Are you there, David?

Just over a year ago, on the 1st of June 2014, the IRFU announced that former Brumbies player and General Manager of the High Performance Unit with the ARU, David Nucifora, would be joining as “Performance Director” of the IRFU. His responsibilities were to include “planning and evaluation, the elite player development pathway and succession planning and professional coach development and succession planning.” It was expected that this role would bring about a greater degree of fluidity of player movement between the provinces in order to maximise our still relatively small playing pool. To date (and admittedly it is early days for a role such as this) the progress on this front has been frustratingly stunted.

David Nucifora and IRFU Chief Executive Philip Browne
Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Billy Stickland

There are two (maybe three) areas of the field in certain provinces where logjams have been created. The two most obvious are the Leinster back row and the Ulster centres. These areas will be explored below. A case could also be made for the inclusion of Leinster’s options at prop, although this is a slightly different case and will not be discussed here.

Leinster’s Back Row

For the past number of years Leinster have been churning out really quality back row players. The current back row of Rhys Ruddock/Jordi Murphy, Sean O’Brien and Jamie Heaslip could play in green and you would not feel particularly weak. They are four international standard players who have little, if anything left to prove at provincial level. The retirements of seasoned veteran (and pundit extraordinaire) Shane Jennings and interim club captain Kevin McLaughlin have not been harshly felt as they saw their roles in recent years diminish due to the presence of quality alternatives aforementioned and rising young talent Dominic Ryan. Last season also saw the emergence of one Jack Conan, who provides a genuine alternative for Leinster’s Ironman Captain, Heaslip. Behind these players were promising academy talents Josh van der Flier (who has been one of Leinster’s players of the season thus far) and highly touted Dan Leavy.

By my count that gives Leinster 6 international standard backrows (Conan and Ryan have been capped), and two talents who have already shown they are at the very least Pro 12 standard as of right now. The problem here is the amount of minutes, particularly for 25 year old Ryan. At this stage of his career the Gonzaga alumnus should be looking to push into the international reckoning, but he will struggle to warm the Leinster bench in any key games due to the presence of the also youthful Murphy, Ruddock and O’Brien. Ryan has flashed his potential on many occasions, but through a mixture of bad fortune with injury and an inability to get minutes due to the competition for places at Leinster, his development to date has not been as great as was probably expected.

Ulster’s Centres

If you had have said following the last Rugby World Cup in 2011 that Ulster would send two centres to the World Cup in 2015 with Ireland, you probably would have guessed at Nevin Spence and Darren Cave. Or Luke Marshall. Or maybe in your sagelike wisdom you saw Jared Payne as the long term solution to Brian O’Driscoll’s retirement. You certainly wouldn’t have known about Stuart McCloskey and Sam Arnold, both of whom look promising. And another name not yet mentioned is Stuart Olding. Following Spence’s tragic passing, we are left with Cave, Marshall, Payne, Olding, McCloskey and Sam Arnold – to fill 2 positions. 4 of those have been capped for Ireland. Marshall is 24, Olding is 22, McCloskey 23 and Sammy Arnold is barely out of nappies turning 20 next April.

While now may be a good time to revert back to 15, move Cave to his more natural 13 and give time to the others at 12, there are still too many centres to give enough minutes to all of them. As 4 are still very young, this problem will persist right the way through their development unless there is some movement, either within Ulster or within the IRFU. Movement to the outside channels seems unlikely given the presence of Tommy Bowe, Andrew Trimble, Craig Gilroy and the aforementioned Payne as well as the likes of Peter Nelson, Rory Scholes and Jacob Stockdale from the youth ranks. Ulster have enviable talent from 11 to 15 and it may be better used elsewhere.

Munster’s signings

After looking at backrow and centre options, it may be worth casting an eye over the signings Munster announced in the wake of the long term injury suffered by Peter O’Mahony and the career ending one sadly suffered by Felix Jones.

Munster have signed Pumas full back Lucas Amorosino and Brumbies back row Sean Doyle on 3 month contracts.

