Niall slams Euro begrudgers

English and French clubs should learn from Ireland’s Heineken Cup success and not use it as a pretext for opting out of the competition, according to Munster team manager, Niall O’Donovan.

The former Ireland assistant coach, now part of Rob Penney’s new management team in the province, was reacting to growing threats by the English and French leagues to boycott the Heineken Cup over the perceived lack of a level playing field in Europe’s premier club competition.

England’s Premiership Rugby chief executive Mark McCafferty said last week that tournament organiser ERC had been put on two years’ notice of the two countries’ clubs’ intention to quit the competition unless automatic qualification for the Celtic nations was removed.

The Anglo-French axis believes the Heineken Cup should be reduced from 24 to 20 clubs with an even split of entrants between the top sixfinishers in each of the RaboDirect Pro12, English Aviva Premiership and French Top 14 plus the defending champions and Amlin Challenge Cup winners.

At present, three Irish, three Welsh, two Italian and two Scottish clubs are guaranteed entry while the Rabo’s lack of relegation also angers the English and French, who say their efforts just to stay in their leagues and fight for a top-six place each season mitigate the squad rotation policies deployed to great effect by Munster and Leinster to win five of the last seven Heineken Cups for Ireland.

When asked about the row, O’Donovan said yesterday that he saw merits in the Anglo-French grievances but insisted yesterday Premiership and Top 14 clubs were just as capable of following the Irish model of resting players throughout the season. “This all happened 12 or 13 years ago as well. When it doesn’t suit England or France, whatever... they’ll complain,” O’Donovan said, referring to an English boycott of the 1998-99 Heineken Cup.

“The idea that people can qualify automatically probably is a sticking point, there is no doubt about that. But we are playing with four different countries here as well and if you to take a European cup, then you need everyone playing in it. If they want to limit it to France and England, then it isn’t the European Cup, as such. You have to have the spread and have the balance right on who is playing in it. You have to have teams from Scotland and you have to have teams from Italy. And there has to be teams from Ireland.

“The amount of teams going through, I am sure, is up for review and things like that, but it is hard when you see their leagues and the way they play their leagues.

“If you look at the way the French play their leagues, they play very strong teams at home, they play their weakened teams away, so they are resting players all the way through their season as well.

“If it is as intense as they are making it out to be, they’d be playing their top team on a regularly weekly basis. Ten or 12 years ago this all happened when the English clubs pulled out and a few of the Welsh clubs pulled out as well. So it issomething that’ll have to be addressed.”

The Munster team manager also accepted that the non-Celtic nations needed to be appeased in terms of financial rewards from the Heineken Cup when the ERC’s current accord expires in 2014.

“It is probably a big factor, the whole financial thing. They are contributing more than the other four countries and that’s fair enough. Population-wise, England and France have the bulk.”

Yet rather than gripe about Irish success in a competition which will see Leinster go for an unprecedented three titles in a row this season, thanks in part to the IRFU’s player welfare programme limiting the game time of its centrally contracted players throughout the campaign, O’Donovan said the English and French clubs should perhaps adopt the system themselves.

“We have been successful at provincial level and been (successful) at a certain level at international level as well. They probably look at it and say they’d love to have our system but they have bought into a different system completely.

“This is something the IRFU promoted 12 years ago and went after it and it has worked well for us. Instead of knocking it at times maybe they should be learning from it.”