The Champions Cup is broken. That much is obvious now. There are too many hollow fixtures and walkovers. What was once the showpiece of European club rugby is a desperate, unwieldy, near-invisible mess.
How sad that it has come to this. If the powers-that-be, armed with hindsight, could rewind a dozen years or so, they might try harder to work together and preserve the old Heineken Cup, which was a cherished, high-class event.
Instead, petty squabbling led to an Anglo-French rebellion and set the wheels in motion for the endless upheaval which has led to where we are today, with the vandalised remains of a lost asset.
Yet another revamp is now needed. The current, inter-hemisphere format is a logistical nightmare and utter madness. It didn’t really need the weakened Sharks and Stormers to suffer half-century hidings against Leicester and Harlequins respectively to expose that inescapable truth.
Dan Biggar sounded the alarm in his strident, damning Mail Sport column on Saturday, after he and his Toulon team-mates engaged in a tortuous journey to and from South Africa, to beat the Stormers in Port Elizabeth. For elite players, it is a decidedly un-elite system, as John Plumtree made abundantly clear at Welford Road.
‘We arrive on Wednesday and play on Saturday,’ said the Sharks’ head coach, after his rotated side had been mauled by the full-strength Tigers. ‘With the current travel arrangements and everything else that goes with it, it’s not a high-performance competition.
The Champions Cup is broken with the current format a logistical nightmare and madness
It is not the fault of the South Africans, but their presence is creating more hassle than it is worth. They’re treated like robots and the paying public are treated like fools
‘This is the reality for the South Africa players; they are playing in northern hemisphere rugby and southern hemisphere rugby and it’s crazy. We’ve got to look after these athletes. Right now, they’re treated like robots.’
They’re treated like robots and the paying public are treated like fools, who are expected to cough up for match tickets and TV subscriptions, to follow sub-standard sport. It is not the fault of the South Africans, but their presence is creating more hassle than it is worth, despite the fact that the Sharks – fully loaded when it mattered – won the Challenge Cup last season.
Given the make-up of the United Rugby Championship, it is unlikely that the teams from South Africa are going to be banished again and they can offer so much if all their Springboks are on duty, which in turn is likely to fill their stadiums.
As a side point, it is astonishing that the world-champion rugby country does not have the greatest domestic league, given an unsurpassed depth of talent and the oval-ball boom there. That should be the great vision.
The trouble is, it always ends up being about commercial markets and not about the actual sport. As a result, rugby is cursed with logistical difficulties. It is far too spread-out, south of the equator.
If only there had been smart expansion from the on-set of professionalism, this issue would have been solved by now.
There could have been more professional depth in Africa – with support for Namibia, Zimbabwe and Kenya – and more professional depth in South America, if potential in Uruguay, Chile and Brazil had been nurtured earlier. That could have allowed for more logical continental groupings.
Instead, the whole structure of the game involves disparate elements being crudely bolted together. But, here is the stark reality – IT DOESN’T WORK!
Organisers have to create jeopardy and tension. A straight knockout format is the only answer
Few clubs would go through the motions if they had to earn prized, marquee fixtures
Surely, fewer fixtures with more riding on them would appeal more to broadcasters
Back to what is supposed to be the ‘European’ Cup. Organisers have to create jeopardy, tension and motivation. A straight knockout format is the only answer. Draw teams out of a hat early, to set up a home-and-away round of 16, in January.
Do away with the pool-stage farce entirely. Then there could be home-and-away quarter-finals too, creating a real reward for winning and progressing.
Few clubs would go through the motions if they had to earn prized, marquee fixtures. Any clubs with a lack of commitment to the tournament (especially the French ones who are solely fixated on their own league) would be weeded out early.
Stage the quarters at the end of March, to allow for a blockbuster Easter programme. After a gap to allow time for marketing and ticket sales, semis based on home-country advantage but, again, with teams paired by a random draw.
That avoids a cosy route to the final based on dubious seedings. Broadcast income is so modest anyway that the reduction in fixtures from a streamlined event could actually generate more interest and investment. Quality over quantity please. Full grounds, more sponsors, for games which all have high-stakes intensity.
Surely, fewer fixtures with more riding on them would appeal more to broadcasters, as opposed to just filling air-time with an endless stream of mismatches on niche subscription channels to limited audiences.
Viewing figures are currently minuscule. Club rugby needs to be seen and, at the moment, it isn’t. It also needs a blue-riband event which truly matters and, at the moment, it lacks that too.
A once-loved tournament is broken. Someone please save it.
TIGERS NEED CHEIKA TO STAY
Leicester should be moving heaven and earth to convince Michael Cheika to stay beyond the end of this season. Good luck filling that void if Cheika does return to Sydney as planned. He has had a magnificent impact in a short space of time, bringing passion and clarity. The Tigers have their bite and their mojo back.
This column had grave doubts about the decision to appoint Cheika and this column was very wrong about that.
If he does leave, it would make sense to turn to Graham Rowntree, the treasured veteran of Leicester’s fabled ABC front-row club, who did such a sterling job at Munster before being bundled out of the place.
Leicester should try to convince Michael Cheika to stay beyond the end of this season
BORTHWICK’S SELECTION HEADACHE
Steve Borthwick could be forced into back-three rotation at the start of the Six Nations, if George Furbank turns out to have fractured his arm during Northampton’s epic victory over the Bulls in Pretoria.
The 28-year-old was seen as a symbol of England’s tactical liberation earlier in the year, but was usurped by Freddie Steward for the autumn clash with South Africa.
Steward might have been a logical choice for the Six Nations opener against Ireland anyway.
Meanwhile, Tommy Freeman showcased his finishing class with a brace in Pretoria, while Tom Roebuck is pushing hard for a place after a majestic outing for Sale.
Freeman at 13, with Roebuck and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso on the wings would be the bold move.
Steve Borthwick could be forced into back-three rotation at the start of the Six Nations
THE LAST WORD…
It is a big week for the RFU, as the wider English rugby community waits to discover if the union is capable of truly representative rugby governance.
Amid a backlash against executive bonuses, a key meeting is due to take place on Wednesday. Council members have been called to air their views about the perpetually in-hiding chairman, Tom Ilube, and chief executive Bill Sweeney – whose £1.1million pay package incited such unrest.
What happens will say much about whether there are sufficient checks and balance within the RFU, to ensure the leadership is held to account.
The purpose of the council is to act on behalf of the grassroots game. So the ‘suits’ who turn up cannot be swayed by a nice lunch and more talk from Rob Udwin, the president who thinks the saga is merely ‘media clickbait’.
If the people they are supposed to represent want a revolt, then it is up to the old-school-tie, gin-and-tonic brigade to fulfil that outraged wish.
