Comments on: As the Champions Cup thrives, the Challenge Cup dies http://www.therugbyblog.com/as-the-champions-cup-thrives-the-challenge-cup-dies Rugby Union opinion and discussion, for the fans, by the fans. Fri, 08 Dec 2017 13:20:49 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.7.8 By: Roundy http://www.therugbyblog.com/as-the-champions-cup-thrives-the-challenge-cup-dies#comment-373410 Fri, 12 Dec 2014 13:38:15 +0000 http://www.therugbyblog.com/?p=35861#comment-373410 The Challenge Cup is a disaster as there is no carrot for the teams in winning the trophy. There has to be qualification for the Champions Cup for the winner. Why they changed it I will never know. As for the Champions cup, when quoting big attendence figures from Munster home games maybe you should mention they are down on previous Heineken Cup attendences. The supporter numbers should all be examined in this context. So far the new format has failed to deliver much excitement. Hopefully the English teams do well with the new competition structure or else we could see it changed again until they do!

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By: WesQuin http://www.therugbyblog.com/as-the-champions-cup-thrives-the-challenge-cup-dies#comment-373375 Thu, 11 Dec 2014 12:37:02 +0000 http://www.therugbyblog.com/?p=35861#comment-373375 Re-introduce awarding the winner a place in the top tier competition and reduce the number of teams to 16 (4 groups) to provide additional incentive to qualify for the knock-out stage and make the tournament more competitive. Remove the two qualifying teams (Bucharest and Rovigo) and the two French teams newly promoted to the Pro14.

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By: Mike http://www.therugbyblog.com/as-the-champions-cup-thrives-the-challenge-cup-dies#comment-373365 Wed, 10 Dec 2014 17:28:29 +0000 http://www.therugbyblog.com/?p=35861#comment-373365 Champions Cup Qualification seems to be a given, and I think incorporating other nations would be useful as well. Another thought, surely selling the rights to terrestrial TV for less money but more matches on TV would be another way of drawing more interest to it? It’d certainly be useful for fans who want to see some rugby on terrestrial TV – after all, right now the fact that only one or two matches a weekend in the Challenge Cup are televised is ridiculous – but inevitable when its broadcasters are more interested in the Champions Cup.

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By: Jacob http://www.therugbyblog.com/as-the-champions-cup-thrives-the-challenge-cup-dies#comment-373361 Wed, 10 Dec 2014 16:39:30 +0000 http://www.therugbyblog.com/?p=35861#comment-373361 I think simply the Champions Cup qualification should draw attention to it.

There does need to be an understanding that a second tier comp is inevitably going to be less interesting for fans and inevitably clubs.

There isn’t really a lot else they could do, and other than this, I do much prefer the new format.

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By: brighty http://www.therugbyblog.com/as-the-champions-cup-thrives-the-challenge-cup-dies#comment-373360 Wed, 10 Dec 2014 16:35:53 +0000 http://www.therugbyblog.com/?p=35861#comment-373360 That’ll be the final nail in it. The LV draws paltry crowds and little credible TV coverage since it became a development competition.

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By: Chris Lacharge http://www.therugbyblog.com/as-the-champions-cup-thrives-the-challenge-cup-dies#comment-373358 Wed, 10 Dec 2014 16:03:22 +0000 http://www.therugbyblog.com/?p=35861#comment-373358 In my view they should:

– Reduce the number of games / Simplify the format – Would be better to have less teams but more concerned. So many French Teams in this competition
– Financial impact only for the semi finalist but bigger ones
– Integrate Tier 2/3 national teams if possible
– Reintroduce the Champions Cup qualification for the winner

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By: snewe http://www.therugbyblog.com/as-the-champions-cup-thrives-the-challenge-cup-dies#comment-373357 Wed, 10 Dec 2014 15:00:08 +0000 http://www.therugbyblog.com/?p=35861#comment-373357 Maybe the challenge cup could find more success in championing young and coming players and give those guys in need of game time some matches. Personally I’ve always loved the lv cup for that

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