Short term Munster cover – Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino

Amorosino, it is fair to say, is a journeyman with Munster being his 5th club since 2009. He previously plied his trade at Leicester, Montpellier, Oyonnax and Cardiff Blues. At 29, he has 47 (soon to be 48) caps for Los Pumas, and has averaged 10 games a year over the last 6 seasons. He has not been particularly outstanding for Argentina at this World Cup and has been kept out of their admittedly excellent three quarter line of Juan Imhoff, Santi Cordero and Joaquin Tuculet. Nor was he particularly impressive in the colours of a struggling Cardiff Blues outfit last year. Short term Munster cover – Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino

Doyle, on the other hand, is a 26 year old Sydney born flanker, who Munster hope will solve their dearth of real breakdown dogs. He played 24 times for Ulster in his two seasons there, and made one appearance for the Brumbies in Super Rugby last year. He is a decent player but nothing extraordinary. It would not be disrespectful to either player to suggest that neither are top drawer, world class players. They are solid pros, one of whom is quite experienced, but little more.

Former Ulster Flanker Doyle joins as back row cover

In the wake of Argentina unceremoniously dumping Ireland out of the World Cup at the quarter final stage, drastic measures were suggested in some quarters for the betterment of the Irish cause. Giving Sean O’Brien, Jonny Sexton, Cian Healy and Conor Murray (some of Ireland’s few real world class operators) the opportunity to take a sabbatical to give their bodies the best possible chance of making it to Japan in 2019 in good shape was one of the mooted possibilities. At the centre of this was the underlying desire for the national team to push on to greater success, which is the end to which the provinces are a means. While ideas such as that were perhaps far-fetched, do these signings by Munster not smack of a lack of care to progress the national cause? Could one of Leinster’s young back rows have done a job in Munster for the next three months, or even for the season? With regards to Amorosino – Munster have Simon Zebo, Keith Earls, Andrew Conway, Stephen Fitzgerald, Gerhard van der Heever and Shane Monahan who can play in the back three. Dennis Hurley is experienced at fullback. While that would seem plenty, if Munster were not comfortable with those options, could one of the Ulster centres not have shifted down, just for three months or the season, to allow Munster the flexibility to move Earls or Hurley to 15?

Amorosino and Doyle will likely play in a lot of games that would have benefited McCloskey, Marshall, Leavy, van der Flier or Ryan. It is an over reliance on “experience” and not enough of a preference for potential. It is an inferiority complex that we have suffered from that a journeyman with experience playing in a different league must be better than our youngsters. The blame should not rest solely on Nucifora, as there must be some reluctance on behalf of the player (to play for his rivals) and the province (to strengthen their rivals), but seems that this is a large part of his job description that disappointingly remains to be fulfilled. For the good of Irish rugby, and for the elite player development pathway, surely it would be more beneficial for young Irish talent to gain experience of top flight rugby than for a similarly talented foreign player to take those opportunities? Obviously there should be a preference for the provinces to develop their own talent, but there have to be structures put in place that in times of need the provinces will be able to rely on each other for assistance.

Pro 12 Week 3 Preview

Well hello there,

It’s been a minute!

I haven’t had much chance to write of late, working full time while studying for repeats does not allow for much time to watch (let alone write about) rugby. But with work ending on Friday, repeats over as of last Wednesday, I can really start to enjoy the rugby again.

How great have the first two weeks been eh? The Sky coverage, (and more importantly the Sky hype), has been excellent. The week one over reactions hilarious, brave new dawn for the competition heralded as Leinster lost in the last minute to the second best team in the competition signalling their 6th opening game loss in 8 years if I’m not mistaken. Or maybe the weakest Munster squad we’ve seen in a while, bereft of some of their few star names, losing to an Edinburgh team who have improved a heck of a lot over the summer months.

Aren’t hot takes hilarious? After 2 weeks, we see Connacht, Glasgow and Ospreys on two wins. Leinster got back to winning ways scything through the Scarlets for 6 tries. Ulster did the business against Zebre to take their tally to 8 points with Munster opening their account and maybe finally turning their luck with a bonus point win in Italy.

