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Time to End Italian Clubs' Champions Cup Misery
By James Harrington
It's not easy watching Italian sides struggle in the European Champions Cup - so, please, let's end their ritual humiliation, begs James Harrington.
Zebre - the token Italian side in this season's European Champions Cup - have so far earned zero points from five pool matches and leaked an average of 58 points per game.
The chances of either of those stats for the Parma-based side improving on the final weekend of the pool phase are marginally worse than those of a whelk surviving a supernova.
They are the side that stand between not-quite-yet-qualified Wasps and a home quarter-final. While it is unfair and inaccurate to dismiss the game as little more than an extended training run for the Premiership side - Zebre are supplying 15 of the 32 players called up to Italy's training squad for the rapidly approaching Six Nations - it's safe to expect the English club will book their place in the last eight at a canter.
In fact, things have are so bad at the still-proud Italian club that they have just parted company with head coach Gianluca Guidi. Last weekend's hammering at Connacht was one dire result too many.
Current qualification rules for the European Champions Cup state that one of the seven Champions Cup places assigned to the Pro 12 must go to the highest placed Italian side.
Although it is too early to call next season's Italian representatives, as of January 17, 2017, Treviso are best placed to qualify for next season's competition. They are 11th and have racked up 11 points from 13 games - although Zebre, who are propping up the table, could yet overtake them. They are a mere two points behind with two games in hand.
To give a little context, Treviso are seven points behind 10th-placed side Edinburgh, and have played one game more. They are 16 points off Cardiff in seventh, and 38 points behind leaders Ospreys.
If Pro12 sides could be relegated, the dogfight would be between these two Italian sides. And yet one of them will be involved in the draw for next season's flagship European competition.
It must be time to end this Italian experiment. Neither side in the Pro 12 is capable of competing. Better that they enter the Challenge Cup, where Treviso at least have won twice this season. Better that the Pro 12's seven Champions Cup slots are taken by the top seven sides, without this token gesture.
When an Italian side finishes in the top seven - which Treviso did in 2012/13 - they will at least qualify for the Champions Cup by right.
Long gone are the days that anyone in the English or French leagues could patronise the Pro 12. The top seven at this stage are Ospreys, Munster, Leinster, Glasgow, Scarlets, Ulster and Cardiff.
Of those sides, Munster and Leinster have booked their places in the Champions Cup quarter finals. Glasgow need a draw or better at already out-of-it Leicester to be certain of a last-eight berth; Scarlets came closer than anyone to ending defending champions Saracens' 14-match unbeaten Champions Cup run in dramatic style at the weekend; Ulster's qualification hopes ended in an epic blood-and-thunder defeat at Exeter last weekend; Ospreys are in the knockout phase of the Challenge Cup, and they could well be joined by Cardiff, who are currently second in their pool, and at home to Bristol this week.
That is a contingent worthy of the Champions Cup. And, Connacht, who are outside the top seven, are one big performance at Toulouse away from the quarter-finals. Half the teams in the last eight could yet come from the league, along with four of the eight quarter-finalists in the second-tier Challenge Cup.
Meanwhile, Zebre have shipped 290 points and 43 tries and scored just 69 points, including eight tries. It's painful to watch. It must be humiliating to be involved in.
The Pro 12's top seven at the end of last season were Leinster, Connacht, Glasgow, Ulster, Scarlets, Munster, and Cardiff.
Zebre - this season's Champions Cup qualifiers - finished 11th out of 12. Above Treviso. The two sides have finished bottom of the pile every year since Treviso's high-flying adventures in the 2012/13 season, and yet one is guaranteed a place at European club rugby's top table.
So, to be Italy's representatives in the Champions Cup, one side simply has to finish above the other. That's barely a challenge. And it's doing down a league brimming with quality.
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Latest Comments
A few comments. Firstly, I am a Bok fan and it's been a golden period for us. I hope my fellow Bok fans appreciate this time and know that it cannot last forever, so soak it all in!
The other thing to mention (and this is targeted at Welsh, English and even Aussie supporters who might be feeling somewhat dejected) is that it's easy to forget that just before Rassie Erasmus took over in 2018, the Boks were ranked 7th in the world and I had given up hope we'd ever be world beaters again.
Sport is a fickle thing and Rassie and his team have managed to get right whatever little things it takes to make a mediocre team great. I initially worried his methods might be short-lived (how many times can you raise a person's commitment by talking about his family and his love of his country as a motivator), but he seems to have found a way. After winning in 2019 on what was a very simple game plan, he has taken things up ever year - amazing work which has to be applauded! (Dankie Rassie! Ons wardeer wat jy vir die ondersteuners en die land doen!) (Google translate if you don't understand Afrikaans! 😁)
I don't think people outside South Africa fully comprehend the enormity of the impact seeing black and white, English, Afrikaans and Xhosa and all the other hues playing together does for the country's sense of unity. It's pure joy and happiness.
This autumn tour has been a bit frustrating in that the Boks have won, but never all that convincingly. On the one hand, I'd like to have seen more decisive victories, BUT what Rassie has done is expose a huge number of players to test rugby, whilst also diversifying the way the Boks play (Tony Brown's influence).
This change of both style and personnel has resulted in a lack of cohesion at times and we've lost some of the control, whereas had we been playing our more traditional style, that wouldn't happen. This is partially attributable to the fact that you cannot play Tony Brown's expansive game whilst also having 3 players available at every contact point to clear the defence off the ball. I have enjoyed seeing the Boks play a more exciting, less attritional game, which is a boring, albeit effective spectacle. So, I am happy to be patient, because the end justifies the means (and I trust Rassie!). Hopefully all these players we are blooding will give us incredible options for substitutions come next year's Rugby Championship and of course, the big prize in 2027.
Last point! The game of rugby has never been as exciting as it is now. Any of Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, France, Argentina, Scotland, England & Australia can beat one another. South Africa may be ranked #1, but I wouldn't bet my house in them beating France or New Zealand, and we saw Argentina beating both South Africa and New Zealand this year! That's wonderful for the game and makes the victories we do get all the sweeter. Each win is 100% earned. Long may it last!
Sorry for the long post! 🏉🌍
Go to commentsWouldn’t mind seeing that grounding in slow mo there. Too much to ask?
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