ERC chief McGrath defends Heineken Cup seeding system

WHEN asked for his one-word response to learning this season’s Heineken Cup draw, Munster coach Tony McGahan couldn’t resist a smile: “Well, it started with ‘f’ anyway...”

Despite being seeded numbers one and three in the tournament, Munster and Leinster received arguably the two toughest draws.

This is principally due to the qualification of moneyed French outfits Toulon and Racing Metro, who are among the lowest seeds due to a lack of tournament experience but have assembled superstar squads.

When you note that 18th-ranked Ulster have a better chance – on paper at least – of nabbing a quarter-final spot, it raises questions about the fairness and equity of the seeding system. However, ERC chief executive Derek McGrath yesterday insisted European rugby chiefs are “comfortable” with the system, and did not indicate a major overhaul was imminent.

“We’re comfortable with it as being the right approach, but we’re never satisfied, we’re always prepared to look at it,” he admitted at yesterday’s Irish launch of the Heineken Cup, in Dublin.

“We’ve got constituents from every country giving us opinions. The onus is on us to respond to those, in front of all of our stakeholders, on an annual basis. We’re comfortable we’ve got the ranking right, but we’ve always said it could be reviewed.”

In 2008, the ERC introduced a merit-based ranking system based solely on performances in the tournament, which McGrath says has rewarded consistency and brought transparency.

“It made a big difference in the sense that people can see how the teams get selected, though it doesn’t mean results aren’t still compelling,” he said. “When you get some of the newer teams who haven’t been to Europe (often) – Saracens, Toulon or Racing Metro – and you get them in your pool, you’re thinking ‘Wow, that’s tough, does that comply with the rankings?’ Well, it does – because the Leinsters, Munsters and Leicesters, who’ve done it year-in, year-out are top of the rankings.”

McGrath approves of the perception that the tournament is getting harder to win, and said the tough draws given to Munster and Leinster aroused little sympathy outside Ireland.

“There’s not a huge amount of sympathy for the Irish teams, they’ve been seen to own this tournament for the last few years,” he said. “Every team in every country has their own perspectives on what makes this a tough tournament. I don’t think Irish teams would want it any other way.”