So where do we stand after 2 games played?

Glasgow have been excellent, really splendid to watch. It seems they have picked up right where they left off in May. Connacht have started really strongly for one of the minnows of recent times. For so long the poor sibling of the provinces, now having equal funding, and a really exciting, exuberant young squad, this really could be a great year for them. The win in Edinburgh, holding the home side scoreless for the second half, was the kind of game that Connacht have traditionally, too often come out the wrong side of. Luckily for them, a great try by the harshly sin binned Willie Faloon sets Connacht up with a 100% record facing into the first interpro of the year against a Leinster team who have been far from all conquering in Galway. Friday night in the Sportsgrounds should be a cracker, with both teams trying to bring each other back down to earth.
Will Leinster be able to dismantle Connacht like they did to the Scarlets? Or will Connacht’s pack full of grafters and backline full of youth and pace be able to halt Leinster’s confidence?

Elsewhere we see Munster welcome Zebre to Thomond Park. If Munster keep winning, talk of medical jokers and technology gaffes will quickly stop. No excuse here, Zebre will make them work for it, but Munster should put this to bed by the hour mark. The plum tie of the round again involved the Cardiff Blues, who this week welcome Ulster to the Cardiff Arms Park. Ulster will be looking to emulate what Glasgow did last week, while Cardiff will be looking to reassert themselves as playoff contenders. Expect sparks to fly, and expect Ulster to come away with a close win.

Glasgow visiting Rodney Parade could not come at a worse time for the Newport Gwent Dragons than on Saturday afternoon. With the preseason optimism firmly on the wane, losses to Connacht and the Ospreys have really taken the wind out of their sails. Now the competition elite come to town, hard to see anything but a Glasgow bonus point here, the Dragons will need to show some fight at some stage, Saturday afternoon would be a good time to start.

Scarlets welcome Treviso to the immaculate Parc y Scarlets on Saturday at 6, with Scarlets looking to bounce back from their Dublin drubbing by taking on the firm favourite for this years wooden spoon, Treviso. To call them awful thus far is doing the word awful a disservice. Hard to cope with losing 16 players and bringing in 22 over the summer. Treviso are in real trouble very early on and its hard to see how they fix it.

The Ospreys welcome Edinburgh to the Liberty Stadium on Sunday afternoon. What a story they have been so far. All the buzz in Wales was about the other three regions, two of whom with new Kiwi coaches, the welcoming home of prodigal son Lee Byrne to Dragons. Ospreys were a team in transition, having lost a host of big names. And yet they have beaten the Dragons, and easily dispatched Treviso. I get the feeling Edinburgh will be a really good barometer for them. Are they still able to hang with the big boys in the competition or have they just beaten the competition’s whipping boys. This one could go right to the wire but I expect the home side will keep their 100% record in tact.

A great weekend of rugby is just around the corner, its time to get excited.

Pro12 Final Match Summary

Well…that’s it…I guess…

After all the fanfare and discussion, the controversy and hoopla, the farewells and the tributes; Brian O’Driscoll’s last ever game as a professional rugby player is finished. Well it finished, after 8 minutes. In somewhat of an antithesis to the fairy tale International ending in Paris on March 15th, our hero BOD limped out of the Pro12 final after just 8 minutes. 

Sideshow over, full focus on Leinster and winning the silverware at stake so, for 72 minutes. 

In a game that was really tense for at least the first hour, a moment of brilliance by Madigan to release Rob Kearney who fed Zane Kirchner to score before setting up the second for Shane Jennings meant Leinster led Glasgow 14-12 at the break. Finn Russell kicking superbly meant Glasgow were still in touch. They played most of the rugby for the first 40, but  Leinster’s superb defense and experience limited the Scots to just 4 penalties, while Leinster punished probably the only two Glasgow mistakes with tries. From there, it was all uphill.

