonald, Ali Williams, Reuben Thorne and Greg Somerville – not to mention previous players like Chris Jack, Aaron Mauger and Rico Gear.

In the Northern Hemisphere, Toulouse are the most successful team, with three Heineken Cups and 16 French championship titles to their name.  Like their Southern red-and-black counterparts (is it in the colours?), the club have seven representatives in the international team – and are as equally impressive a force away from home as they are at their fortress, Stade Ernest-Wallon.

Of notable mention would also be Leicester Tigers, twice Heineken Cup champions and twice runners-up as well as winners of seven English championships. The Tigers boast ten England internationals as well as nine players with foreign Test caps. Then there is Munster, the 2006 Heineken Cup champions and twice runners-up, whose players constitute the bulk of the Irish national squad,

There is one glaring difference between the two hemisphere seasons. In the South, the Super 14 operates as an independent competition before their international season. The major national domestic tournaments – the Air New Zealand Cup and the Currie Cup, are played towards the back end of the international season.

The North has no such luxuries, with the three major national competitions, the French Top 14, the English Guinness Premiership and the Celtic League overlapping with the Heineken Cup – the equivalent of the Super 14. The Six Nations championship is also played during this time.

So comparisons are extremely difficult with the additional games that the Northern domestic teams are involved in, while the Crusaders or any other Super 14 team play with only that competition to concern itself with. There is also the question of the different styles of play particular to the tournaments. Super 14 is a faster, more free-flowing game; even more so with the current trialling of the ELVs (Experimental Law Variations) – whereas the Northern competitions are far tighter, more forward-orientated affairs.

In theory, any Northern team would be significantly disadvantaged due to these two facts. So to truly find out the finest domestic team in rugby union, I propose a competition with the major teams from both hemispheres to play the following:

SOUTHERN FOUR (based on history since 2000 and recent form): Canterbury Crusaders, Auckland Blues, Blue Bulls, ACT Brumbies.

NORTHERN FOUR: Stade Toulousain, Leicester Tigers, Munster Stags, Neath-Swansea Ospreys.

South and North team play each other home and away in a league format. The top two from each hemisphere would then play in semi-finals, with locations determined by the better points differential which would replace bonus points (to inspire teams to attack). The Grand Final would then be played at a neutral venue.

But we are striving to answer a question, who would win a rugby union World Club Championship – and I would pick Robbie Deans and Richie McCaw’s Crusaders to triumph over Guy Nove’s and Yannick Jauzion’s Toulouse in a tight tussle by six points.