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EPCR statement: Reprieve for Bristol after London Irish suspension
By Liam Heagney
Pat Lam’s Bristol have been handed a Heineken Champions Cup reprieve as the Bears have been awarded the place in the 2023/24 tournament left vacant following the RFU suspension of London Irish.
The Exiles were suspended on Tuesday from all competitions next season due to their inability to guarantee funding and owner Mick Crossan placed the club in administration the next day.
Led by director of rugby Declan Kidney, Irish had finished in fifth place last month when the 2022/23 Gallagher Premiership concluded, qualifying them for what would have been a second successive season in EPCR’s premier cup competition.
However, with the RFU pulling the plug on their participation, their place has now gone to ninth-place Bristol. They lost out on Champions Cup qualification on the final day of the regular season on points difference to Bath, who recorded a massive win against an understrength Saracens XV.
A statement read: “Following the RFU’s decision to suspend London Irish from all competitions, EPCR can clarify that regrettably, the club will not compete in the 2023/24 Champions Cup.
“As Bristol Bears are the highest-ranked club in the Gallagher Premiership league table at the conclusion of the regular season which did not qualify for the 2023/24 Champions Cup, they will now replace London Irish in next season’s tournament.
“The formats for the 2023/24 Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup will be announced shortly, as will details of the pool draws for both tournaments.”
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Latest Comments
Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
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