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'We need it': Blues chief executive reveals plans for global club competition are underway
Blues chief executive Andrew Hore has revealed plans to create a Champions League-style global club competition are underway.
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Speaking to 1 News on the eve of the Super Rugby Trans-Tasman final, Hore said “governing bodies” around the world are “working towards” making what would effectively be a Club World Cup a reality.
“We’re working towards a global club competition,” he said.
“There’s a couple of small things that need to be tweaked and changed – a shifting of windows, somewhat – but the governing bodies see the merit in it and we need it.
“We need [Super Rugby] to attach to something and it would be wonderful to go to that next step.”
Hore confirmed such a competition would see the best teams from Europe’s leagues – the Premiership, Top 14 and recently-renamed United Rugby Championship [formerly PRO14] – square off against the best from Super Rugby.
Previous reports of a potential Club World Cup have indicated Japanese and North American clubs could be also be involved.
In the lead-up to last year’s World Rugby elections, World Rugby vice-chairman and French Rugby Federation president Bernard Laporte unveiled plans to develop a six-week Club World Cup.
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At the time of his announcement, Laporte said six teams would qualify from Super Rugby, as would four each from England, France and the PRO14, while the champions of the Top League and Major League Rugby would also be included.
However, an overhaul in Super Rugby since then has seen the four South African franchises join the United Rugby Championship, while the 10 New Zealand and Australian sides, as well as Moana Pasifika and the Fijian Drua, are set to create a new Pacific-based Super Rugby format next year.
That could force a restructure to Laporte’s plans, if they are to go ahead, as the 16-team United Rugby Championship could instead be handed six qualification spots while Super Rugby’s 12 teams could battle for four Club World Cup berths.
However, AFP reported last month that European Professional Club Rugby [EPCR] chief executive Vincent Gaillard preferred an eight-team global club competition to be staged once every four years.
The All Blacks have reportedly lost yet another key player just weeks out from their July test series against Tonga and Fiji. #AllBlacks https://t.co/gbN5QLYMjS
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With the World Cup, Olympic Games and British and Irish Lions tour acting as the major rugby events in three of the four years of a World Cup cycle, a Club World Cup could be used as the fourth major event to take place in the years following a Lions tour and preceding a World Cup.
Regardless of the structure of the competition, Gaillard said discussions to bring the tournament to fruition were “progressing really very nicely”.
Those comments came three months after Stuff reported that Harlequins and Scarlets board member Sean Fitzpatrick, Panasonic Wild Knights coach Robbie Deans and Toshiba Brave Lupus coach Todd Blackadder were all keen on the idea of a Club World Cup.
Top League chairman Osamu Oita also threw his support behind the concept as he said he expected a Club World Cup to be staged “in the near future”.
“If the club world championship can be held that is a very good thing for us,” Ota told Stuff.
“If some of the Japanese clubs can make it that is a positive for us, so I’m expecting the club world championship will be held in the near future.
“But of course many discussions have to be conducted to find the best format for everyone. We need to think about the player welfare as well as the international calendar, which is very difficult.
“So, everyone needs to capture the big picture of what is going on on a global basis to sort out the right place and the right timing.”
Comments on RugbyPass
The match experience still sucks at SR games, irrespective of the game being a little quicker. Rugby has to compete with so much in the modern world, if you’re going to get people to leave their houses and pay to watch a game in winter then the experience has to be worthwhile.
6 Go to commentsIt’s a good, timely wake up call for NZ Rugby (seem to be a few of them lately!) - sort out the bureaucratic nonsense at board level. We can’t expect to stay the number one option without keeping fans/players engaged. We’ve obviously been bleeding players to league for years but can’t let the floodgates open (although I think this headline is hyperbolic as it’s a result of a recent Warriors pathways system where they are tracking things more closely) Understand the need to focus boys on rugby if they’re at a proud rugby school too, don’t think it’s harsh at all re Barakat in Hamilton. Reward the committed players with squad positions. An elite 1st XV system in NZ has done more for league than they even realise, think it’s good to protect our game further.
6 Go to commentsDon’t pay a blind bit of notice to Lukie… he likes the sound of his own voice and is always looking for something controversial to say. He has been banging on about Leinster's defensive system all season like he knows something Jacques Nienebar doesn’t. Which is the reason why he didn’t apply for the job obviously
14 Go to commentsWho got the benefits out of Schmidt, Lowe, Aki, and Gibson Park?
14 Go to commentsWhat’s new its a common occurrence, just the journos out there expecting a negative spin. The outcome will be beneficial to jordie and Leinster. The home grown lads hav got some experience to step up to and be more competitive, that or spend the 6 months keeping the bench warm.
