Walking the tightrope

The opening weekend of the Heineken Cup has been overshadowed by the off-field threat to the competition’s existence. Despite the threats, accusations and stand-offs, ERC chief executive Derek McGrath still holds out hope that the competition can be saved.

We’ve been here before. Whenever Derek McGrath’s unflappable nature temporarily and privately wavers and he gets frustrated like any other rugby person about the current uncertainty over the future of the sport’s biggest club competition, he quietly reminds himself of that.

We’ve been here before, we’ve overcome this before.