Bernard Jackman slams ‘men against boys’ Champions Cup as Brian Moore claims weekend blowouts expose ‘current mess’
Harlequins dejected as Leinster score another try in the Champions Cup, and ex-Ireland hooker Bernard Jackman.
Respected pundits Bernard Jackman and Brian Moore have both hit out at the state of the Champions Cup after several lopsided last-16 encounters.
The weekend saw a number of blowouts with just two of the eight games being decided in the latter stages.
Castres overcame Benetton in the final minute while Munster edged to a 25-24 triumph over La Rochelle, but the other contests were very much one-sided.
Saracens shipped 72 points to Toulon while Harlequins conceded 62 to Leinster as their defences were cut apart.
With 16 of the 24 teams that start the Champions Cup reaching the knockout stages, some have argued that changes need to be made, including Jackman.
Champions Cup contenders and pretenders
“The Champions Cup shouldn’t be getting mismatches like this at the knockout stage but having eight of the nine teams in the English Premiership in the main competition and a group system where it is harder to get knocked out than qualify leads lends itself to games like this. The sooner we get a restructured competition the better,” he wrote in his Irish Independent column.
“It really was men against boys.
“There is a widening gulf in class in the Champions Cup over recent years between the contenders and the pretenders. The contenders are the likes of Leinster, Toulouse, La Rochelle, Munster, Toulon and Bordeaux — Quins are one of the pretenders.”
Moore joined Jackman in criticising the state of the Champions Cup, but his argument centred around the structure of the season rather than the format of the competition itself.
The England great watched on as Irish and French sides dominated at the weekend with four of the five Premiership outfits exiting the top-tier tournament at the round-of-16 stage.
“It was a good weekend for the French and Irish teams in last weekend’s Investec Champions Cup and an equally poor one, Northampton Saints aside, for the English and South African sides,” he wrote in his Telegraph column.
“It is still precipitous to choose eventual winners but there is little serious money being bet on teams from outside the two first-mentioned countries.
“What does this say about the quality of club rugby in England, or South Africa for that matter?
“The answer is precious little, beyond what we already know. The Irish and French sides are stronger per squad and that is not going to change any time soon.
“Unfortunately, the composition of the competition and its season-long sprawl is not to many fans’ liking and that goes for the broadcasters as well. For those tempted to indulge as casual fans it is even worse.”
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Understrength teams
Saracens were criticised for fielding a team shorn of their England stars and they were ultimately put to the sword in the second half by Toulon, succumbing 72-42.
Moore does not believe that the likes of Sarries should be blamed for choosing their domestic aspirations over their chances of progressing in Europe, however.
“Before launching into a reflexive attack on the coaches for fielding under-strength sides, I suppose you have to balance factors like player workload and their domestic league situations, where Harlequins and Saracens are both still trying to secure top-four places and obviously view that as a priority,” he wrote.
“You can understand this, but it does nothing for the viability of the European tournament. Nor is it palatable for those who spend their cash to support their teams away from home.”
As a result, Moore reckons that the relevant governing body bigwigs need to take a look at the structure of the season and see what can be done to reduce the number of uncompetitive matches in Europe’s elite club tournament.
“This all takes us back to the thorny subject of the structure of the season, complicated by the fact that the South Africans are playing while their international side are on a different hemisphere’s timetable,” the ex-England hooker added.
“It is less than ideal that the European and domestic league and cup tournaments are strung out across the season and shoehorned around the autumn international tournament and Six Nations competition.
“I am not pretending any of this is easy to fix. I am saying that if club rugby wants to progress and, most importantly, if it wants broadcasters to pay more for its sports rights, it needs to look at this point more closely and see if it can find a way to improve the current mess.”
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