European Rugby Champions Cup

So European rugby has its solution after months of tense stand offs and months of negotiations we finally have a competition for next year to replace the Heineken Cup, in fact it will be in place for the next 8 years so now we can finally get down to what matters playing rugby instead of talking about it.

The competition will be broken down into 6 teams from the Pro 12, 6 from the Top 14 in France and 6 from the Aviva Premiership with the last two places being given to end of season place off winners. This compromise will not suit everyone and people have already said that a gulf will develop between the top French sides and the rest. This competition does offer two things competitive games all the way through the competition and also no meaningless games in any league because every team will be fighting for a place in their league’s top 6.

In the past we have seen teams winning the Pro 12 with games to spare but since the introduction of the play off system back in 2010 we have seen better quality games right through the season. Premiership Rugby was complaining that there was no threat of relegation in the Pro 12 so that teams could rest players for big European ties but one feels this will no longer be the case. Teams will now have to fight until the end of the season to make sure of a European place.

It has also been suggested that this format will only make the stronger teams even stronger and the weaker teams will get weaker but I disagree with this based on the fact that all teams are now back on an even keel, if Clermont Auvergne were to have a bad season next year and finish outside the top 6 in the Top 14 they would not have European rugby next season. In the Pro 12 you will have the scenario if Leinster were to do the same as Clermont they would not have European rugby either next season.

Also next season we will have two other competition in the form of a European Rugby Challenge Cup and also a third competition for teams in the developing rugby nations like Portugal, Spain, Uruguay and many others. So in three years’ time you could have a team from any of those nations in the Top tournament playing with the likes of Leicester, Munster, Clermont and other european  heavyweights. Who could have seen that coming only a few short months ago.

So at least for the rest of the season we can now concentrate on the rest of the domestic league’s and also the last Heineken Cup semi-finals in their current format.  To those people that got each party around the table for talks to solve this crisis I think I speak for all rugby fans when I say thank you.

The TV rights will be split between BT Sport and Sky Sports. This will offer the viewer more chose when deciding what games to watch. Let’s hope that the new European Champions Cup lives up to the billing and delivers what the Heineken Cup has done for 18 years top quality games, and also great players and supporters.

By

Cian Mc Gibney

14/04/2014.

Heineken Cup Semi Final Preview

Here is my Heineken Cup semi-final preview.  Semi Final number one is between Saracens and Clermont Auvergne in Twickenham. Saracens will go into this game off the back of a 17-15 win over Ulster at the newly refurbished Ravenhill. Although this game was virtually over after Ulster full back Jared Payne was sent off for taking Alex Goode out in the air. Even after this Ulster held their own and also lost Rory Best and Ruan Pienaar to injury in this game which made their task even tougher. Saracens on the other hand seemed to struggle to adjust to Ulster being down to 14 players but when Chris Ashton scored the try that seemed to break the Ulster resolve they looked well on their way to winning comfortably but Owen Farrell had 4 penalties opportunities to extend Saracens lead but they could not take those chances and in the end it was only some desperation defending that got Saracens over the line. There discipline in defence was magnificent and they can thank coach Paul Gustard for that discipline. He introduced a new defensive system at the start of this season that was the wolf pack mentality, which means that Saracens are like wolves in defence and they never give up and that was a key factor in there win in Ulster.

 Clermont Auvergne are there opponents in the Semi after they went to 76 games unbeaten at the Stade Marcel Michlin with a 22-16 win over Leicester Tigers. Leicester came really close to ending that run but they just could not get the job done. Clermont are now on course to meet Toulon for a second successive season in the final after being beaten by them last season. That will fuel the fire to help them heading into both the semi-final and maybe a final in Cardiff on May 25^th.  They will want to give coach Vern Cotter the perfect send off before he joins Scotland in June. They have won a Top 14 title and now may be the time to add Europe’s top prize to that list. My winner from this game will be Clermont Auvergne.

The 2^nd semi-final will see Munster travel to face Toulon in Marseilles. This is the city slicker against his country cousin, the Parish and the playboys but this game will be won up front by the forwards who will have to work extremely hard to gain any advantage they can, Munster of course will be without Captain Peter O Mahony who has been ruled out with a shoulder injury. That may weaken Munster but CJ Stander stood up and was counted and he should replace his captain.

 Toulon will fancy their chances of making another final and also to defend the title the won in May 2013. They will face a fired up Munster looking to make up for losing at the Semi Final stage last season against Clermont Auvergne. Toulon is full of stars of the Global game. Jonny Wilkinson, Bakkies Botha and Bryan Habana just to name three. Munster of course have their own stars like Paul O Connell and Conor Murray so the gulf in class is small but knowing Munster who of course are a different animal in Europe they will go out all guns blazing to make a 5^th final. My winner will be Toulon to make it an all French final.

By

Cian Mc Gibney.

11/04/2014.

The GAA, Sky Deal

The GAA has just signed a three year TV deal with Sky Sports to show a number of games over the next three years. Is this a good deal for the ordinary GAA supporter or is this a deal for the big wigs in GAA HQ. It has been an interesting week we have heard from both sides of the argument for and against. The first year of the deal will see some of the top Provincial games go from free to air to paid TV.