Glasgow came to Dublin with a plan to tire out Leinster with their pretty and effective offloading game, before unleashing Nakarawa and Matawalu circa 60 minutes to really stick the knife in. O’Driscoll gone after 8 minutes, Leinster going for the corner early and passing up 3 easy points, you’d think the first half really went Glasgow’s way. But no. The early loss of Dougie Hall was compounded mere minutes later by the loss of Chris Fusaro. A huge turning point in the game. Glasgow simultaneously lost their breakdown specialist and were forced to introduce their impact sub after just 24 minutes. With Tommy Seymour also struggling before the end of the half, and Leinster twice sucker punching Glasgow, it really was a nightmare scenario for Glasgow to go in 2 points down at the break despite far outplaying their Irish counterparts for 40 minutes. That they did not score in the second period was very telling.

A head injury to Shane Jennings sent Sean O’Brien off the bench. McCarthy and Toner  slowing up was met with the introduction of former Club Captain and Leinster Legend Leo Cullen. Internationals Jack McGrath, Marty Moore and Isaac Boss also being introduced in the second half served to highlight just how far ahead of the rest of the league Leinster really are. 

Kirchner and Gopperth had great games to give food for thought to some of the critical Leinster faithful. Healy, Heaslip, Ruddock and Toner got through tremendous amounts of dogged effort and hard work that it takes to win finals. Meanwhile Sean Cronin was absolutely everywhere in a storming Man of the Match performance. 

Kirchner and D’Arcy  ran in tries in the second half while Gopperth kicked 2 penalties to finish with a 34-12 scoreline which flattered the hosts, although the result was never in doubt after Kirchner added the third try.

And so, we finish the season with 3 trophies. The British and Irish Cup, The RaboDirect Pro12 trophy and, as given to us by Messers Penney and Boudjellal, the 6 Nations. Given that only the Heineken or Amlin cups would have added to such a haul, one would have to call this yet another successful season for the Eastern Province. 

That this team now enters a period of transition there is no doubt. However, the front row, back row, scrum halves and back three are all top quality and there is depth. We may have a worry at 13, and hope Kane Douglas is the answer in the second row, but to me, Matt O’Connor’s first season has been a success. It is a lot  easier to win games with a dominant pack and poor backs than it is the other way around, just ask Mr Wilkinson. Leinster have a lineout, a scrum, and a maul, that will bully, or at the very least get parity with, the very best in Europe. I believe the tries will come, that the talent in that back division will once again serve as a shining example that success doesn’t have to be bought. 

Tonight, however, it would be only right to call the end of this season “fitting,” for two true blues, who have hauled the province kicking and screaming into this golden generation in which it now finds itself. We will never see another Brian O’Driscoll on these shores. He has firmly ingrained rugby as a primary sport in Ireland, he has provided us the memories, brought us the success and given us the belief that we can beat anyone, on any given day, if he is at his best. Leo Cullen, a man about who few words were spoken or written before this year. Came back from Leicester in 2008, a winner, knowing what it takes to win. He instilled that attitude in the rest of the side, leading to the most incredible performance, by any club, on a European level, that has ever been seen, between 08 and 2013. 3 Heineken Cups, an Amlin Challenge Cup and a losing semi  final, to the eventual winners is stuff dreams are made of. No words will ever suffice to convey our gratitude to these two, but to put it simply: Thank you. Two legends, riding off into the sunset. Doesn’t happen too often, savour this day Leinster fans, it’s a special one. 

 

European Rugby Chaos: Whats it all about?

Considering how important the situation regarding the unions and clubs currently under the ERC umbrella are, there is an awful lot of poor information spreading leading to people forming wrong opinions about who the good guys and who the bad guys in this scenario are. This post will attempt to clarify what exactly is going on in the world of rugby as we know it?

First things first is to clarify who actually are  involved. 

