Is the Heineken Cup Becoming a Two Horse Race?
4 months ago
The Heineken Cup has hardly been overflowing with champagne rugby this season, but the rebellious French and English clubs have made their point on the field more succinctly than they have off it.
The dominance of the Irish provinces may be over, at least for this season. Leinster and Munster go into the final round of group matches knowing that victories at Exeter and at home to Racing-Metro respectively may not be enough to take them into the quarter-finals.
Ulster are already in the last eight but the leaders of the RaboDirect Pro 12 have a growing injury list. The No 8 Nick Williams is their latest
casualty, out for two months after being injured in last week’s victory over Glasgow, and they may need to win in Castres to secure a home draw.
Harlequins, Clermont Auvergne and Toulon have already qualified. Saracens will make the quarter-finals if they defeat Edinburgh on Sunday in their final match in Watford before moving a few miles to their new ground which has an artificial pitch and the winners of Leicester and Toulouse at Welford Road a few hours later will progress.
Three group winners have already been determined – Ulster, Harlequins and Clermont. Toulon need a point at Montpellier to make sure, Saracens should not mess up against a side that has lost its five group matches and Leicester should prevail against a Toulouse side that has struggled away in Europe in recent years.
More uncertain is the two sides that will qualify as the best two runners-up: the next three will go into the quarter-finals of the Amlin
Challenge Cup. Montpellier have the most points of the sides currently in second place, 18, and they may not need to beat Toulon to go through.
Northampton, who are at Glasgow, have 14 points, as do Biarritz who are at home to Harlequins on Friday night. Leicester have 16, two behind Toulouse, and one more than Leinster and Munster.
What is certain is that there will be no Welsh or Scottish representation in the quarter-finals of either the Heineken Cup or the Amlin. Their five sides have between them won two matches out of 25, the Ospreys beating Treviso and Toulouse.
One of the reasons that the French and English clubs have given for serving notice that they will pull out of Europe when the current participation agreement runs out at the end of next season is that they want the money generated by the two tournaments to be shared out more evenly.
They feel that as the two most populous nations in the tournament, they are effectively subsidising the rest. As part of their bid for change, they want qualification to be merit based and the number of teams taking part to be cut from 24 to 20.
Talks between the stakeholders have gone round in ever decreasing circles and nothing significant is likely to happen until the French clubs, taking their cue from the English, agree a new television deal for the Top 14 which has a European element built into it.
One of the reasons the Welsh and Scottish sides have been struggling is that they cannot compete financially with the French or Irish, whose playing budgets are nearly double theirs, while the English clubs are also better off.
If the effect of the proposals from the French and the English is to make the Irish provinces worse off, the Heineken Cup may turn into the
Anglo-French tournament that it effectively was for most of its early years.
With Italy’s two teams, Treviso and Zebre, yet to taste victory, half the countries in the Heineken Cup have a combined success rate of a fraction
over seven per cent. Take out Ospreys, and it plummets to zero.
The failure of Cardiff Blues, the Scarlets, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Treviso and Zebre to make any impact has been one reason why this season’s Heineken Cup has been so muted. Connacht, supposedly the runt of the Irish litter, have secured more points, eight, than the six have between them, seven.
The danger with the formula of the French and English – and the Rugby Football Union, which had adopted a neutral stance, weighed in this week to back calls for a meritocracy – is that it would probably turn the Heineken Cup into a three-country tournament officially.
Ospreys are swimming against the tide, unfortunate to be drawn in the same group as two previous winners, and the danger for Wales ahead of the defence of their Six Nations title is that regional failure is impacting on them.
Something needs to be done because the final two weekends have thrown up few headline encounters. The tournament would be better enhanced by all six countries having potential quarter-finalists, but for some even three’s a crowd.
We want to know what you think. Comments below please…
Posted under News & Opinions
4 months ago
I wouldnt bet against Ulster at the moment, and I think we should stop undermining the less better off regions Europes football tournaments are won by the better financed teams but the attraction of the competition is still there. Talk of wanting more money or better representation from France and England bores me, the European Cup is a great competition. I would change the format to four groups of six with the top two from each group qualifiying for the quarters, it would take away any advantage of a weaker group having a best runner up. For me its to stop start, there should be a block for all qualifying games then a block for the knockout section.
4 months ago
by increasing the funding to the richer clubs it will only make the competition weaker, surely the more countries that participate strengthens the game in europe!!! Perhaps the IRB needs to introduce a policy of home bred players and cap the amount of overseas players in certain squads. Toulon are a great example with a massive squad where players from all over the globe have to fight to get on the bench…. whilst Glasgow were not allowed a full replacement allocation despite numerous injuries to front row forwards
4 months ago
There are a lot of unsavoury elements to the current setup with English and French clubs, none of which are good for rugby. Because of the lack of control that the RFU have over English clubs (no central contracts etc.) they are a law unto themselves. If the deal goes ahead the way they want, then I think rugby not only in Wales Scotland and Italy will suffer, not so much in Ireland, but also in English clubs which are not part of the elite that can participate in the Heineken. They are effectively threatening to start a new competition which is independent of unions and will take of the television money themselves. This bypasses the RFU, which means they will have less funding for smaller clubs and game development.
The RFU need to get back control of club rugby. Club owners are only interested in making money for their clubs.They are not interested in the development of the game. Where they don’t exist, salary caps are required. And I think the IRB need to get tough – don’t sanction competitions that don’t comply with the rules.
4 months ago
What a load of cobblers. Rugby is still 15 against 15. Welsh and Scottish teams have been coached by unadventurous idiots for too long. They pay the price today. In just the same way that Northern hemisphere national sides rarely beat southern hemisphere. We play a bland form of rugby. Not an all out game of attack but one of hoof and hope and where the team who makes the least mistakes has a chance of winning. Finally that pratt with Guardian newspaper..the breakdown, has even managed to acknowledge.
4 months ago
Peter – I think common sense will tell you that at internation level it’s 15 v 15 and it’s comes down to coaching, coaching resources, etc. which can make a difference when 2 different countries meet. But at club level the 15 on one side can be very different to the 15 on the other, not only because of coaching and coaching resources but also because it can include 2 kiwis and 2 boks because that club can afford to pay their wages. I don’t think the form of football between the home nations is making a difference. Why so much Irish success vs. Welsh or Scottish.
4 months ago
I’m worried about this tournament. We are heading towards an Anglo-French league. Yes, the Pro12 needs to be a meritocracy but there has to be a caveat for countries who cannot compete, such as Wales, Scotland and Italy. Otherwise you remove high level rugby and shoot yourself in the foot as the game stops growing and the impact upon Test rugby would be huge. I appreciate we live in a commercially minded sport but the most successful sports competition, the NFL, is based upon less is more and the draft choice going to the worst teams. This ensures an even playing field and no one team that dominates for too long. We don’t have a draft but we an take some guidance from the NFL. Money drives it but the sport is central and the supporters need to be kept interested. This years tournament has been predictable and I for one will be glad to see Clemont win (you heard it here first ;)). I really hope the respective Unions pull their fingers out and do what is right for the European game. Final point, it’s not an elite tournament either, it’s the best teams from the respective countries
Apologies for any typos, am on a phone
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