 Can this deal really be all that bad for the GAA , who could argue with the exposure that the GAA will get from this deal , it will tap into already established markets and put the GAA into millions of homes every Saturday and Sunday for at least the next three years. It will also raise the profile of some of the GAA’s biggest names like Bernard Brogan of Dublin and Henry Shefflin of Kilkenny.

This won’t be a bad thing, look at the opportunities for the GAA‘s commercial department, In the last 12 months we have seen Dublin go from Vodafone to AIG in sponsorship and who knows after another 12 months maybe another county be they an established county or an up and coming county could make the same move and  gain a major sponsor. I know the GAA will say this was not a motivation for the move but it could very well happen that a small county could gain big from this.

The GPA will be of course aware that this move will also impact some of their members to push for pay for play, it may not happen in the first 12 months but 2 years into this deal mark my words players will want a slice of cake and they may return to strike mode to force the GAA top brass into negotiations for better entitlements. Can the GAA handle this if it were to come to pass!!

The ordinary GAA supporter will feel hard done by but they have to look beyond the negative and see the positive of this move, not many amateur organisations get this sort of an offer now I do understand that at elite level the GAA is far from amateur but still 90% of the GAA is amateur from volunteers right through to players.

The GAA has always been slow to change right up to the 70s the Ban was enforced and that changed some people said “foreign sports” would never be played at Croke Park and that changed back in 2007. So for those of you that see this move to Sky as a bad thing I implore you to reserve judgement until after 2017.

Hand on heart how many of those people that have said in the last week that the GAA have left the ordinary fan down have Sky in their own homes with or without the sports package??

By

Cian Mc Gibney

08/04/2014.

Munster, European Specialists

Munster proved again this weekend that they truly are European Cup specialists with an emphatic win over another European powerhouse Toulouse in Thomond Park. The win at the weekend is up there with some of Munster‘s greatest. To do such a number on a team like Toulouse after an up and down season was one to saviour. Munster have only been beaten twice in Limerick in Europe by Leicester who almost created history themselves on Saturday by almost beating Clermont Auvergne for the first time in 75 games at the Stade Marcel Michlin.

 Also Harlequins have beaten Munster in Limerick. But yet again Munster came up with the goods at home after being beaten a week earlier by Leinster in Dublin. They never seem to want to go the simple route to win this competition and will have to travel to France for the 2^nd season in a row in a bid to win the Heineken Cup for a 3^rd time before Europe’s top rugby competition is transformed into a new guise that will comprise of 20 teams in a new European Cup and also two other tiers with teams from emerging nations like Georgia, Spain and Portugal taking part.

Back to Munster and after nearly 15 years of following them through thick and thin they just keep producing the big performances for the big day. The amount of times I have asked how they keep doing it and time and again they just come back for more. They are twice winners of the competition in 2006 and 2008 and they have made the knock out phase of the competition on 16 occasions out of the last 17 tournaments a truly incredible feat. And also to be beaten only twice in 50 home matches in Europe in really special and of courses adds to Munster’s legend in this competition.

Munster now look forward to yet another Semi Final in this special competition against Toulon. Munster owe Toulon a performance after the defeat back in 2011 by 32-16. If I may be so bold as to reword that famous Munster motto “To The Brave and Faithful Anything Is Possible” And of course it now is if Munster deal with the Toulon power in the first 20 minutes then anything could happen and who knows what could then happen. As this team has so often proven over the years, write them off at your peril but don’t be surprised if this particular Munster side comes for the shadow of past teams and roars into a 5^th final.

By

Cian Mc Gibney.

Heineken Cup Quarter Final Review

Well at the end of another great weekend of Heineken Cup action, we now have our 4 semi-finalists and they are Munster, Clermont Auvergne, Saracens and Toulon.  So we have two from France and one each from England and Ireland.

 Looking at the performances from yesterday one would have to say that Munster put in a close to perfect performance to make another semi-final. The visit of Toulouse promised so much and the only team that delivered a performance anywhere near their normal standard was Munster.

 Guy Noves will look back on this quarter final with huge amounts of regret and also his players in particular his forwards will feel they got bossed in the scrum and also at the breakdown even with the early loss of Peter O Mahony his replacement CJ Stander made an immediate impact and offered plenty in both attack and defence scoring one of his sides 6 tries on a day when Munster found there try scoring boots again.

Munster now look forward to a semi-final date with Toulon on April 27^th in Marseilles. Toulon could be without Jonny Wilkinson who went off with a hamstring injury. That may push the tie slightly in Munster’s favour and the one thing Munster have in their favour is that unlike last season they have gone to France this season and won. So we now look forward to Toulon vs Munster, Toulon’s millions against the parish that is Munster.

The first semi-final pits the conquerors of both Leicester and Ulster together in the form of Clermont Auvergne and Saracens. So that puts the Premiership league leaders against last year’s beaten finalists. In Vern Cotter’s last season in charge they will want to send him out on a high and give him the perfect send-off heading for the Scotland head coaches job in June.

Having watched all four semi’s my finalists would be Clermont Auvergne and Toulon in a repeat of last season’s final in Dublin. But don’t count out either Saracens or Munster!!

By

Cian Mc Gibney

06/04/2014.