Danny Brosnan
As the final 23/24 final is almost in sight. I think Its time to take a look at all the recent changes to structural changes of this competition. From group stage to quarter final.
In the beginning
Oh it started off nice and easy. Five groups, four teams, six rounds of group matches played home and away. In order to get to the next round, the quarter finals, all your team had to do was either finish top of the group or be one of the three second best placed group runner ups. Fair enough it had its excitement, along with either joy or heartache. But the formula was simple enough. Finish top and your through, get second place, needed a maths degree from a third level institution but could easily be put in layman’s terms of “we win with a bonus point and a winning margin of 7 points and we’re through, anything less and we’re out”
Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/James Crombie
But the EPRC decided to shake things up, much like an earthquake shakes things up.
Fever pitch changes
The 19/20 season saw the last of the 20 team tournament of five groups. 20/21 saw it expand to 24 teams and change to two groups. The top 8 teams in both groups got through to the last 16. But deciding the permeations for the next round nearly needed a NASA scientist with a degree in mathematics from Harvard or Oxford to explain, and even then it gets complicated. Reason being is a team only played two matches, home and away against two different teams. An additional two legged round of 16 was added in to the competition, which was a baffling decision.
The 21/22 saw group games double from two games to four with two home and away against one Top 14 team and a Premiership team. The overall two groups were kept so keeping tabs on how to get into the round of 16 would give pain relief tablets a headache, yet two teams from each group, ninth and tenth in each, got into the challenge group.
The following season saw the inclusion of South African teams. The two legged round of 16 was changed to one leg.
Review, revamp, still confused.
23/24 saw the EPRC higher-ups rejigged the group stages again. With six teams, two from each league, playing two home and two away. One home game to an English and French team, the two away games to the other English and French teams. The style made it easier for qualification to understand but two things grated me. Firstly the fact a team had to play two home and two away games against four different teams on a one off basis. Secondly, eight points, that’s what Racing 92 needed to get into the last sixteen. That means a team could lose four games, get four try bonus points and four losing bonus points and still qualify. I honest feel like I need an Oxford or Harvard professor to explain how that’s better that the old system.
Looking back, moving forward.
With the jump from 20 to 24 team is it worth going back to the old style system of six groups of four teams? The six group winners plus the best two runner-ups? Yes, yes I’d go back to that style of system. The formula is there to know what a team needs to do to get second place. Another advantage the previous format had was the second three rounds mirrored the first three for a team. Lastly it guarantees three home games for every team which gives supporters a better chance to go see a European game.
Is it best to forget about having a ranking system for the knockout stages? Yes, absolutely. Bulls vs Lyon, Northampton vs Munster, Leinster vs Leicester, Bordeaux vs Saracens and Stormers vs La Rochelle. That’s five matches from the round of 16 that ended up being last 16 games. Let’s not forget the quarter final Leinster vs La Rochelle, which was another group game. This begs the question, why have one off group games and a ranking system for home and away teams when you get five of the eight games in the round of 16 being repeats of the group games?
Are we better off having an open draw with the condition that teams from the same group can’t meet again in the quarter finals? Yes. It should be first drawn out is the home team and for the love of ROG and all that’s Munster NO REPEATS OF GROUP GAMES.
The other reason I’m looking for going back to the old system is the amount of games played. 67 games in the 20 team competition for the 18/19 season compared to 63 for the 22/23 season. If my maths right that’s, with 24 teams under the old format that’ll jump up to 79 games a season. That’s more exposure and more money.
Nostalgia? or better off as is?.
Maybe I am being nostalgic. Then again I could be getting more cantankerous in my old age. Yet I believe in the old saying “if it’s not broke don’t fix it”.