Probyn: Struggling clubs may forgo Euro glory
“As both competitions progress it will be interesting to see who is the first to choose Premiership over Champions Cup”
As we watch this week’s first round of European games just six weeks into the Premiership season, I’m beginning to wonder if everybody is really giving it their best shot.
Europe is a big stage and if you want to make the knock-out stages, you have to be at your best in the pool games – but that ‘if ’ is a big one.
With more money for both the Top 14 and Premiership clubs coming from their league status, and the fact you can only get into Europe by being in the top league, the temptation to save players to ensure league survival is immense.
The Premiership bottom six clubs are separated by only six points with Bath, Northampton and Newcastle joining the usual crowd, Sale, Worcester and newly-promoted Bristol.
Newcastle, with just one win in the Premiership so far this season, are playing in the Champions Cup under the watchful eye of Dean Richards who I am sure will be weighing up his options as to whether he should target both competitions or focus on one.
Newcastle’s first foray for ages into Europe’s senior cup competition comes at a crucial time for the club, who, of course, would have wanted to be higher in the table before taking the break from the Premiership.
Under Richards, Newcastle have begun to establish themselves as a mid to top of the table team and have moved clear of the ‘yo-yo zone’ at the bottom, but so far this season it appears, whether intentionally or not, the focus for the players has not been the Premiership.
I’m sure that at home they will be a tough side to beat in Europe, but it may be that Richards will choose to rest players for the away matches ensuring they are refreshed and fit for the home matches and for when the Premiership returns.
It has always been the case in France that the Top 14 takes priority over all, even international rugby took second place until recently. This is because of the money generated by their long standing TV partnership with Canal+.
Over the years, we have often seen the French sides field a weakened team for away matches in the Top 14 and European Cup games, but the Premiership have tended to buck that trend by just fielding second-string players in Europe’s second tier, the Challenge Cup, and the old Anglo-Welsh games.
However, with the uncertainty of Premiership survival facing more clubs this season, as Worcester and new boys Bristol have shown that they have upped their game in the first segment of the Premiership season, it will focus the minds of a number of coaches who will be keen to keep their jobs.
For those currently in the top half of the table, it’s nice to be in the Champions Cup with the chance of a big day out if they can make the final – and even if they fail to get out of the pool, their fans would have had the chance to see some of the stars of the Top 14 and PRO14 and a couple of nice outings to Leinster, Toulouse, Edinburgh, Montpellier or Toulon.
However, for teams like Bath and Newcastle currently languishing in the bottom half of the Premiership, the Champions Cup is really a breathing space, a chance to try and get the team back to the levels of consistency that saw them qualify for the senior European Cup competition in the first place.
Bath, where coach Todd Blackadder seems under more pressure than Richards, and Newcastle will be glad of the interruption that Europe brings, simply because they are currently struggling to put together any consistent performances and will have the chance to gain some momentum with no real consequences should they lose.
This can, however, carry a risk. In trying to get a consistent team you have to play combinations together as often as possible to get into the patterns of the game you as a coach want them to play, which could mean not resting players.
Many of the English clubs in the Challenge Cup will have the luxury of taking the chance to rest some players during the pool stages, thus allowing coaches to try some new combinations before returning to the all important games in the Premiership.
Only the clubs who make the final, where, if they win, will have entry to the Champions Cup without having to finish in the Premiership top six, may take the option to field their best team.
We are in the early stages of both the Premiership season and the Champions Cup so it is too early to make the crucial choice yet, but as both competitions progress it will be interesting to see who is the first to choose Premiership over Champions Cup.
It’s sad to see that even after all these years, the Premiership will not allow foreign players to play for their home countries outside the window and is thereby weakening the appeal of this Autumn’s internationals.
I am pretty sure South Africa would pick Bath back row forward Francois Louw, Gloucester second row Franco Mostert, Saracens prop Vincent Koch, Sale scrum-half Faf de Klerk, plus Wasps full-back Willie le Roux for the game against England on the November 3, if they could.
I do understand the need of the Premiership to hold fast on this rule of releasing players during the international window only. If they allow them a release they would take away the reason for the RFU to pay clubs the inordinate amount of money they currently pay for England player release.
Still, with the World Cup on the horizon it would have been exciting to watch England play the full strength South African team.