Championship status won't affect Saracens' right to play Champions Cup quarter-final
Saracens have been assured that their imminent relegation to the Championship for repeated salary cap breaches will not threaten the stalled defence of their Champions Cup title. The London club were automatically relegated to the second-tier league in England last January, but that 2020/21 status won’t affect their participation in the unfinished 2019/20 Champions Cup campaign.
Saracens reached the quarter-finals with a dramatic Allianz Park pool win over Racing, but their last-eight match in Dublin versus Leinster has yet to take place as its original April 4 date was postponed due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic and has yet two be rescheduled.
EPCR’s two main European tournaments - the Champions and Challenge Cup - only cater for top-flight qualifiers from the Gallagher Premiership, the Guinness PRO14 and the Top 14. However, that regulation won’t prevent the soon-to-be-demoted Saracens from finishing out the currently stalled European campaign whenever it resumes.
Speaking to The Mirror, EPCR chairman Simon Halliday said: “Saracens have qualified for the quarter-finals and I’ll defend their right to complete the Champions Cup campaign no matter what. As long as we can complete the tournament they should be allowed to participate for as long as they keep on winning.
“In the very short term, we are all screaming with pain due to the financial impact of no rugby and no crowds. It’s really horrendous what it’s doing to the game and its revenues,” added the European chairman, reflecting on the rugby stoppage that had generated major financial pressures at clubs.
“But there is a belief that we can get our players fit enough and safe enough to play three big weekends of European rugby through September and October.”
Earlier in the pandemic stoppage, Halliday had been vocal that EPCR were not being invited into talks about rugby’s restart, but he has revealed his organisation are now involved. “We’re all talking and I’m really pleased,” he said. “Hopefully by the end of June there will be consensus building on how best to deal with the very short term - and perhaps the years ahead as well.”
Latest Comments
Let’s be honest. The draw and scheduling in the World Cup was a joke but South Africa found a way after having to go the hard (nearly impossible) way to the Cup Final via France and England. NZ had a hard game against France (lost) and had 5 weeks to prepare for the Quarter, 3 weeks knowing it was Ireland. NZ theerfore had to win one big game against an Irish team who played SA and then Scotland 7 days before. They won and it was de facto a semi final because they were playing a relatively weak Argentina team and it was a walk over. In the final a very rested NZ team was playing a very tired SA team and still lost. They couldn’t score more than 11 points. Put another way SA had to find a way to win while tired and they achieved that. NZ should thank their lucky stars that they fixed the scheduling in 2015 otherwise they would be dealing with a Bok treble.
Go to commentsRubbish article! Abuladze played most of Exeters matches when fit. He got injured against Glasgow a while ago and is out for the rest of the season, thats why he hasnt played for Exeter and Georgia recently. Do some proper research next time!
Go to comments