Irvine rejects call for new Heineken Cup entry system

The French and English clubs responded to the fact that just one of their number, Clermont Auvergne, figured in the last four of the Heineken Cup this season and none reached the final by claiming that the Celtic and Italian clubs were unfairly aided by a RaboDirect league in which there was no threat of relegation.

With all Scottish and Italian clubs guaranteed entry no matter where they finish in the league, this, they contest, meant that PRO12 clubs could rest players from the Celtic competition and protect them for Heineken Cup matches, while they played their top figures every week in the Aviva Premiership and French Top 14.

They have proposed a new structure whereby only the top eight clubs in the RaboDirect PRO12, as well as the top eight in England and France, gain entry to the Heineken Cup, and insisted that they will refuse to sign the next ERC accord in 2014 if not agreed. If implemented now, this would have consigned to the Amlin Challenge Cup Edinburgh, this season’s Heineken Cup semi-finalists, the two Italian sides, with Parma expected to be unveiled as the replacement for Aironi, and Newport Gwent Dragons – the only PRO12 club that will currently miss out.

After watching Ospreys win a thrilling RaboDirect final in Dublin yesterday, Irvine, the league chairman, insisted that the English and French clubs would receive little support.

He said: “What a cracking final we have had again to a great league competition, another great end to a league that is making people around the northern hemisphere take notice of Celtic and Italian rugby.

“I know that the English clubs and RFU were pretty peeved at having just one team in the Heineken Cup quarter-finals and I understand what they’re saying. They have enough teams in the Heineken so it’s not really a matter of having more in, necessarily, but their grouse is that we don’t have promotion and relegation in the Rabo. I would concede that that is a very slight advantage to us, but it is very slight, not the ‘make-or-break’ that they are hinting at.

“At the moment, we don’t have enough teams to have promotion and relegation and I don’t see that changing for a long time. That’s just our make-up in the Celtic nations. It’s not our fault.

“And it doesn’t mean to say that the teams that are put out are not trying their absolute damndest to win every game. Okay, we can rotate our players a bit more, but, then again, we don’t have the money and size of squads that they have in England and France, which allows them to rest key players as well.

“What’s the big deal? The fact is that we have fantastic quality players in the Rabo and, when it came to the Heineken Cup matches, they played better than their counterparts in England and France. The English champions [Harlequins] lost to ‘lowly’ Connacht. I say ‘lowly’ because Connacht are not considered the biggest name in rugby, but you ask any players who go there and they will tell you how tough it is.

“They remind me of Langholm in my playing days. Nobody liked going down there, a tiny wee town of 2,500 or so people, and the whole town would turn out and you felt as if you were playing against 20 guys rather than 15, but that’s what makes sport. The ‘Davids’ can beat the ‘Goliaths’, and that’s why people are drawn to sport.”

Last year, three of the four semi-finalists came from England and France and those two countries have dominated nine of the 17 tournament finals to date, while Scotland and Wales have hardly made a ritual of upsetting their big neighbours even without the fear of relegation.

There may be an argument that the Celtic nations benefited this season from the World Cup intervention, which impacted more heavily on English and French clubs and the ability to rest top players. But there is also a fundamental point that the Heineken Cup is not about pitting together the best 24 teams in Europe, but a contest of the best handful of teams in each participating country; not a competition for the wealthiest clubs – even though they still traditionally dominate – but a crucial lifeline to developing rugby across the continent.

Irvine believes that the Heineken Cup is a powerful draw to Celtic nations, but is also confident that the RaboDirect PRO12 is now a competition able to seriously challenge the Aviva Premiership and Orange Top 14.

“We know we’re always going to play second fiddle in terms of population and money,” continued Irvine. “France has 60 million and England 60 million and, while Italy has a similar population, rugby is a much longer way from being the top sport there, and the combined population of Scotland, Ireland and Wales equates to around ten percent of England and France’s. And England and France have very wealthy entrepreneurs who are prepared to help subsidise the game.

“But what we do have is the quality of players, and the proof of that is the success of the RaboDirect PRO12 teams in the Heineken Cup. And, actually, there’s no better example than Edinburgh. Edinburgh beating Toulouse was not far off Hearts or Hibs beating Barcelona in terms of the differing depth, quality and resource of the respective teams, and the crowd at that match [nearly 38,000] was phenomenal, but, to sustain the growth, it is crucial now that Edinburgh build on that.”

Irvine concluded by praising the SRU for taking the investment in each pro squad up to £4.2m each, level with the English clubs’ salary cap, and stated again that he would like to see the growth in wins, attendances and commercial revenue that would force the SRU to re-launch a third pro team.

“That’s where we have to be headed, to three and four teams again in the next four or five years,” he added. “The SRU have put their balls on the line by seriously funding the pro teams for next season, and the teams will be under pressure because no longer will they have the excuse of not having the same funding as the rest. They have to deliver and that’s good for our game.

“The Irish teams will still be strong again. Munster have been a little on the wane, but I expect them to bounce back, and Leinster are a class act and will take a lot of confidence into next season, as will Ulster, but the Welsh regions are going to operate on smaller budgets and are losing players, so I think the Scottish teams will push on above them. They have to both finish in the top half of the RaboDirect PRO12 but be really pushing for the play-offs.

“Off the field, the season ticket sales are up already for both Scottish teams, and Scotstoun is an exciting challenge for Glasgow to develop and fill with the exciting young talent they have coming through. I spoke to a lot of people after Edinburgh’s win over Toulouse who said it was fantastic, and they wished that there was another game the week after to go along to. So Edinburgh need to tap back into that at the start of the new season.

“If they can start with three or four wins on the trot, there is no doubt in my mind that there is the potential there to build to regular crowds of 10,000. If Belfast can do it, Edinburgh can because Edinburgh is a bigger rugby city.

“They need two things that haven’t quite come together in the RaboDirect yet – a good brand of rugby, which they play, and runs of victories. Get that and people might be surprised at how Scottish rugby takes off, and how the RaboDirect pushes the French and English even more.”