New Cup Format - Cynical (Telegraph)

[Neils]

Premiership clubs to face Championship sides in new cup format ? but is this a cynical sweetener?

New 24-club format is designed to revive local rivalries as long as it is not a sop to the Championship to ringfence their top-flight status
By Charlie Morgan, Senior Rugby Writer 24 April 2023 ? 5:59pm


Championship clubs will be included in the Premiership Rugby Cup next season with the tournament incorporating the top two tiers of English rugby union.

Premiership Rugby confirmed on Monday that they intended for 24 teams, including Wasps, to be split into four pools of six based on league positions this season.

The pool fixtures will be played over five consecutive weekends from Sept 8 to Oct 8, during the World Cup, with the semi-finals and final set for February and March.

?It is many years since the Premiership and Championship clubs clashed in a cup competition,? Phil Winstanley, the rugby director of Premiership Rugby, said.

?The Championship performs a crucial role within the English game and we?re looking forward to renewing some rivalries of old. 


?With the Rugby World Cup taking place in France, this competition will no doubt provide the best, young English talent with an opportunity to stake a claim in squads before the start of the Gallagher Premiership campaign.?

Conor O?Shea, the performance director of the Rugby Football Union, heralded a move that could be ?part of the longer-term solution for the game?, with Steve Lloyd, chairman of the Championship clubs committee, saluting a sense of co-operation.

?The new cup format is the result of great collaboration between the Championship, RFU and Premiership Rugby,? Lloyd said.

?The clubs are delighted with the opportunity a different format brings as well as the experience of playing Premiership sides and the opportunity to welcome new fans into our clubs and grow our audiences.?

[Neils]

Part Two -

Needle and local bragging rights can make this a significant competition

What timing. The announcement of a new hybrid cup competition comes less than 24 hours after it was confirmed that the last weekend of the regular Premiership season will have very little riding on it.

Saracens? win over London Irish, which was ultimately comfortable despite a shocking start from Mark McCall?s side, means the top four is settled. Barring a miracle result between Harlequins and Leicester at Welford Road ? Tigers could theoretically sink to fourth if they are thrashed ? the semi-finals are sorted.

There is no relegation, of course, meaning that the only meaningful jeopardy comes over a scramble for the eighth and final Champions Cup place. Good luck sexing that up.

In an interview with Telegraph Sport in December, Premiership Rugby chief executive Simon Massie-Taylor vowed that the process of redrawing league structures for the 2024-25 campaign, when the top league is expected to shrink to 10 teams, would place an onus on strengthening the second tier.

At the moment, it seems as though the season after next will bring a relegation play-off between the bottom-placed Premiership team and the Championship winners. Either way, this new cup competition can be a big help. In truth, its introduction is a no-brainer.

First off, the Premiership and Championship clubs playing amongst themselves in cup competitions had grown decidedly dull. Merging 24 clubs across the two tiers adds variety. There is scope for local rivalries to be renewed. Leicester Tigers or Northampton Saints facing Nottingham or Coventry would be a lot of fun. Cornish Pirates taking on Exeter Chiefs or Gloucester is another intriguing match-up; likewise Caldy against Sale Sharks.

Championship clubs should be able to attract more supporters to big-ticket occasions. Coaches, as well as medical and analysis departments, should be able to share knowledge. Premiership sides will almost certainly get a look at motivated late developers eager to prove a point, which may cause them to rethink their recruitment. With the A League confined to the abyss, the Premiership Cup will remain a crucial grounding for recent academy graduates. Those youngsters need game-time. All the better for that to come in a meaningful environment. Hopefully there is a bit of needle.

In short, this tournament should bring together more of the professional players in the country and there is scope for it to become a significant feature of the English calendar. Hopefully, it helps to bridge the gap between the top two divisions, though that will be impossible without proper funding for the Championship as well. Having beaten Ealing Trailfinders this weekend to put themselves on course to win the Championship, Jersey are certain to be fired-up for a crack at top-tier opponents. Ealing themselves can point at recent victories over Saracens, Newcastle and Gloucester. Although they remain eager to escape the Championship, this is better than nothing.

Success is predicated on Premiership clubs taking the competition seriously. Then again, they should do. Besides the importance of local bragging rights ? Gloucester would feel seriously stung to be turned over by Hartpury, for example ? the tournament will form a significant chunk of their pre-season schedules. As Winstanley has pointed out, internationals will be away at the World Cup and there will be opportunities to stake a claim for selection.

Eligibility and registration will need to be monitored carefully for the integrity of the tournament, especially where Premiership clubs contribute a large number of players to Championship rosters. The relationship between Harlequins and London Scottish springs to mind. There is little point in individuals being able to represent two clubs in the same tournament. An injury crisis could bring about special dispensation.

On the surface, unless it turns out to be a cynical sweetener that maintains ringfencing, the revamped Premiership Cup smacks of sense and collaboration. We do not often get to say that about rugby union administration.