Upon revealing the tweaks to this season's Investec Champions Cup back in the summer, EPCR Chairman Dominic McKay said their goal was to create a format which "everyone can easily understand, engage with and follow".
It would be generous to suggest they’ve been successful in that endeavour.
On one hand, the bloated 12-team pools are no more, replaced with the easier-to-digest four groups of six. Each group of six contains two teams each from the URC, Premiership and Top14, with four rounds of games. Teams from the same domestic league won’t face each other in the pools; as an example, Leinster will face two French teams (La Rochelle and Stade Francais), and two Premiership sides (Sale and Leicester), but won’t face the Stormers.
That’s where the simplicity ends.
With four different opponents for each team across four rounds of games, an algorithm ultimately decided the home and away arrangements, the results of which are not easily understood.
Back in June when the draw was made, one would have assumed that each team would have an even split of who they faced at home and away; a URC team would face one Premiership and one Top14 each side at home, and the other two away.
For the majority of the sides that’s the case, but there are exceptions.
Ulster found themselves in a treacherous pool containing Toulouse, Racing 92, Bath and Harlequins, but Dan McFarland’s side can console themselves with the fact that they don’t have to set foot in France, with their home games against both Toulouse and Racing, while they’ll travel to England for each of their away games, starting with this weekend against Bath at The Rec.
Likewise, Sale Sharks and Northampton Saints could reach the knockout stage without having to play a game on French soil, although Sale do at least have to take on a long trip to South Africa to face the Stormers.
With just eight game-weeks available, running the tournament off like the good old days simply doesn't fit without finding extra days in the year. It would take a large and unlikely concession from the French to make that happen.
Spare a thought for the Leicester Tigers, who appear to have run foul of the algorithm. Dan McKellar’s side are the only team in the tournament who face two trips to France in the pools stage, taking on both La Rochelle and Stade Francais. Home ties with Leinster and Stormers wouldn’t be much of a consolation either.
The seeding for the pool stage has also led to some good and bad luck across the board.
With teams prevented from facing sides from their own domestic league in the pool stage, Bristol Bears (Pool 1), Racing 92 (Pool 2), Glasgow Warriors (Pool 3) and Stade Francais (Pool 4) will be able to avoid playing a top-seed in the opening four rounds of games.
In Bristol’s case, it’s a nice stroke of luck for a team that finished ninth out of 11 in the Premiership, and only qualified for the Champions Cup after London Irish went into administration.
For some, the good luck that goes around is coming back around quickly. While Ulster have the fortune of avoiding a trip to France, the province don’t get to face Cardiff, who appear on paper to be the weakest team in their own pool. The algorithm giveth, and the algorithm taketh away.
The changes to the format have arguably complicated the tournament further, but one can have sympathy with the organisers.
Changing the competition back to the traditional six pools of four with the back-to-back rounds of games just before Christmas would instantly appease the supporters, but the reality is that they don’t have the scope to do it.
Once again Leinster, La Rochelle and Toulouse will be the teams to beat, while Saracens and Munster will be lurking in the next tier, and targeting a deep run in the competition if they can make their top-seed status count.
With just eight game-weeks available, running the tournament off like the good old days simply doesn’t fit without finding extra days in the year. It would take a large and unlikely concession from the French to make that happen.
Reducing the number of teams in the tournament may be needed down the line to streamline and simplify the pool stages, particularly given the financial issues in English rugby over the last 18 months. The collapse of Worcester, Wasps and London Irish means that eight of the ten teams in the Premiership are playing in the top tier of Europe this season, which doesn’t exactly align with the 'Champions' element of the tournament's name.
Ultimately, the last few seasons have shown that the juice is worth the squeeze. Similar to the All-Ireland football championship in recent seasons, an uninspiring preamble will be forgotten by the time we get to knockout rugby.
Once again Leinster, La Rochelle and Toulouse will be the teams to beat, while Saracens and Munster will be lurking in the next tier, and targeting a deep run in the competition if they can make their top-seed status count.
For Leinster, their tournament explodes into life in Round 1 with an away trip to their new rivals La Rochelle.
With four of the six teams in each pool advancing to the last-16 in the spring, Sunday’s game at Stade Marcel Deflandre doesn’t have the same jeopardy as their three previous meetings with Ronan O’Gara’s side, but a fast start this weekend will set them up to potentially have another home run in the knockout stages.
Donal Lenihan and Bernard Jackman preview the Champions Cup on Against the Head
Munster have French opposition on the opening weekend, as they welcome the relatively unknown quantity of Bayonne to Thomond Park. The two-time champions have now gone four seasons without a semi-final appearance which is their longest time away from the final four since they first reached the semis in 2000. As URC champions, Graham Rowntree’s side have earned their status as top seeds in the pool, and although they face difficult away trips to Exeter and Toulon, there’s expectation within the province that they can go on a deep run.
For Ulster, as explained above, the pool stage is difficult to predict. While they’ll back themselves to beat anybody – and that includes Toulouse and Racing 92 – at home, that advantage is offset by their opponents being able to make hay against a struggling Cardiff.
Connacht’s chances of reaching the last-16 on their return to the Champions Cup will largely be dictated by their opening two games.
The province host Bordeaux tonight at The Sportsground, but the French side have brought a strong team to Galway and clearly have designs on taking Europe seriously. Next week, Pete Wilkins’ men face a daunting trip to Saracens, but if they can get through these first two games with five points, they’ll be in a good position ahead of the meetings with Bristol and Lyon in January.
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