future of heineken cup

[MylesNaGapoleen]

I think the time has come for the ECPR to be honest with themselves about the heineken cup.

the clear mismatches between teams who lost most of their pool games does nothing for the competition and arguably, just like the ladies 6nations, should keep the games off the telly. it's a poor advert for the game.

reduce the amount of teams qualifying and stop trying to force a soccer style champions league competition when the competition simply isn't there. the top 2 teams from each league should produce some great games.

I liked the pools format...where you HAD to win all your pool games to get through and BP wins for a home draw. But even they had a lot of dead rubbers. the players need less games not more.

the footage of the munster sharks game yesterday said it all....in between the stop-start mismatch on the pitch, cameras focussed in on kids playing in a water-slide behind the posts, cheerleaders dancing and the crowd in proper on-the-beach mode with a passing interest in the game of rugby close by. It was utterly painful to watch.

[blockhead]

I think the time has come for the ECPR to be honest with themselves about the heineken cup.

the clear mismatches between teams who lost most of their pool games does nothing for the competition and arguably, just like the ladies 6nations, should keep the games off the telly. it's a poor advert for the game.

reduce the amount of teams qualifying and stop trying to force a soccer style champions league competition when the competition simply isn't there. the top 2 teams from each league should produce some great games.

I liked the pools format...where you HAD to win all your pool games to get through and BP wins for a home draw. But even they had a lot of dead rubbers. the players need less games not more.

the footage of the munster sharks game yesterday said it all....in between the stop-start mismatch on the pitch, cameras focussed in on kids playing in a water-slide behind the posts, cheerleaders dancing and the crowd in proper on-the-beach mode with a passing interest in the game of rugby close by. It was utterly painful to watch.

The Munster/Sharks game, painful to watch? I thought it was hilariously good entertainment!

[MylesNaGapoleen]

The Munster/Sharks game, painful to watch? I thought it was hilariously good entertainment!

not short of schaudenfreude, yeah. True. Watching munster try to play the leinster way is flattering but funny right now. They will get there in the end.

For me the TV coverage was screaming "yeah, the rugby is shoite but look...we have water slides....cheerleading and hotdogs!". In other words, if you want to promote the sport...it might have been better if that munster v sharks game wasn't televised.

[blockhead]

The Munster/Sharks game, painful to watch? I thought it was hilariously good entertainment!

not short of schaudenfreude, yeah. True. Watching munster try to play the leinster way is flattering but funny right now. They will get there in the end.

For me the TV coverage was screaming "yeah, the rugby is shoite but look...we have water slides....cheerleading and hotdogs!". In other words, if you want to promote the sport...it might have been better if that munster v sharks game wasn't televised.

Sharks, Stormers & Bulls are doing a great job bringing in the punters, we could learn a few things from them.
Cheerleaders? NO!
















Unless they're really really hot.

[MylesNaGapoleen]

not short of schaudenfreude, yeah. True. Watching munster try to play the leinster way is flattering but funny right now. They will get there in the end.

For me the TV coverage was screaming "yeah, the rugby is shoite but look...we have water slides....cheerleading and hotdogs!". In other words, if you want to promote the sport...it might have been better if that munster v sharks game wasn't televised.

Sharks, Stormers & Bulls are doing a great job bringing in the punters, we could learn a few things from them.
Cheerleaders? NO!
Unless they're really really hot.

I'm reminded of tinie tempa's "half time show" in wembley when we played salarycens in a heino pool game. not for me blockhead, sorry. and it doesn't bring in the punters. the cheap pints and cheap tickets thing the SA clubs are doing is not sustainable.

It works for american football and soccer, I guess, but, I can't see rugby heading that direction. apart from sevens, which already has that sort of setup and it works in that context.

If ECPR focus on getting the competition right...so there are less farces like the game yesterday, the punters will come in their droves. and the TV money. Less games but better competition is all it needs.

[Keith]

I like what the Sharks are doing to be honest and it seems to be getting the punters in. Everyone warned the English and French fans that taking the competition out of the hands of the unions would be a disaster and so it has proved to be.

[Dave Cahill]

The word is that we're going back to 6 pools of 4 for next season.

Let's not forget that this format was designed to keep the competition going during an unprecedented global emergency. That's over now, but it would have ended too late to restructure the competition for this season.

[enby]

The problem with 6 pools is that one or two usually contain either a really poor English team or a French side that gives up after 2 games and fields the espoirs for the later games. If you are in one of those pools you can ramp up the tries and points difference. I'd go with 8 pools of 3 teams with only the winners to qualify for an open draw QF. That would leave no room for error in the pool stage.

[tigerburnie]

I doubt there will be a cup of any sort in the next few years, talk of a super league seems to be gathering pace, this could be one of the last it seems.

[The Doc]

The word is that we're going back to 6 pools of 4 for next season.

Let's not forget that this format was designed to keep the competition going during an unprecedented global emergency. That's over now, but it would have ended too late to restructure the competition for this season.

Except the provisional dates they put out only had 4 group weekends (or maybe what I saw was just speculative).

Hopefully you're correct



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[paddyor]

The word is that we're going back to 6 pools of 4 for next season.

Let's not forget that this format was designed to keep the competition going during an unprecedented global emergency. That's over now, but it would have ended too late to restructure the competition for this season.

No the rumour is we're going to 3 groups of 6(6 x URC, 6 x GP, 6 x T14) where you don't play the team from you're won league in the pool. This will then whittle it down to 16( )

[The Doc]

If that's accurate it means a group where you play one English and one french team at home and a different set of English and French away.

