Plenty to keep European chiefs busy over Christmas

It hasn’t proved an easy transition for the new tournament organisers, European Professional Club Rugby, since the two main competitions were revamped after the end of the 2013-14 season. Now in their third year at the helm, the board is struggling to meet the improved commercial targets originally set, while things on the field haven’t been seamless either.

The advent of having two separate subscription-service channels covering the competitions has proved frustrating for supporters, many of whom now watch few games that don’t involve their favoured team. Having the tournament spread out between Sky Sports and BT Sport is less than satisfactory and something I am sure will come under close scrutiny when a new media rights agreement is struck next time out.

The shocking Paris terrorist attacks of November 2015 led to the postponement of a number of fixtures across the Champions and Challenge Cups but, to their credit, EPCR handled a difficult and challenging period well and deserve credit for that.