Wasps look set to get home draw in Heineken
AFTER some impassioned discussions, English and French clubs are close to reaching an agreement over the format of the Heineken Champions Cup last 16 draw.
Some Premiership clubs were strongly in favour of a full-scale open draw, while Top 14 representatives argued it should be seeded, even though less than half of the pool matches were completed.
But middle ground has been reached and EPCR will shortly reveal how the last 16 round, scheduled for the first weekend in April, and the rest of the competition will be played out.
The Rugby Paper understands that teams who have two wins to their name will get a home draw, unless one of the wins came about through a ‘Covid result’.
That means Racing 92, Leinster, Wasps, BordeauxBegles and Munster will enjoy the benefit of playing in their own stadiums. None of those teams will be drawn against another team from the same country.
The other teams with a ‘100 per cent’ record – La Rochelle, Lyon and Toulouse from France and the Scarlets from Wales – were each awarded a 28-0 win in Round 2 because the opposition were unable to fulfil the fixture, and will now have to take their chances in an open draw with the rest of the teams who qualified for the last 16.
EPCR chairman Simon Halliday said: “There have been huge amounts of discussion going on, and they are still going on, and alternative opinions have been expressed.
“There is still some detail to discuss but there has been agreement on the way forward and we will find the fairest alternative for the last four weekends.
“All clubs have been consulted and have had their say. This isn’t one of those things where EPCR are saying, ‘here are the rules, let’s impose them’. I massively respect the ability of all the clubs to fight their corner. There has been some great input and lots of strong views.”
EPCR announced at the start of the season a reduction in the number of pool fixtures and the introduction of home-and-away quarter-finals.
However, the impact of the pandemic and travel restrictions meant the pool stages were cut short two rounds in out of four scheduled and the homeand-away concept had to be abandoned.
Halliday added: “One of the things the European competition has done extremely well is improve itself and change what it does. Even when we moved formats this year, because of the exceptional position with the French and the World Cup and Toulouse and Montpellier being outside the top six through no fault of their own, there has been an awful lot of really great work done.
“It doesn’t mean everyone agrees all of the time because you can all make valid points on a whole series of what ifs.”
Meanwhile, EPCR are set to unveil a long-term plan for competitions to replace the current one which runs out on June 1, 2022.
“We are in the closing stages of trying to work out our next agreement and it is going to include our formats and the way we are going to do our business for the foreseeable future, long-term. It’ll certainly be for eight years if not longer.
“Rugby needs some good news and this will be a great piece of news given everything we are going to unveil.”