Facing into rounds three and four of the Heineken Champions Cup, the supposed blue riband of European club rugby along with the Challenge Cup are on a knife edge as organisers brace themselves to withstand the hoped for peak of the Omicron variant.
Three matches were cancelled and a further five postponed in the opening two rounds, along with one postponement and one cancellation in the Challenge Cup, meaning the tournament can ill-afford similar disruptions over the next two weekends.
The damage to the brand could almost be irreparable in that scenario.
Whereas the Premiership, Top 14 and URC have some wriggle room in their calendar, mostly during the Six Nations window, with which to reschedule postponed matches, not so the EPCR competitions.
The EPCR board will meet this week and will presumably come to a decision as regards rescheduling the four Champions Cup round two matches between sides from France and the UK which were postponed after the French government introduced new travel restrictions with Britain.
Leaving this decision until after round three or four, ie the completion of the shortened pool stages, simply wouldn’t wash. All participating clubs need clarity, ideally this week. The most viable solution would appear to be rescheduling the postponed games for the weekend reserved for the first of the two-legged Round of 16 on April 8th/9th/10th, and so make that round of 16 a straight knockout a week later.
The postponed games could be shoehorned into the Six Nations window, or alternatively be referred to the EPCR match commission panel, with all four games decreed draws and two match points awarded to each of the sides involved. But these seem like more problematic solutions.
The nagging suspicion remains that the Champions Cup has also been caught in the post-Brexit crossfire between the French and UK governments
Domestic difficulties in all three feeder leagues have complicated matters. The URC’s difficulties are manifold. Not only is it a cross-border competition ala the EPCR tournament, but it is also being run in two hemispheres. But even the Top 14 table is beginning to look a little disfigured.
Due to further Covid outbreaks, two more games were postponed last weekend, taking to seven the number of Top 14 games which will have to be refixed into a crowded calendar. To further complicate matters, three of these games involve Toulon.
Rugby psyche
And there is no doubt that within French rugby, the Top 14 holds sway over the Champions Cup, and by some distance. It is not just for financial reasons, albeit the Top 14 generates an estimated €110 million per annum for the Top 14 and ProD2 clubs, of which the vast bulk goes to the Top 14 clubs.
By comparison, the EPCR tournaments generates about €40-50 million in broadcasting and sponsorship, to be split three ways between the French, English and Celts/Italians.
There is also the French championship’s hold on the country’s rugby psyche and a history which dates back to the first final in 1892, as against the European Cup, which began out of humble origins in the 1995-96 season. Even the Premiership in its various guises dates back to 1987.
The nagging suspicion remains that the Champions Cup has also been caught in the post-Brexit crossfire between the French and UK governments, although the EPCR have been able to secure the exemption for elite sports regarding travel restrictions ahead of the next two weekends.
Nonetheless, UK squads travelling to France are, as things stand, obliged to quarantine for 48 hours upon arrival and the EPCR are seeking to have this at least modified to 24 hours, or removed. That French squads have to do so on returning from games in the UK is less of an issue.
Yet simmering away underneath all of this is the fear that cross-border games might accentuate the spread of Covid in France, which is compounded when you have the Castres president lumping Ireland in with the UK in expressing his reservations about fulfilling their Round 2 game away to Munster.
So it was that former French international Sebastien Chabal declared on Canal+ television over the weekend that "the European Cup doesn't mean anything". He went on claim that the competition was putting players and backroom staff at risk by travelling through airports to foreign climes.
“It’s a catastrophe,” he said, adding: “What will be the value of the champions?”
One ventures that Toulouse would give him a strong response after claiming their fifth star by winning last May's all-French final in Twickenham. Nor did the acute disappointment felt by Ronan O'Gara and La Rochelle after losing that decider remotely suggest the cup was in any way devalued to them.
Insular thinking
Indeed, recalling the prophets of doom who proclaimed the European tournaments all but goosed when rounds three and four were cancelled en bloc last January, it was quite a loaves-and-fishes job by all concerned that the two European tournaments were ultimately rejigged and completed last season. Heaven knows where the tournament would be now otherwise.
There's no doubt the European brand has been damaged over the last two seasons, not just by Covid-enforced disruptions to the itinerary
Thankfully Toulouse, La Rochelle, Clermont and Racing, at the least, remain committed to the European ideal. It’s also worth noting that Chabal is employed by Canal+, whose rivals beIN Sport televise the European club tournaments.
Yet Chabal's comments are also reflective of the comparatively insular thinking within France and England – witness Brexit and the election of Boris Johnson and his cast of clowns. And one suspects the fervour for the Champions Cup has waned within Premiership clubs in the last two seasons as well with even two-time winners Leicester probably more likely to prioritise the Premiership after a relatively barren period.
There’s no doubt the European brand has been damaged over the last two seasons, not just by Covid-enforced disruptions to the itinerary, but also the spectator unfriendly remodelled format, reduced schedule and devaluation of the Challenge Cup. Through little fault of their own, the European competitions are at their lowest ebb in years.
More than ever, it seems, the love Irish rugby holds for the competition isn’t quite shared to the same extent elsewhere. And now, as it braces itself for the volatility of the latest Covid wave, more than ever the Champions Cup needs a shot in the arm over the next two weekends.
gthornley@irishtimes.com
