Two-leg round of 16 Champions Cup format ditched after one season
Heineken Champions Cup officials have confirmed that the two-legged round of 16 aggregate format that was used last month for the first time won’t be repeated in the upcoming 2022/23 season. Much was made about the new two-game structure that was introduced for the 2021/22 season after it produced some epic 160-minute encounters such as Toulouse versus Ulster, Montpellier against Harlequins and the all-England tie that featured Sale and Bristol.
Tournament organisers EPCR were able to introduce the two-game home and away aggregate aspect to the first round of the knockout stages as this year’s tournament is being staged over nine weekends.
However, next season will have just eight weekends available for the tournament to be staged and this has resulted in the two-legged round of 16 format being sacrificed and returning to the one-game format that was originally used in the 2020/21 competition when first introduced.
The two-legged round of 16 affairs generated much debate, with coaches such as Harlequins’ Tabai Matson especially bemused by its effect, but it wasn’t the only talking point. The fact that European action is taking up three of the four weekends this May also resulted in the criticism that it has stemmed the end-of-season momentum of the Gallagher Premiership, the Top 14 and the URC.
This bottleneck scheduling won’t be repeated next year as the rounds of knockout matches are more spaced out. The round of 16 and quarter-finals will take place on successive weekends, but there will then be a three-week break before the semi-finals and then another three-week break before the final is staged at the Tottenham Stadium in London.
"Ultimately we won five games, they won two… but it’s not sour grapes"
– Tabai Matson was still hurting three days after Harlequins' exit to Montpellier, w/@heagneyl ???#HeinekenChampionsCup https://t.co/QOdvJg5CEM
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) April 19, 2022
An EPCR statement read: “European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR) is pleased to announce the 2022/23 season dates for its competitions. Played over eight weekends, the 2022/23 Heineken Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup will kick off in December with two consecutive weekends of pool stage action, and the next pool stage rounds will take place over consecutive weekends in mid-January 2023.
“The knockout stages will start on the weekend of March 31 March-April 1/2 with the round of 16 matches followed swiftly by the quarter-finals on April 7/8/9. The semi-finals get underway on the last weekend of April with the finals taking place on Friday 19 and Saturday 20, May 2023.
“The formats of both competitions are currently being finalised and an announcement is expected ahead of this season’s showpiece matches in Marseille on Friday 27 and Saturday 28 May. No further comment will be made at this stage.”
EPCR chief executive Anthony Lepage added: “We are coming to the climax of what has been a challenging season for European club rugby and have been able to welcome fans back to stadia from the recommencement of our competitions at the beginning of April.
“We have seen the very best EPCR competitions have to offer and are building towards what will no doubt be a sensational weekend of rugby for our finals later this month. As we look ahead to next season, we are pleased to announce the dates of our competitions and we will be announcing the formats in the coming weeks.”
2022/23 weekends
Round 1 – 9/10/11 December 2022
Round 2 – 16/17/18 December 2022
Round 3 – 13/14/15 January 2023
Round 4 – 20/21/22 January 2023
Round of 16 – 31 March/ 1/2 April 2023
Quarter-finals – 7/8/9 April 2023
Semi-finals – 28/29/30 April 2023
EPCR Challenge Cup final – Friday 19 May 2023
Heineken Champions Cup final – Saturday 20 May 2023
Comments on RugbyPass
I knew who wrote this article from the first few words in the headline…lol. The red card actually did the ABs a favour. It galvanized them, only then did they step up a gear. Before that there was zero momentum.
102 Go to commentsFirstly the foul on Bongi was a planned move just like the NZ master plan with Bryce Lawrence you kiwis are filthy fux perhaps try to play a cleaner game next time I doubt that’s possible tho but don’t worry world rugby is on yr side they trying to take away all the BOKS strengths to help all you weakling as Jeremy Clarkson would say LA OO ZA ERR..🤣
102 Go to commentsAbsolutely spot on Ben. I certainly wouldn't gloat over a win like that. Frustrating as it is it's done and dusted and history will forever show the result.
102 Go to commentsHo hum.
102 Go to commentsNo question they were the better team. But that is the beauty of sport isn’t it!
102 Go to commentsEveryone is into Hurling in Ireland according to Porter, but only 11 of Ireland's 32 counties enter a team into the national competition. Same old blarney.
