KNOCK- OUT
COVID could see Champions Cup get a new format as Irish provinces await EPCR ruling
THE Champions Cup could revert to a straight 16- team knock- out format over four weeks in April and May.
The revised structure favoured by the French clubs i s being considered by EPCR chiefs after claiming last night that they had “no choice” but to temporarily suspend European club rugby’s top tier competition as well as the Challenge Cup.
Scrapping the last two rounds of the Champions Cup would l e av e L e i nst e r and Munster with a chance of winning the tournament after winning their first two pool games.
But it would mean Connacht and Ulster would be demoted to the Challenge Cup after tougher s t a r t s t o t h e i r c a mpai g n s . Connacht have lost both their opening fixtures, and Ulster have lost one of their two games.
With only four weekends left to play of f the competition , the other option EPCR are looking at is to play off the remaining pool rounds and going straight to the semi- final stage.
The expected postponement of games follows a directive from the French authorities that the participation of Top 14 clubs in the tournaments constitutes too great a public health risk.
PRO14 organisers are now expected to play a number of fixtures in the window t hat has been freed up, with the postponed Munster ( inset) v Leinster clash from December 26 top of the list.
An announcement is expected from PRO14 bosses later today, while Si x Nations bosses are due to meet with the French government today to discuss the championship going ahead as scheduled next month.
“Notable” updates to protocols were presented by EPCR to the French government in a bid to prevent a postponement.
Those updates i nclude the addition of PCR tests no earlier than three days before matches in the tournaments, which conforms to French guidelines, and “meticulous” contract tracing measures.
But the detection of a n e w C o v i d v a r i a n t prompted the French to direct t heir clubs t o suspend participation in European competition for the remainder of this month, either at home, in the UK or Ireland.
“On the basis of this, EPCR had no choice but to t emporarily suspend the pool stage of the Heineken Champions Cup and th e preliminar y st age of th e Challenge Cup,” read a EPCR statement.