Although day by day there are more and more reports that the Rugby Champions Cup is picking up pace as its own competition. For example, Friday French sources were suggesting that Guinness were to be the major sponsors of the new European event. You might believe this, or you might think Guinness' ties with Irish Rugby are to strong for this breakaway. Could it possibly be a way to drag the Irish clubs in to the new tournament, and with them the rest of the Pro12? Just a thought because if one Pro12 nation goes, realistically they all have to go, or they will be losing out to their closest rivals.
This is very apt having seen the results of the weekend, the Heineken Cup always throws up amazing ties, the best names going head to head. That does not always create amazing matches however, Racing Metro Vs Clermont, 13-9 only separated by kicks, not what fans pay to see. This has been the case with much of the French league that I have managed to see this year, for all the flair in the back lines Sexton, Habana etc, most games become a war of attrition with kicks settling the score. Not every team in France obviously but the vast majority of the games I've caught have been dull. So a competition which now stands at six English clubs and six French, does that not sound boring.
As proof of this all we need to do is look at the results from the weekend, or simply look back to what game you watched that was outstanding. I caught the Harlequins Vs Scarlets game, which was absolutely brilliant, an upset away from home with some very good rugby from both sides. I imagine other people will mention the Exeter Vs Glasgow and Toulon Vs Cardiff Blues games. Although the Celtic nations didn't win in these and therefore, I can't say that having a Rugby Champions Cup without them would see the losses of several contenders. They aren't contenders, with the possible exception of Leinster, Munster and possibly the Ospreys, the Pro12 teams will not compete in for European honours. However, the two games above were outstanding with twenty tries in just two games with both the losing sides collecting bonus points for scoring four tries, how rarely do we see that happen. That is what rugby is about fast open games letting the fans see tries. In both these games the Celts were blown away 44-29 and 51-28 respectively. However, in a quiet corner of Ireland, the smallest of the Irish regions was putting up a fight against the biggest club from England. Connacht welcomed the Saracens, and fought them off only losing in the end by two penalties. A success given that most fans expected a drubbing.
What this shows is that the games which included the Celtic sides were very entertaining, win or lose, they weren't afraid to take chances. So if the new European tournament has any chance of surviving to a second season it needs the Celtic clubs. The television deal can be as big as you like, but at the end of the day you also need people watching, and if it was Anglo-French people would get bored of what you become attrition rugby and switch off.
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