Expand the Prem to 16 clubs and PRO14 to 20
WE may soon have a bit of clarity regarding the new global calendar, but with what feels like the goal posts being continually shifted on who wants what, I’m not overflowing with confidence that the powers that be will get this right.
Peter Jackson’s front page article of June 21 and the Nick Cain column certainly pointed out the problems, with English and French clubs both understandably against summer rugby.
It leaves the obvious fact staring us in the face, that compromise is now more important than ever, but as Nick Cain said, it certainly seems to be the northern hemisphere doing the lion’s share of the compromising.
So why can’t the English and French seasons run through the autumn and winter months? Is it because of this proposed Club World Cup from Bernard Laporte?
As much as I admire Monsieur Laporte for all he’s achieved in rugby, I think he may be speaking from his derriere on the Club World Cup as an annual competition.
I can only imagine that such a tournament would be viable every four years, but this would likely result in the scrapping of the Lions tour or the Autumn Internationals in an odd non World Cup year. So problems galore all over again in trying to sort this one out.
As much as I want to see the northern hemisphere help out the south and it’d be fantastic to have the Super Rugby teams play up here in a competition, we have to be realistic on what’s available.
Starting with the the English Premiership, with constant talk of ring-fencing England’s top flight and the unfairness that this situation would bring to some of the ambitious Championship clubs, one of the fairest ways to compromise on a difficult situation would be to expand the Premiership to 16 clubs with the leading four Championship clubs and split into two pools of eight.
This would see the best clubs from around the country, clubs with the best of facilities and potential fan base play at the top level in a format of playing the teams from your own pool twice and then the teams from the other pool once to give each team a 22 game regular season followed by play-offs.
Such a system could fit quite easily in the new global calendar depending on what happens with the PRO14 and the Champions Cup by kicking off the English season in the opening weekend of October and the clubs utilising their squads and playing regular season games on the rest weekends of the Six Nations.
The Premiership final could be played on the final weekend of April leaving the months of May and June for the Champions Cup which could include the South African teams.
This would leave the months of July, August and September free for an international window, followed by rest and pre-season training.
Promotion to England’s top flight should be available only if a team has the facilities and finance to compete at the top level and a proven playing record over previous seasons.
There has been plenty of talk of the PRO14 expanding to 18 with the inclusion of the South African Super Rugby sides, but I’d suggest it becomes the PRO20 by adding the Jaguares and the Griquas, and splitting into five pools of four teams.
Teams play each other home and away in their own pool and once against teams from two of the other pools to give each team a regular season of 14 games with the five pool winners and three best second place teams going into the quarter finals.
This should also start in October, likewise the French Top 14, so that all finals are played in April ahead of the Champions Cup.
All this would leave the Australians and New Zealand to come up with the best format to suit them – maybe one that includes the Japanese and Argentinians too – to align with the North and allow for a global season.
I’ve also read recently about trying to bring all the tv contracts under the one umbrella.
I think this could be a fantastic idea as it could let Rugby Union have its own channel or a great deal from one broadcaster that would benefit fans with yearround top rugby from both hemispheres.