Last weekend was a good one for the Champions Cup, and the competition needed it, but it is still far from perfect.
To say the pool stages are a slow burner and lack jeopardy is an understatement. TV revenues have dropped significantly, the format is spectator unfriendly, media interest in England is negligible and it’s a regrettable state of affairs when even an Irish team is sending a second-string side to Toulouse, as Ulster did in the first round.
The Irish perspective was possibly coloured last weekend by two of the provinces being involved in two richly competitive, one-score games, and the La Rochelle-Leinster epic was also one of two games shown live on French television.
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But there have only been seven one-score games in the 36 pool ties over the first three rounds, while there have also been seven matches with winning margins of 37 to 52 points; the high, or low, point being Bordeaux Begles having a laugh in beating Exeter 69-17 in Sandy Park.
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The bottom line is that with 24 teams the tournament is, to some degree, only as good as its weakest link. There has always been a view that the Champions Cup should be trimmed to 20 or 18 teams, and to the latter end moves are afoot in France, from the LNR, for a revamped 18-team competition.
They propose an 18-team Champions Cup which is representative of the three competing leagues, namely seven of the 16 URC teams, six of the Top 14 clubs and five of the 10 Premiership clubs, while continuing to be played over eight weekends – four pool rounds and four knock-out rounds.
Taking a leaf out of the new format in soccer’s equivalent, the Champions League, and have an 18-team table. Each team would continue to play two home and two away games against four sides from different leagues, but with the top four sides after four rounds bypassing the current Round of 16 and earning home quarter-finals.
The teams ranked fifth to eighth would then have home advantage in the second round against those ranked ninth to 12th, with the four winners earning away quarter-finals, while the teams who finish in the bottom-six would drop down to a Challenge Cup which, interestingly, would be reconfigured into a straight knock-out competition.
To come into effect after next season (2026-27), it’s felt that the French teams will be broadly in favour, as might the URC teams, whereas the English don’t want to see their representation in the Champions Cup shrink. But increased revenue streams could prove persuasive.
To that end, potential broadcasters will be sounded out, and they are likelier to pay a larger sum for a product which has more premium content.
As the history of Super Rugby demonstrates, continually changing format can be extremely damaging, and the Champions Cup has probably undergone more than enough revamps recently. But this one has a certain appeal and like most things in life, including sport, it will probably come down to money.
It invariably does.
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