Also means only 6 qualifiers for European cup... Which I'm not against but shakes things up for the last 2 league games.

The other implication is that they drop the last 16 knock out... Or have the crazy situation of 16 out of 18 going through to knockouts.

Is it not more likely to have 4 groups of 6. But it still means 4 out of 6 go through to knockouts Which doesn't solve the lack of jeopardy in the groups.

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[riocard911]

The word is that we're going back to 6 pools of 4 for next season.

Let's not forget that this format was designed to keep the competition going during an unprecedented global emergency. That's over now, but it would have ended too late to restructure the competition for this season.

No the rumour is we're going to 3 groups of 6(6 x URC, 6 x GP, 6 x T14) where you don't play the team from you're won league in the pool. This will then whittle it down to 16( )

No way should that ever be a runner. The English with their financially struggling league of only 11 teams should be afforded the same number of places as the URC, in which 16 teams from five different unions play? Get outa here! IRFU and SARU should tell the EPRC to take a running jump with that suggestion.

[Dave Cahill]

The word is that we're going back to 6 pools of 4 for next season.

Let's not forget that this format was designed to keep the competition going during an unprecedented global emergency. That's over now, but it would have ended too late to restructure the competition for this season.

No the rumour is we're going to 3 groups of 6(6 x URC, 6 x GP, 6 x T14) where you don't play the team from you're won league in the pool. This will then whittle it down to 16( )

All the major journalists have pieces last thursday and friday about the return of the 6x4 format, and I doubt its a case of spontaneous convergent inspiration! I haven't seen anything about 3x6 anywhere

[paddyor]

The word is that we're going back to 6 pools of 4 for next season.

Let's not forget that this format was designed to keep the competition going during an unprecedented global emergency. That's over now, but it would have ended too late to restructure the competition for this season.

No the rumour is we're going to 3 groups of 6(6 x URC, 6 x GP, 6 x T14) where you don't play the team from you're won league in the pool. This will then whittle it down to 16( )

All the major journalists have pieces last thursday and friday about the return of the 6x4 format, and I doubt its a case of spontaneous convergent inspiration! I haven't seen anything about 3x6 anywhere

L’equipe

https://www.reddit.com/r/rugbyunion/com ... utm_term=1

Translation :

Covid-19 made the number of qualified clubs surge from 20 to 24 and celtic clubs wish to maintain this threshold, equally allocated between Top14, Premiership and URC. Whereas others, including the LNR would welcome more selectivity and push for 18 clubs. This would permit them to send six Top14 clubs in Champions Cup, the ones qualified for its own [Top 14] playoffs, a more intelligible alignment. England would not be against it, considering that their championship counts 10 clubs at the moment : to send 8 out of 10 in the flagship competition would not make sense.

Finally, the qualification system for play-offs may also evolve. With the 8-games constraint to go ahead with its competition, EPCR is studying a 6-teams pools formula, composed of 2 representatives of each league, where the two clubs from the same league would not play each other. This would permit to keep 4 pool games and 4 play-offs ones, which fit the body [EPCR]

[paddyor]

The thing is, they’re trying to fit the comp into some dumb schedule(4xgroup games going to 4x knockout rounds) so they’re going to come up with something stupid. Maybe have a round of 40 at the start and whittle it down to 4 groups of 5 then that goes to qfs

[blockhead]

I doubt there will be a cup of any sort in the next few years, talk of a super league seems to be gathering pace, this could be one of the last it seems.

And who will be playing in this "super league"?

[Flash Gordon]

The word is that we're going back to 6 pools of 4 for next season.

Let's not forget that this format was designed to keep the competition going during an unprecedented global emergency. That's over now, but it would have ended too late to restructure the competition for this season.

No the rumour is we're going to 3 groups of 6(6 x URC, 6 x GP, 6 x T14) where you don't play the team from you're won league in the pool. This will then whittle it down to 16( )

All the major journalists have pieces last thursday and friday about the return of the 6x4 format, and I doubt its a case of spontaneous convergent inspiration! I haven't seen anything about 3x6 anywhere

It's the format that made the competition what it was. As you said, the current format was designed to tackle a pandemic. It was great to play Ulster last weekend but they really shouldn't have been near the knockout stages given the pool performance, same goes for Glaws after sending their kids to play us in Dublin. The integrity of the competition is being compromised.

I think we could also do with a period of stability. Fans of URC clubs spend an inordinate amount of time trying to understand the format of the competitions we are playing in or trying to qualify for.

[The Doc]

Ultimately I think they have a choice to make - jeopardy in the group stage or have a last 16 knockout round.

Over the last 2 years the last 16 knockout has gone down well with TV - but to have 16 teams make the knockouts means (a) you have to have 24 group teams which means e.g. 8 out of 11 in England qualify for the senior comp or 8 out of 14 from the others and (b) 2/3 of the group teams make the knockouts. And there just aren't 24 teams in Europe who are that strong and that interested in the European Cup.

Personally I'd drop the the last 16 - go straight to QF - and reduce it to 18 teams. But suspect TV might win out

[Dexter]

The Munster/Sharks game, painful to watch? I thought it was hilariously good entertainment!

not short of schaudenfreude, yeah. True. Watching munster try to play the leinster way is flattering but funny right now. They will get there in the end.

For me the TV coverage was screaming "yeah, the rugby is shoite but look...we have water slides....cheerleading and hotdogs!". In other words, if you want to promote the sport...it might have been better if that munster v sharks game wasn't televised.

I know this is off topic but I'm not sure they will get there in the end unless "trying to play the leinster way" is extended right down the chain, to underage and schools level.