The Players

A lot of angst on comment threads and message boards I have read is being leveled at the RFU. This is largely a mistake people make when in fact they are referring to the position being postured by Premier League Rugby, namely the representative union for all the clubs playing in the Aviva Premiership. You have the ERC, the body which runs the Heineken and Amlin Challenge cups in their current formats, negotiating with sponsors on behalf of the unions of the participating nations. There is the IRFU, the Irish body representing its teams; Leinster, Ulster, Munster and Connacht. The WRU who represent Welsh rugby as a whole and who distribute funds to their independently owned regions, who are represented by Regional Rugby Wales (RRW). The Scottish and Italian involvement thus far has been negligible insofar as I have followed the discussion. Which leaves us with the French Union FFR and the representative body for the clubs the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR.) The IRB even have an overarching inclusion in the situation while as of yet they have not been heavily involved. As you can see there are a lot of different parts here which is why discussions have been made so difficult. PLR meet with the RFU, who bring their position to ERC, or as in recent times the position has been to neglect to negotiate with ERC. LNR and RRW give their position to the FFR and WRU respectively, who also come to the ERC table and report back to those bodies. Now that we have the players more or less known, it’s time to look at the ongoing situation and where we have come from.

 

What’s the sitch?

In 2012 PLR and LNR signaled their intent that they would, following the 2013/2014 season, no longer participate in ERC run competitions. This was subject to their notice requirement under their contractual obligations to the ERC. Not a whole lot was done about this last season which has meant that their has been an awful lot of movement over the last 6 months. PLR and LNR had several primary grievances. They felt that the competition was not as strong as it should be due to the involvement of the weak Pro 12 sides. They felt also that it was unfair that their clubs had to qualify for the tournament whereas no such qualification system was in place in the Rabo where the top 3 Irish and Welsh, both Scottish and, perhaps most controversially, both Italian teams were included. Following Leinster and Munster’s recent success in the competition, this has also led to the inclusion of Connacht who would also be considered one of the weaker sides in the Pro12. Finally they felt that the amount of money ERC was raising through sponsorship of the competition did not match the massive potential the competition had. As such they were unhappy to allow the ERC to continue running it. 

BT Sport struck a deal with PLR to set up a new European competition. This deal meant that somewhere in the region of £130million would be given to this competition if PLR could create a competition with at least 4 or 5 of the 6 Nations participating. This was where the Rugby Champions Cup was born. The English quickly got the French on board, and without them all hope for the Heineken Cup seemed completely lost. The Welsh regions backed this competition too and at one point it seemed as if ERC was absolutely on it’s knees. Questions were asked about the legitimacy of such a tournament, that the IRB had not backed it and that it would not be able to proceed without such a backing. 

Then came the announcement by the ERC that they would submit to the first two of the above listed grievances of PLR and LNR. They agreed to cut the numbers in the competition for 24 to 20 and have a qualification system equally split of 6 from the Pro 12, 6 from the Aviva Premiership and 6 for the Top 14 with the remaining two made up of the winners of the Heineken and Amlin Challenge cups. 

This encouraged the FFR who offered their clubs €2million each to participate in the European cups for the following year. This was accepted somewhat by the French who referred to next season as a “transitional season” to give them enough time to organise a new structure for 2015/2016. They spoke of an organisation similar to that in football (presumably UEFA) which would be more inclusive of everybody. 

That was in essence a death bell for the possibility of a PLR run RRC next season. So the question was whether the English would be involved. That was answered last week in which it was confirmed that the English clubs were sticking to their guns and would not be playing under ERC next season. 

That’s as best a summary as I can put on the situation at the up to now, so now I would like to look at what next.

The Future

When I heard the French would be involved in the Heineken cup next year I rejoiced. I thought at last this mess was over, the English would come to their senses and join in, and the status quo would be restored. How very naive of me. The English sticking to their guns was a head spinner and has provoked much angst among rugby fans. I’ve read some articles from Irish, English and Welsh perspectives which has led me to the following conclusions about the situation in each individual country.