1 Go to commentsLet’s be honest. The draw and scheduling in the World Cup was a joke but South Africa found a way after having to go the hard (nearly impossible) way to the Cup Final via France and England. NZ had a hard game against France (lost) and had 5 weeks to prepare for the Quarter, 3 weeks knowing it was Ireland. NZ theerfore had to win one big game against an Irish team who played SA and then Scotland 7 days before. They won and it was de facto a semi final because they were playing a relatively weak Argentina team and it was a walk over. In the final a very rested NZ team was playing a very tired SA team and still lost. They couldn’t score more than 11 points. Put another way SA had to find a way to win while tired and they achieved that. NZ should thank their lucky stars that they fixed the scheduling in 2015 otherwise they would be dealing with a Bok treble.
102 Go to commentsPerhaps if Bongi wasn’t targeted and removed from the game in the first 3 minutes it would have been quite a different game. Maybe if NZ also faced the same competition the Boks faced to their win NZ would have looked quite different. The final score shows who outplayed who.
102 Go to commentsRubbish article! Abuladze played most of Exeters matches when fit. He got injured against Glasgow a while ago and is out for the rest of the season, thats why he hasnt played for Exeter and Georgia recently. Do some proper research next time!
1 Go to commentsGotta love it when kids throw their toys out the pram and can’t hack it with the grown ups debate. Here’s looking at you turlough! 😉🤣
148 Go to commentsThey lost the game period move on
102 Go to commentsSpringboks won! Stop winging. You can change the game however much you and your rugby colonizing IRB want to and the Springboks will win you at that too. Your mind is colonized my friend get a life
102 Go to commentsBen, nobody gets fooled anymore by selective and biased data to support an hypothesis. Games are decided on such small margins these days that you win some and lose some, and dominance is a thing of the rugby past. Look at the RWC circle of fortune…. Ireland beats SA who beat France who beat NZ who beat Ireland. And so it goes on. Match officials help to eliminate real indiscretions. If they had been with us years before, no doubt results would have been different. Remember Andy Haden’s dive from a lineout in 1978 for which a match-wining penalty was awarded? Wales should have beaten the ABs that day. They took the loss like the gentlemen they were.
102 Go to commentsWith all the analysis and how good the all blacks were.The fundamental mistake with the ABs is that this is a test match and not an exhibition.There is no better team(country) in world rugby than the Boks that knows how to win a test match(we are post masters at this).We know our rules, we have the discipline, we tackle like beasts, we take our points and we never give up.I now have educated the ABs supporters(at least say thank you).Please stop “bitching” , accept what the outcome is and move along swiftly.
102 Go to commentsAnd they came from behind to win two big games before the final. No one can say what would have happened. Had the boks gone behind the game plan changes and the result may changes. Ifs and ands are irrelevant. The boks won. Neutral critics enjoyed the games they played. Its not a popularity contest. Get over it and move on.
102 Go to commentsI'm happy for the people of SA to get a second WC. And I mean that. I was very disappointed with this man's “stand on the hand” incident with Josh Van Der Flyer (Ireland). Ireland's downfall in the last WC was they did not rotate their first 15 as the head coach probably should have. That said, I'm happy for SA and genuinely hope it lifts the mood in their country. Ireland did beat them in the first match of the tournament. And before the trolls start trolling ….. please don't bother. Etzbeth said recently that the Irish players said after the match “see you in the final”…..this was actually wishing the SA team the best of luck in the rest, the Irish team were not dismissing the AB’s. This is what Etzbeth was implying. But he was wrong. I no longer live in Ireland. But I hope to see them lift that cup before I pass. Anyway, congratulations SA. 👍
12 Go to commentsMore bloody click bait. Dan Carter has said absolutely nothing. As he should do. Poor journalism again from a site that should know better
9 Go to commentsOh god please help these loosers get over it!!!! You lost. Doesn't matter how many times you dummies are gonna analyse the game, you still lost and we are still Rygby World Champions….get over it, you lost.
102 Go to commentsThe next Willie le Roux. SA are made not to use him.
3 Go to commentsDan has always been as controversial as tea with milk so we were never going to get any definitive answer. So DMac for the win.
9 Go to comments