Can anything halt steady corrosion of Champions Cup's lustre?

There’s no denying that European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR) and the individual unions have made a hames of a cherished tournament.

Representatives from the respective teams at the Champions Cup launch  in Lyon. Pic: INPHO/EPCR

Nero was the emperor who supposedly fiddled while Rome burned. Not much of a team player, then, but at least he didn’t mess about and light the torches at the same time. This is the accusation levelled at those in charge of the Champions Cup.

Nostalgia can, of course, be a dangerous thing.

The Heineken Cup didn’t always go down like the finest of Italian wines. There were shadow teams, embarrassing blowouts and glitches. And the average attendance figures have actually gone up a tad since the Anglo-French coup of just over a decade ago.

Still, there’s no denying that European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR) and the individual unions have made a hames of a tournament that had fashioned a cherished and consistent corner for itself in the hectic marketplace that is the modern game.

What we have had since 2014 is a steady corrosion of its lustre. We could tramp over that old ground, but it’s more alarming again to think that plans to shutter the tournament after the knockout stages every four years in favour of a World Club Cup are still knocking about.

“The Rugby World Club Cup is something we’ve spoken about at EPCR for the last two or three years,” said EPCR chair Dominic McKay last year. “We’ve been trying to work our way through this project to see if we can deliver it.” With friends like these… 

This is a tournament that was conjured out of thin air in the 1990s, survived a bitter Civil War among the unions that settled its offices in neutral Switzerland, and navigated the treacherous waters of a global pandemic.

But how long can it continue to stand while being undermined from within?

“There’s so much history and tradition behind the individual fixtures, as well as within the competition itself,” said former England international Anthony Watson at the launch in Lyon last month. “That brings everyone out and gives the games a real sense of occasion.” 

How will the history books look when they show a blank space in place of any winners in if and when a World Club Cup takes precedence? What does that sleight of hand say about its tradition? And how damaging will that break in continuity be?

That’s the big picture. Changes to formats and dates and qualifying criteria go on unabated all the while. So much so that the Champions Cup is well down the ramp to being sport’s Ship of Theseus, where nothing of the original even exists any longer.

Talk of a 16-team tournament that dispenses entirely with the pool stages refuses to go away as the various stakeholders jostle for position ahead of a new participation agreement that kicks in come 2030. That would mean less games, less weekends and less of a footprint.

Moving the first round from December to October this season is a good idea in theory, but it’s really just one weekend marooned in a sandwich of domestic affairs and this just feeds into the perception of a competition that is being parcelled out piecemeal.

Other changes do look encouraging.

Gone is the format where the top four teams in the four pools automatically advance to the knockouts. Only three from each are guaranteed progress now, with the last quartet of sides to be decided by the next four highest ranked across the pools.

Ross Williams, the tournament director, has explained the thinking behind the moves that come on the back of a consultation period between the three leagues – URC, top 14 and PREM – as well talks with clubs, supporters and broadcasters.

“The main aim of the change is to add jeopardy into the pool stages and so making sure that every single game in round three and round four has something riding on it, whether that is an automatic qualification or having to look across pools to figure out what you have to do to secure one of the last four slots.

“The result of that is that the best 16 teams should qualify and help avoid teams progressing to the knockouts with one win in one pool while teams that may have won two games in a different pool get knocked down into the Challenge Cup or eliminated altogether. We are trying to reward teams that are winning more games and being more competitive.” 

Under the current format, five teams have made the knockouts across the last three seasons on the back of just one win. Munster, uniquely, would actually have dropped to the Challenge Cup in 2023/24 under the new system, but made it to the knockouts last time out.

The other significant change is the adoption of the try bonus-point system already used in the Top 14, the English second tier and Super Rugby whereby teams must score at least three more tries than the opposition to earn it.

With only four games per pool, there is an awareness that bonus points carry an outsized influence in Europe.

“We are making sure that offensive bonus points are being earned by playing offensive rugby,” said Williams, “and also playing until the final whistle and making sure that teams can’t accrue a soft bonus point despite losing by 40, 50 or 60 points.” 

This first weekend will be the judge of that.