 

England

In an article in last Sunday’s Independent, Neil Francis pointed out that very few of the clubs in the Aviva Premiership were making a profit, that not participating in Europe was gambling on possible financial meltdown. He brazenly suggests that the RFU should buy out these clubs and have a system as we have in Ireland of central control and centrally contracting players. This has helped us avoid club/country conflicts and all in all has proven rather successful for the growth of the game here. However I think this position is nigh on impossible to achieve for the RFU. 100 million for 12 clubs plus their grounds, plus all then assuming those players wages, on the eve of hosting the Rugby World Cup is a nonsense idea. Firstly the valuation is insulting. Secondly, there is no talk of the championship sides, would they be left on their own as private organisations? Buying them out too and paying all these players would be a logistical and financial nightmare. It’s difficult enough for the IRFU to keep disputes in this country at bay between 4 provinces, triple that number is chaos. And it’s not as easy as extrapolating populations. 

However, not much heed should be paid to this suggestion as in all honesty I don’t think Francis was being serious. However what should be noticed is his proposition that English clubs are not profitable. Those without grounds are making big losses and those with grounds are making next to nothing. Is this not reason enough for the English to be displeased with ERC’s financial model, especially considering BT Sport offered them more without a tournament even taking shape? Only in my reflection on the issue in the last few days has this struck me and I felt an odd feeling for an Irishman. I felt sympathy for the English! If even the clubs participating in Europe are making losses, why not ask for more, especially when the likes of Zebre could lose 22 games in a season and still collect more from ERC than French and English clubs who had not qualified. It simply was a ludicrous position when you think about it. We’ll park this English part here and take it up again later.

Wales

Almost certainly the most complex situation in this story. The Dragons, the Blues, the Ospreys and the Scarlets are in disarray. An exodus of their stars has seen their sides shorn of, off the top of my head; George North, Jamie Roberts, Lee Byrne, Dwayne Peel, Dan Lydiate, Luke Charteris, James Hook and Mike Phillips. They look certain to be joined by Richard Hibbard, 6 Nations player of the Tournament and Lions Player of the Series Leigh Halfpenny, and possibly even Welsh and Lions Captain Sam Warburton. The money isn’t their for the regions to keep their stars. And why would they want to stay in Wales? The fans aren’t happy with the Region situation. The combined attendance for all four Welsh provinces barely eclipses that of Leinster. The Rabo is the weakest of the three leagues in Europe. The competition and the money and the atmosphere is all better elsewhere, so apart from regional pride, what’s stopping them? This has led RRW to look for more money from the WRU. More than the (roughly) £4million a year they currently receive. 

Following talks on the 11th of December, it would seem as if the WRU have flat out refused, held their position that there is no more money to give, and seem more interested in trying to keep Sam Warburton in Wales than keeping their regions in the Pro12. It is an utter mess. Currently it would seem that, should an offer from the PLR come in for the 4 teams to move to the English Premiership/Championship, that gave them more money than they got from the WRU, that they would take it. As the excellent Simon Thomas has consistently pointed out on his twitter, the regions view keeping this current system of £4million a year is viewed as a slow and painful death. The players would leave, fans would stop coming and the clubs would be destroyed. 

An interesting point that came out of this meeting was that the WRU were looking at the prospect of 3 new regions being set up in the event of the 4 current ones moving to the Aviva Premiership. This is ludicrous to me. How can a Union not afford more than £4 million per club, but would be able to afford setting up three new ones, signing players and all the cost that goes along with running a club. How can this union afford to refurbish the corporate box and the pitch at the Millenium Stadium, at an estimated total cost of £5million, yet not be able to trump up the money to keep the stars in Wales. I may be a tad presumptuous, but to me this is a clear play by the head of the WRU to try and make the situation as awful for the regions as possible, so they’re forced to give in and become Union controlled, as they are in Ireland. If the money is there to set the new regions up, it’s there to fund the ones the country currently has. The idea of 7 professional teams in a country as small as Wales is outrageous. Where are they going to find the quality players and coaches needed to compete at the highest level. It seems a completely ill thought out plan that does not seem to be serious.

