How to save the Champions Cup
Change the knockout qualification process
Introduce an 18-club format split into three pools of six, sides playing each other once, except for those from the same domestic league. Three pool winners and the single best-placed runners-up would qualify automatically for quarterfinals, with next eight best-ranked clubs playing off to complete the last eight. Automatic qualifiers would have advantage of a weekend off but would be recompensed for missing out on a home match during the play-off round.
Cut the overall number of teams
Reduce number of teams to 20, top six from each league plus extra spot for Champions Cup and Challenge Cup winners. Then simplify it to a format everyone can understand: four groups of five playing over four weekends. Group winners plus the runners-up go into home and away quarter-finals on successive weekends, semis and final. Two-leg quarter-finals would remove logistical challenges that resulted in Bulls sending their stiffs to Franklin’s Gardens.
Two-leg quarters and play semis in same city as final
Two-leg quarter-finals would mitigate tedious and disruptive travel issues the South African franchises face, without solving it completely, because there are still long flights and short turnarounds in the pool stage. Perhaps staging semis and the final in one venue on back-to-back weekends is another way to ease logistics, although that would require negotiation with the Premiership, URC and Top 14 over dates. If the South Africans are going to stay, compromise will be needed.
Get rid of the pool stage
Inviting the South African teams without ensuring requisite logistics were in place is where European Professional Club Rugby erred. Now they are in, kicking them out would appear petty and narrow-minded. The competition would benefit from a complete reset. I have long advocated an FA Cup-style knockout, with each club’s prize money relative to their progress. The greediness of certain sides means it would never happen, but if jeopardy and sporting drama is the aim, a straight knockout should be the game.