It is still in there somewhere. The kernel of a great competition, albeit visible only in fleeting glimpses. The shimmering class of Toulouse’s Antoine Dupont, a gripping win for Northampton in Pretoria, the celebrations at the final whistle in Italy after Benetton had downed the English league leaders Bath, the “superman” try by La Rochelle’s Jack Nowell. Stick it all together and an Investec Champions Cup “best of” highlights reel remains a hugely attractive proposition.
If only that was the sole prerequisite. Because a glance beneath the bonnet of what should be the Rolls Royce of club rugby tournaments reveals an increasing number of misfiring parts, not all triggered by the expansion of Europe to accommodate South Africa’s leading sides. Fail to fix them as a matter of urgency and a once fantastic tournament will end up as little more than a wistful memory.
Let’s start with the blunt pool stats. There have been 24 games in the opening two rounds this month and guess how many have been settled by seven points or fewer? The answer is a paltry four, alongside just seven away wins. When the vast majority of pool matches are either routine or uncompetitive there is a major problem brewing.
The South African side of the equation has undoubtedly been a factor, if not exactly in the way everybody expected. They want to be part of the fun and potentially have plenty to add but travelling north with weakened teams was not part of the deal and is undermining the entire event. As the Stormers’ John Dobson told the Guardian last week, the South African sides can see the benefits of competing in the north but the logistics are savage.
His compatriot John Plumtree, having seen his rotated Sharks side pumped at Leicester, sounded properly exasperated, on behalf of his players as much as anything else. How is someone like Siya Kolisi supposed to lead South Africa to World Cup glory, switch focus (albeit briefly) to Racing 92, win the Rugby Championship, survive a demanding subsequent European tour and then, on top of all that, shuttle between hemispheres to win Champions Cup pool matches in December and January? “This is the reality for South African players; they are playing in northern hemisphere and southern hemisphere rugby and it’s crazy,” Plumtree said. “We’ve got to look after these athletes. Right now they’re treated like robots.”
The flip side of the argument is that all parties were aware of the situation before they were admitted to the United Rugby Championship and the Champions Cup. It is not the South Africans’ fault, though, that the global season calendar remains a mess. And if club rugby’s golden goose is not to be killed stone dead, the sport’s powerbrokers really do need to get a grip while there continue to be professional cross-border club competitions to be saved.
The seldom-advertised fact is that the bulk of the Champions Cup is taking place at the wrong time of year for pretty much everyone. The weather is at its most extreme in a damp, cold Europe and it is the cricket season in South Africa. For various reasons the pre-Christmas “slot” occupied by the first half of the Champions Cup pool stage is increasingly awkward for travelling fans, players in post-autumn international mode and coaches trying to juggle the demands of different competitions.
So how to mend it? It is a truth universally acknowledged that the old Heineken Cup format of six pools of four generated way more jeopardy and interest because, with only pool winners qualifying automatically, every point in every pool mattered to everyone else. The home-and-away element was a great leveller and the two “fastest losers” also needed bucketloads of tries to qualify.
In the name of player welfare, however, the tournament window has since been reduced by a week and the widening quality gap between the top sides and the also-rans, as emphasised again this season, makes returning to the previous format unlikely. In order to make the tournament both inclusive and less bitty, then, the best bet could be to think again and run the event in its entirety as a straight knockout tournament comprising 32 teams.
Sixteen home and away ties to start (drawn out of a hat FA Cup-style, the top four contenders seeded, same-league clashes avoided), followed by a two-legged round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals would equate to seven weekends, all played post-Christmas. The semi-finals and final would also be on consecutive weekends in the same city, ensuring better preparation, less travel and an even more compelling grand finale.
The most radical – and logical – answer would also be to recast the whole calendar. The Six Nations would take place slightly later in March and early April, with the sharp end of the Champions Cup to follow in April and May. The much-discussed July and November Test windows would shift to one annual block between late August and early October, allowing the domestic 10-team English Premiership to be played uninterrupted in a shorter, more intense 20-week burst between mid-October and late February before the Six Nations. Longer breaks for all, fewer overlaps, more clarity. You’re welcome.
Ideally, too, all South African provincial sides in the Champions Cup would maximise their trips to Europe by playing URC fixtures on the weekends before or after their round-of-32 and last-16 ties. Losing opening-round sides would drop into the Challenge Cup, which would operate along similar lines and also feature sides from Georgia, Spain and elsewhere. Then maybe we can go back to talking more about exciting rising stars such as Cameron Hanekom, Sam Prendergast, Théo Ntamack and Fin Smith, and global rugby’s allure will be quietly transformed.