14 Go to commentsI’m all for speeding up the game. But can we be certain that the slowness of the game contributed to fans walking out? I’m not so sure. Super rugby largely suffered from most fans only being able to, really, follow the games played in their own time zone. So at least a third of the fan base wasn’t engaged at any point in time. As a Saffer following SA teams in the URC - I now watch virtually every European game played on the weekend. In SR, I wouldn’t be bothered to follow the games being played on the other side of the world, at weird hours, if my team wasn’t playing. I now follow the whole tournament and not just the games in my time zone. Second, with New Zealand teams always winning. It’s like formula one. When one team dominates, people lose interest. After COVID, with SA leaving and Australia dipping in form, SR became an even greater one horse race. Thats why I think Japan’s league needs to get in the mix. The international flavor of those teams could make for a great spectacle. But surely if we believe that shaving seconds off lost time events in rugby is going to draw fans back, we should be shown some figures that supports this idea before we draw any major conclusions. Where are the stats that shows these changes have made that sort of impact? We’ve measured down to the average no. Of seconds per game. Where the measurement of the impact on the fanbase? Does a rugby “fan” who lost interest because of ball in play time suddenly have a revived interest because we’ve saved or brought back into play a matter of seconds or a few minutes each game? I doubt it. I don’t thinks it’s even a noticeable difference to be impactful. The 20 min red card idea. Agreed. Let’s give it a go. But I think it’s fairer that the player sent off is substituted and plays no further part in the game as a consequence.
6 Go to commentsThose are pretty good draws for the two top Aussie teams. I certainly wouldn't want my Chiefs to have a quarter final in Brisbane. None of the top teams will want the Crusaders.
1 Go to commentsHonestly, I am a bit lost here …. Ireland - RSA was (at least in my opinion) perhaps (from a purely technical / rugby-skills-show point of view) the pinnacle of the RWC2023 - almost flawless playing (putting aside the kicking of RSA which was the difference between the two teams), rugby at it’s very best …. if I were a Bok and after the game some Irish lads came around saying “see you in 5 weeks same place”, I definitely wouldn’t have thought of it as being in any way “arrogant”, rather a sort of jolly “if we both continue to play like this, no one could stop us” - besides, few of us fans would have, at that time, been surprised to see the same teams playing on 23 september and 28 october 2023 ….. well, we all know Ireland chose to hit a slump to keep the QF curse alive …..
136 Go to commentsThere’s value gleaned from having an All Black star running and training with your team. How many games he starts (or even where he plays in the backline) will be decided on a week by week basis based on the needs for that week. But the overall learning and growth for all concerned, I’d think, is massively beneficial. Especially for Irish players.
14 Go to commentsSon, whith just " raw athlete “ , you are able to beat “ better rugby players “ by 74 points…. May be England should recruit in athletics….
1 Go to commentsPffft. It’s not a one-way street bud and Irish teams don’t seem to have had an issue taking kiwi players previously.
14 Go to commentsParticularly great to have captain Scott Barrett back after going off last week for the Crusaders. Codie Taylor a real leader and mighty Tamaiti Williams join Fletcher Newell in the front row. Those 2 will make a big difference. Great bench with the likes of Tom Christie, Jamie Hannah etc who are playing well. Should be a great derby.
1 Go to commentsDoes a blitz defence not have a weekness against a well-placed grubber kick, perhaps angled cleverly. All the defence is up and the full-back can only cover so much ground. Thoughts?
28 Go to commentsWhile Iose is destructive in the Canes set-up, he is not big for an international 8 and could struggle against the top teams. With his speed, he could be developed into a seven but, as Ben points out, he doesn’t show a scavenging game with the Canes or make dominating tackles. Sotutu has shown a step up this year and attitude plus motivation seems to be the big areas of growth. Deserves another AB shot imo.
4 Go to commentsNaholo is my only question mark for this side. He wasn’t the only one who had a forgettable game against the Brumbies but he was passive, defensively poor and generally lacked energy. Needs to get a whole lot busier for me. I would have liked to see Sullivan on that wing with Higgins on the bench (if staying with a 6-2 as BeegMike points out on here!)
3 Go to commentsWell, I am sure that Eben said exactly what he meant to say, exactly how he meant to say it. Does he strike you as a man that doesn't know arrogance when he sees it. He should know it because he has shaken the arrogance out of many foes before.
136 Go to commentsPls get it into your thick arrogant heads that the final was played by two Southern Hemisphere teams. The best against the best and that Argentina was just unlucky otherwise non of the Northetn Hemisphere teams would have seen the light of day.
136 Go to commentsAs long as New Zealand youth are involved in sport they are passionate for, and are well supported, it’s all good. I love league as well as rugby. NRL clubs have long since scouted the First 15 competitions, the NH and Japan scout super rugby and NPC. It’s a miracle there’s any players left for the all blacks to pick from.
6 Go to commentsI'm a Bok fan, so I don't say this lightly, but he is one of my all time favourite players. I am really going to miss watching him play. Thanks for many great memories. You are a true legend of the game.
3 Go to commentsBest way to deal with all of this is to play another game.
136 Go to comments