France

While it would seem that the French teams with all their money would be the least concerned about the amount they receive from the ERC Brian Moore points out that it may not be their only grievance. From their statement it would seem their idea would be to demolish ERC and not to have a body working for the benefit of the unions but a body like UEFA who work for all concerned. He refers to the French playing European minnows many years ago as an indicator that the French are actually concerned with the lack of involvement of teams from countries like Spain, Georgia, Russia, Portugal and Romania where there is rugby but it is at a very poor standard. Now this to me seems like a slightly ambitious link to make, and I am unsure how concerned Jackie Lorenzetti and Mourad Boudjellal are with the welfare of these European minnows. If this is what they are truly after, and it is for the improvement of the world game, then to me it could only be a positive. But everyone has been left rather perplexed at the statement given by LNR head Paul Goze and so we don’t really know where they stand. It is easy to see why owners would be aggrieved if ERC was making less money for them than it should, and so it would seem that that would be enough of a grievance to withdraw from any competition under ERC control following next season.

 

Ireland

In one word, I am afraid for the future of the game here. Should the four Welsh regions leave the Rabo and go to the Aviva Premiership it would be a disaster for the Irish sides. I cannot see the stars such as Sean O’Brien, Jamie Heaslip, Rob Kearney, Cian Healy and Paul O’Connell who have tasted success with the province that gave them their contracts, wanting to stay. And why would they? The competition in France is guaranteed. There isn’t even guaranteed to be a Pro12 next season, let alone a European competition. And said European competition would be without the English and with French participation which was, in effect bought by the FFR. How motivated will they be to play against the best the Rabo can produce? The Top 14 is definitely the strongest league in Europe and week in week out these players would be playing against the very best. The same can’t be said about playing in the Pro 12. The money is better over there, the IRFU can’t dream of offering wages to players akin to what Toulon, Clermont, Toulouse and Racing Metro are paying. This mess is very scary.

 

Is there a way out?

As far as I can see the Heineken Cup is dead. Without English involvement it is diminished next season, of that there can be no doubt. The French teams have been bought by their Union, and only Clermont, Toulon and Toulouse really care about it anyway. I do not look forward to the product we will see next season.  

This is going to need someone to concede ground. The IRFU are unwilling to change the current structure because it works for them. The English teams feel like they will not be able to survive within the ERC and so they want to change. The Welsh, even with the ERC, do not feel they can survive with the amount of money the WRU is offering. The WRU doesn’t want to offer more to clubs it doesn’t control itself. The Scottish, Irish and Italians would face oblivion if the Welsh regions left the Pro 12 and the WRU couldn’t produce clubs with satisfactory squads. Something has to give. I am very interested in this possible UEFA style governing body to replace the ERC. If BT Sport offered PLR more money for the RCC than Sky are giving ERC for the Heineken and Amlin then there is something very wrong with ERC’s negotiating power. 

In my view, this can be solved in a couple of ways. If Sky offer ERC as much, or more money than BT Sport (although, why would it) then this would boost the money for the English and (possibly) the Welsh regions. That to me keeps everyone happy, that is, if the WRU would pass this money on. 

One alternative is more frightening from an Irish perspective. It would mean the Welsh regions getting into bed with the Aviva Premiership next season. The Heineken Cup being treated as a complete joke by the French and won easily by a Rabo team. The Rugby Champions Cup (or something similar) being established  with Anglo – Welsh and French participation, defiance of the ERC to the point that the PLR, LNR and RRW seize control of European rugby creating this pan European body like UEFA. This forcing the IRB’s hand to sanction such a tournament, leaving the Irish, Scots and Italians to join a competition where all the power lies with the French, English and Welsh. What a frightening prospect.

The one thing I think that needs to be done is for the WRU to give up trying to centralise their regions. While from an organisational point of view it is preferable to the WRU, its fans and sponsorship which keeps rugby going. Whats more attractive to a fan? Cardiff v Leicester or (Insert name of new region here) v Treviso? What’s easier to sell to a sponsor? They can’t sell it to their fans now, what makes them think that centrally contracting the current semi professionals in Welsh Rugby to teams fans already don’t like, is going to help?

I just hope this gets sorted out soon, I’m losing too much sleep thinking about it.