One French coach's radical solution for completing the Top 14 season
New Montpellier boss Philippe Saint-Andre has revealed a radical suggestion to complete the currently suspended Top 14 season. The ex-France national team coach, who only started working at Montpellier on February 24, has been on partial unemployment since last Monday when his country went into lockdown to combat the coronavirus.
With no date set for the resumption the French league, the director of rugby at eighth place Montpellier doesn’t believe the remaining nine rounds of regulation season fixtures can be played. Instead, in an interview with French sports newspaper L’Equipe, he felt the emphasis should be on getting the June 20 semi-finals in Nice and the June 27 final in Paris played as scheduled – but with one intriguing twist.
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In order to ensure all 14 top-flight clubs can play again in the 2019/20 season, Saint-Andre has suggested the tournament be turned into a knockout format that would have twelve clubs – those currently occupying places three to 14 on the table – competing in a false round of 16.
The six winners from these two-legged matches would then join current top two Bordeaux and Lyon in two-legged quarter-finals. With semi-finals and final to follow, that would mean a six-week climax to the season rather than trying to cram in the backlog of postponed fixtures.
“My idea would be to return to an old-fashioned final phase with a ‘false’ round of 16 round-finals, round-trip quarters, semi-finals in Nice and the final at the Stade de France (June 26).
“The first and second in the regular phase would qualify directly for the quarters. The other twelve teams compete for six ‘false’ round of 16 matches. Yes, the Stade Français, current last, could be the champion of France, but we are in an exceptional season. We can’t go back to a classic Top 14 when you know you won’t be able to play all the matches.
“I base myself on the most optimistic forecasts which would allow us to return to play at the end of May after several weeks of reconditioning of the players.
“At the end of these final stages, we would share the stadium receipts between the 14 clubs fairly. When we get out of this pandemic, if the players’ health allows, we will have to celebrate a rugby party. With this final phase ‘as before’, we would interest our supporters who would immediately attend matches with something at stake.
“If the pandemic is longer and you can only play two games, it may be the first four in the semi-finals (currently Bordeaux, Lyon, Racing and Toulon). But it is very important that we organise the semi-finals in Nice.”
The presidents of the 30 professional clubs in France – Top 14 and Pro D2 – unanimously approved during a conference call on Wednesday the creation of three working groups to meet the challenges facing professional rugby in France. The groups will:
- Define sporting scenarios for the resumption of competitions 2019/2020;
- Evaluate the financial impact for the clubs and support them in the management of the situation;
- Adapt the regulatory and regulatory mechanisms of the NRL to the situation.
The Ligue National de Rugby steering committee will then meet on April 7 to make the first decisions, depending on the health situation in France and the possible deadlines for resuming competitions.
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Comments on RugbyPass
Beautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to comments