Comments on: As the Champions Cup thrives, the Challenge Cup dies

By: Roundy

Roundy — Fri, 12 Dec 2014 13:38:15 +0000

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!

By: WesQuin

WesQuin — Thu, 11 Dec 2014 12:37:02 +0000

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.

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 10 Dec 2014 17:28:29 +0000

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.

By: Jacob

Jacob — Wed, 10 Dec 2014 16:39:30 +0000

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.

By: brighty

brighty — Wed, 10 Dec 2014 16:35:53 +0000

That’ll be the final nail in it. The LV draws paltry crowds and little credible TV coverage since it became a development competition.

By: Chris Lacharge

Chris Lacharge — Wed, 10 Dec 2014 16:03:22 +0000

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

By: snewe

snewe — Wed, 10 Dec 2014 15:00:08 +0000

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