No Sarries and an all-new complicated format means path to Euro joy wide open
SOMETHING was always going to have to give as rugby’s administrators attempted the almost impossible task of finishing the 2019/20 season, playing a new international tournament and kicking off the new campaign in the same small window of time.
Unfortunately, the sports’ skewed priorities meant that the competition that should be the blue riband event of the club season is the one that has been condensed, re-formatted and undermined by the schedule.
Five days after England and France went to extra-time in the final of the Autumn Nations Cup, Northampton Saints welcome Bordeaux Begles to Franklin’s Garden and Ulster host Toulouse at Kingspan Stadium to get the tournament up and running.
Considering the draw for the Champions Cup was made in the week of the Six Nations finale and the fixtures were confirmed the day before Ireland played England, it would be understandable if it passed you by.
Having found their available weekends cut from nine to eight, and with the curtailed French season meaning some big hitters were in danger of missing out, organisers decided to expand the number of teams in this year’s edition from 20 to 24.
With more teams and less weekends, they put their heads together and came up with a format that will see the sides split into two pools of 12. With six weekends to fit in the pool stages and the quarter-final, they then decided to make the last eight games two-legged affairs.
So, teams will play four pool games against two teams from their own side of the draw and then pit themselves against competitors they haven’t played for a place in the last eight.
Your opposition is based on the position you finished in your league last season. For example, Leinster are in Tier 1 because they won the PRO14. As a result, they play Tier 4 teams Montpellier and Northampton. Munster, whose semi-final defeat meant they are a Tier 2 team, face Harlequins and Clermont Auvergne.
The Reds are on the tougher side of the draw, vying with Ulster and Connacht against the likes of Toulouse, Clermont, Racing 92, Challenge Cup winners Bristol and champions Exeter Chiefs for the top four spots.
Indeed, five of the six teams rated by the bookies as the most likely to win the tournament are on that side of the draw.
The only one not there is the favourites, Leinster, who have some tough games but have a much more comfortable path to the last eight.
The big name missing from the starting list is, of course, Saracens. The three-time champions, who ended Leinster’s run at the title, are on at least a two-year hiatus from the tournament after being relegated to the English second-tier as a result of their salary cap breaches.
The absence of their array of world-class talent means the tournament is wide open.
And while the over-complicated new system is going to take a while to get used to, the reduction in games has at least meant that the matches should be fiercely contested given the margin for error is diminished.
No doubt the coaches have already worked out the combination of points and bonuses it is likely to take to make the quarter-finals.
The best European teams always had their route to the last eight down to a fine art, but one off-day can derail even the best team and increase the pressure on the rest of their fixtures.
More teams means a greater chance of mismatches and there could still be dead rubbers in rounds three and four if teams lose their first two games.
Normally, the Irish provinces come into their European openers on the back of a steady buildup of PRO14 matches and a couple of derbies.
This year, they’re spending the week frantically reprogramming players who have been in Ireland camp for eight weeks and re-integrating them with the non-international squad members who have been keeping the show on the road in their absence.
It’s a delicate balance, but at least they’re all winning teams right now.
The question is whether the standard of the PRO14 is enough to prepare them for what’s coming in the next two weeks.