Challenge Cup hit by double standards

RUGBY does have an incredibly frustrating habit of shooting itself in the foot with its blatant tendency to soft pedal with the big boys and put some stick about with the minnow.

The World Cup furore involving Spain, Romania and Belgium is ongoing but now we have the pre-emptory expulsion of German side Heidelberger RK who believed they had qualified for next season's European Challenge Cup final after reaching the final of this season’s Continental Shield.

Except they have now been kicked out because their financial benefactor is Dr Hans Peter Wild also owns Stade Francais, who will be competing in the secondary competition next season.

Such a situation is not ideal – that must be recognised – but pales into insignificance when you consider that the IRFU effectively own all four Irish provincial teams and their centrally contracted players and ditto the SRU and their two professional clubs.

Their financial involvement in their clubs dwarfs that of Dr Wild and his.

From the outside looking in there has always been, potentially, a massive conflict of interest and in reality, you see Joe Scdmidt, above, for example having a big say in the resting and availability of certain players and carefully choreographed player “transfers”, as with the recent case of Joey Carberry.

Nobody questions for one second the integrity of all those involved and rugby, rightly trusts them. In which case the game should also trust in Stade and ambitious Heidelberger who are flying the flag for German rugby and desperate to do well.

Why treat them any differently when de facto the same scenario exists in Ireland and Scotland?