Premiership Rugby confirms revamped Champions Cup format after pool fixtures cancelled
Europe’s final two rounds of group matches will be cancelled, with the Champions and Challenge Cups moving straight into the knockout phase, Premiership Rugby has confirmed. The French government has blocked Top 14 clubs from competing in cross-border competition this month due to fears over the strain of coronavirus which has sent the number of cases in England soaring.
The remaining two pool rounds were initially postponed but Premiership Rugby chief executive Darren Childs says they have now been abandoned because of the lack of space in an already-full schedule.
Tournament organisers EPCR will decide within the fortnight what format the competitions should take, with a knockout phase launched by a round of 16 the likely option. “The decision was made very quickly by the executive at EPCR that we would not try to reschedule those games,” Childs said.
“We have a tough season. There’s no space at the end of the season because of the Lions and we have no spare weekends in our season once we resume. To play European rounds when the Lions is taking place would have been very damaging to the European tournament.
"So it was decided very quickly by all three leagues CEOs that we would complete the tournament in the four remaining weekends. Everyone is managing their domestic and international calendars to the best of their ability. The exact structure has not been agreed and we’ve already started those discussions.”
Upon learning of the French government’s decision on Monday, PRL opted to implement a break rather than bring forward Gallagher Premiership fixtures to fill the empty weekends. The decision not to change the league’s existing schedule was made to protect the welfare of players and staff, especially on the medical side.
“We’ve had 70 players in the last three weeks who have tested positive for COVID. In that period of time we lost five games,” PRL director of rugby Phil Winstanley said. “It made absolutely no sense to bring games forward from later in the season to this period, when COVID is at its highest prevalence and highest risk.
“Moving them forward would give us the biggest chance of losing those games and determining the outcome by allocation of points. That made no sense. From a public health perspective, you’ve seen in the last 24 hours serious concerns about sport at the moment and how it’s portraying itself. By not moving games, this has presented the opportunity to give ourselves a break and support the health and welfare of some of the players.”
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Spot on Ben. Dead right. Havili looked great at 10. Easily the highest rugby IQ of any NZ player these days. Getting a kick charged down is a result of getting used to adjusting your depth to the line at 10, which he will sort out with time. But other than that it was an outstanding first effort in that position this year. I think the NZ media has misunderstood this directive from Razor. Havili might rank behind B Barrett this year, but Beuden is 33 this month and won't last much longer. DMaC is great but flaky and not really a test match animal (his efforts in Dunedin versus Aus last year for example). If Razor can't have Mounga, DMaC is too unstructured for Razor (and is just too small for test rugby). Havili will end up our first choice first five, and in partnership with Jodie will be excellent. Two triple threat operators in tandem, and big bodies and tough tacklers to boot. Jordoe will be the ABs goal kicker. I am an Aucklander and Blues (and Warriors) fan, but Havili at 10 is going to be sensational in time… he can be the best first five in the world by the end of this year. No question.
Go to commentsSharks deserved to be far further back by the last quarter. Their tackling was awful, their set pieces were disappointing, their defensive organization was poor (especially on the Kok side of the D line), they kept making unnecessary errors, and they never looked like cracking the Clermont defense during those first 60m. Masuku kept them in touch, with some help from the Clermont generosity on penalty opportunities. Agree with the writer of this article. It was belligerence, and ability to raise their pressure game just enough, that turned the last quarter into a Bok-style shutout. Clermont have a reputation of not playing the full 80m, and there was a bit of that for sure. But, quite often when the intensity of a team drops off in the last quarter credit is due to the opponent for tiring them out. At 60m, with the Kok try, you thought that just maybe the game was on. At 70m, with the Mapimpi contribution, one felt that Clermont were fading, while facing a team that would maintain the pressure game through the final whistle. Good win in the end, but the Sharks are still playing way below their potential. And with their resources, and a coach that has had enough time to figure things out, they are running out of excuses.
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