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'Team managers across the Prem on phones going, what's happening?'
Exeter boss Rob Baxter has outlined his bemusement over the lack of clarity currently surrounding the upcoming rounds of Champions and Challenge Cup matches involving Premiership teams travelling to France. The Chiefs have it handy this weekend in the sense that they are planning to host Glasgow at Sandy Park and there is no red tape quarantine affecting the game from going ahead on Saturday as the Warriors are a fellow UK team.
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However, the picture is uncertain regarding English clubs who must travel to France this weekend with Bath even issuing a Wednesday lunchtime ultimatum to tournament organisers EPCR that they will boycott their fixture at La Rochelle on Saturday if they are required to travel on Thursday and quarantine 48 hours in France ahead of the match.
The chaotic situation has left Baxter looking on bemused knowing that his team still have nothing definitely planned regarding travel and accommodation for the round four match that Exeter are scheduled to play at Montpellier on January 23.
Bath and Sale are due to go to France this weekend for Champions Cup action, as are Newcastle in the Challenge Cup, and the following weekend Northampton, Exeter and Newcastle are pencilled in for away games in France.
“Of course, we all want clarity but I can’t give you an answer because we haven’t got any and that is where everyone is. You have probably got team managers across the Premiership on phones going, ‘What’s happening, what’s happening? Can we hold a plane, can we hold a hotel, what is going to happen, are we going to get some guidance?’ We keep being told every day there is a meeting about it but we have yet to hear an outcome.”
Bath's threat to the organisers of the European cups#Bath #LARvBAT #HeinekenChampionsCup #ChallengeCuphttps://t.co/iQrxjiojS1
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 12, 2022
That lack of clarity has left him questioning whether Exeter will travel to France. “It would be tough, primarily because of how much it jeopardises the Premiership the following week because of all your testing, the protocols that are in place. The challenge for us next week is you don’t want to get caught in France for ten days because then you can’t play the following week. It’s a real conflict of rules and regs around what you can and can’t do. To me, the common sense approach is to limit your time in France.
“Surely that is good for France and what they want and it’s surely good for the English clubs and what they want as well, so I am a little surprised they haven’t been able to get to an agreement based around that more than trying to have 48 hours quarantine which seems to have exaggerated the situation.
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“I don’t know how you can plan anything around that and we already have got our concerns for next week and we have still got ten days so what it must be like when you still have two (days as Newcastle have), it must be terrible.”
Exeter were crowned Champions Cup winners in October 2020 under Baxter at the end of the first campaign affected by the virus. Fifteen months on, he described the tournament as tarnished by the series of cancellations that affected the schedule in December.
The awarding of points to teams who didn’t play have left the Chiefs in fifth in their pool, with Sale and Clermont ahead of them after they were awarded two points each for a cancelled round two match in contrast to Exeter suffering a loss at Glasgow.
“It would be silly to say no because it has been diminished the minute games get cancelled and supporters don’t watch the games and you don’t see it on TV and you don’t get the players playing in the game. Any game that gets cancelled diminishes the tournament to a degree but should we get on with it and go on?
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“The one thing we are all in agreement with now is it is important to get on with it. It mightn’t be perfect but you make the best of it and get on with it where you can… We have spoken about it. The only discussion we have had about it is this (game versus Glasgow) could be our one opportunity to get points so let’s go for it and take it for what it is… and let’s be the best we can be in it.
“That is the only way we can approach it. There is no point in us approaching it and saying we might get a chance next week because we might not. There might be no points on offer, where there is any game who knows so it has got to be about this week and we’ll see what happens.”
Comments on RugbyPass
It couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
25 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
13 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
25 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
13 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
77 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
1 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
13 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
12 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
13 Go to commentsIts a great idea but one that I dont think will have a lot of traction. It will depend on the prestige that they each hold but if you can do that it would be great. When Japan beat the Boks (my team) I was absolutely devestated but I wont deny the great game they played that day. We were outclassed and it was one of the best games of rugby I have seen. Using an idea like this you might just give the the underdog teams more of an opportunity to beat the big teams and I can absolutely see it being a brilliant display of rugby. They beat us because they planned for that game. It was a great moment for Japan. This way we can remove the 4 year wait and give teams something to aim for outside of World Cup years.
13 Go to commentsHi, Dave here. Happy to answer questions 🥰
13 Go to commentsDon’t think that headline is accurate. It’s great to see Aus doing better but I’m not sure they’ve shown much threat to the top of the table. They shouldn’t be inflating wins against the lousy Highlanders and Crusaders either.
3 Go to commentsSuch a shame Roigard and Aumua picked up long term injuries, probably the two form players in the comp. Also, pretty sure Clarke Dermody isn’t their coach. Got it half right though.
3 Go to commentsOh the Aussie media, they never learn. At least Andrew Kellaway is like “Woah, yeah it’s great, but settle down there guys” having endured years of the Aussie media, fans, and often their players getting ahead of themselves only to fall flat on their faces. Have the “We'll win the Bledisloe for sure this year!” headlines started yet? It’s simple to see what’s going on. The Aussie teams are settled, they didn't lose any of their major players overseas. The Crusaders and Chiefs lost key experienced All Blacks, and Razor in the Crusaders case, and clearly neither are anywhere near as strong as last year (The Canes and Blues would probably be 3rd & 4th if they were). The Highlanders are annually average, even more so post-Aaron Smith and a big squad clean out. The two teams at the top? The two nz sides with largely the same settled roster as last year, except Ardie Savea for the Canes. They’ve both got far better coaches now too. If the Aussies are going to win the title, this is the year the kiwi sides will be weakest, so they better take their chance.
3 Go to commentsThe World Cup has to be the gold standard, line in the sand. 113 teams compete for what is the opportunity to make the pool stages, and then the knockout games for the trophy. The concept is sound. This must have been the rationale when the World Cup was created, surely? But I’m all for Looking forward and finding new ways for the SH to dominate the NH into the future. The autumn series needs a change up. Let’s start by having the NH teams come south every odd year for the Autumn/Spring series games?
13 Go to commentsWhat’ll happen when the AI models of the future go back in time and try to destroy the AI models of the past standing in their way of certain victory?
44 Go to commentsThanks, Nick. We (Seanny Maloney, Brett and I) just discussed Charlie as a potential Wallaby No 8, and wondered if he has truly realised how big he is in contact (and whether he can add 5 kg w/o slowing down). Your scouting report confirms our suspicions he has the materiel. No one knows if he has the mentality (as Johann van Graan said this week about CJ, Duane and Alfie B) to carry 10-15 times a game.
57 Go to commentsHe would be a great player for the Stormers, Dobbo should approach the guy.
3 Go to commentsGood article. A few years back when he was playing for the Cheetahs, he was a quiet standout for exactly the seasons stated here. I occasionally get to see his games in the UK, and he has become a more complete player and in many ways like an Irish player. His work ethic is so suitable to the Leinster game. I wonder if Rassie would have him listed somewhere.
3 Go to comments