United Rugby Championship

[Silverstu]

Might be a little difficult to develop players though if there are more high stake games.

Good point.

More than likely we are going to see "fodder" sent to away games like they do in the French Top 14 with certain away games targeted to pick up points on the road.

Will be interesting to see how Leinster balance this, they could potentially field weakened teams at home and send strong teams away. We on the other hand need to field our strong team at home in order to make a better than even chance of winning......

In my head the full squad will still need to be utilized, the Irish player management system for international player will come into play.

Player rotation and strategy will be massive, whomever gets it right will greatly improve their chances.

They also might arrange a better "A" league to ensure the development of the younger players. I think more competition in the league is all good and our squad has been gradually building depth, still a way to go yet but we are getting there.

[Snipe Watson]

Looks like a dog's dinner to me.
Contrived is the word that springs to mind.

[allezlesverres]

This will hurt the Irish provinces European representation. Three Irish provinces have to play Leinster twice while the rest of the league only has to play them once. I’m glad to see the back turned on conferences at least.

More time needed to study the detail.

That was my initial thought too. Does this not mean it will be nigh on impossible to have 4 irish teams in the heineken cup? All Irish teams will suffer because we will all take points off each other whereas the Welsh and Italian teams will get "easy" fixtures.

[Cormac]

This will hurt the Irish provinces European representation. Three Irish provinces have to play Leinster twice while the rest of the league only has to play them once. I’m glad to see the back turned on conferences at least.

More time needed to study the detail.

That was my initial thought too. Does this not mean it will be nigh on impossible to have 4 irish teams in the heineken cup? All Irish teams will suffer because we will all take points off each other whereas the Welsh and Italian teams will get "easy" fixtures.

Will only really benefit the Welsh and Scots/Italians if one of the teams in each group proves to be much better than the others. The standard may be lower overall in those groups than in Ireland and South Africa but it won't make much difference if they're all taking points off each other.

[WestDr]

Two observations:
1. 19-20 and 20-21 seasons had 11 home Pro14 games & 3 HC home games = 14. 21-22 appears to be 3+6 home Pro 16 games + 3 HC home games = 12. Is that correct ?
2. Can't wait for the claims that "the HC is being devalued by the automatic inclusion of the winners of the weak Pro16 Scottish/Italian group". And it'll return to the top 8 (as it is in England and France). Find it amusing (as noted above) that you could possibly win the Pro16 but not qualify for the HC.... one of the ways to do that would, of course, be to not hold a large proportion of the intra-pool matches until the end of the season (i.e. 1st set of inter-pros over Christmas/New Year and then wrap up the Pro16 season with the other 3) so that winning the Inter-pros/Welsh Judgement Day/1872 Cup matches at the end gives double-bubble....

[Neill_M]

Two observations:
1. 19-20 and 20-21 seasons had 11 home Pro14 games & 3 HC home games = 14. 21-22 appears to be 3+6 home Pro 16 games + 3 HC home games = 12. Is that correct ?
2. Can't wait for the claims that "the HC is being devalued by the automatic inclusion of the winners of the weak Pro16 Scottish/Italian group". And it'll return to the top 8 (as it is in England and France). Find it amusing (as noted above) that you could possibly win the Pro16 but not qualify for the HC.... one of the ways to do that would, of course, be to not hold a large proportion of the intra-pool matches until the end of the season (i.e. 1st set of inter-pros over Christmas/New Year and then wrap up the Pro16 season with the other 3) so that winning the Inter-pros/Welsh Judgement Day/1872 Cup matches at the end gives double-bubble....

1. 21-22 season will have 9 home games in URC and 2 home games in H Cup, by all accounts this year's format is being kept.
2. Country protection for H Cup spots is being trialed for 2 years then reviewed. You just hope the Scots/Italians and Welsh actually are competitive etc and you don't have someone qualifying for Europe in 11th etc. Unlikely that is, I suspect they will have a rule buried away that allows an 8th placed team who manages to win the league to go into Europe (from outside a qualifying position), same would apply for a side who wins Challenge Cup etc in similar circumstances.

[Dharper]

Hmm, my initial thoughts are your gonna need a decent sized quality squad to qualify for HC out of that Ire group.
In fact I’ll go further any small squad (regardless of group) will struggle to make any inroads, and if they qualify for HC, the sheer number of games played will insure weakened teams sent away, if qtr final qualification not likely - to concentrate on league/hc qualification the following yr.
I look at that and think UR & Connacht are shafted without increased private funding for quality recruitment.

[Dublin4]

The new tournament will be a far better product for the rugby public but, in an Irish context, will favour Leinster as the club with the greatest resources at its disposal. The days of four Irish teams in the Heineken Cup are probably over.

[UlsterNo9]

Two observations:
1. 19-20 and 20-21 seasons had 11 home Pro14 games & 3 HC home games = 14. 21-22 appears to be 3+6 home Pro 16 games + 3 HC home games = 12. Is that correct ?
2. Can't wait for the claims that "the HC is being devalued by the automatic inclusion of the winners of the weak Pro16 Scottish/Italian group". And it'll return to the top 8 (as it is in England and France). Find it amusing (as noted above) that you could possibly win the Pro16 but not qualify for the HC.... one of the ways to do that would, of course, be to not hold a large proportion of the intra-pool matches until the end of the season (i.e. 1st set of inter-pros over Christmas/New Year and then wrap up the Pro16 season with the other 3) so that winning the Inter-pros/Welsh Judgement Day/1872 Cup matches at the end gives double-bubble....

1. 21-22 season will have 9 home games in URC and 2 home games in H Cup, by all accounts this year's format is being kept.
2. Country protection for H Cup spots is being trialed for 2 years then reviewed. You just hope the Scots/Italians and Welsh actually are competitive etc and you don't have someone qualifying for Europe in 11th etc. Unlikely that is, I suspect they will have a rule buried away that allows an 8th placed team who manages to win the league to go into Europe (from outside a qualifying position), same would apply for a side who wins Challenge Cup etc in similar circumstances.

So season ticket prices have been frozen BUT..... you are getting less home games?

[Neill_M]

Two observations:
1. 19-20 and 20-21 seasons had 11 home Pro14 games & 3 HC home games = 14. 21-22 appears to be 3+6 home Pro 16 games + 3 HC home games = 12. Is that correct ?
2. Can't wait for the claims that "the HC is being devalued by the automatic inclusion of the winners of the weak Pro16 Scottish/Italian group". And it'll return to the top 8 (as it is in England and France). Find it amusing (as noted above) that you could possibly win the Pro16 but not qualify for the HC.... one of the ways to do that would, of course, be to not hold a large proportion of the intra-pool matches until the end of the season (i.e. 1st set of inter-pros over Christmas/New Year and then wrap up the Pro16 season with the other 3) so that winning the Inter-pros/Welsh Judgement Day/1872 Cup matches at the end gives double-bubble....

1. 21-22 season will have 9 home games in URC and 2 home games in H Cup, by all accounts this year's format is being kept.
2. Country protection for H Cup spots is being trialed for 2 years then reviewed. You just hope the Scots/Italians and Welsh actually are competitive etc and you don't have someone qualifying for Europe in 11th etc. Unlikely that is, I suspect they will have a rule buried away that allows an 8th placed team who manages to win the league to go into Europe (from outside a qualifying position), same would apply for a side who wins Challenge Cup etc in similar circumstances.

So season ticket prices have been frozen BUT..... you are getting less home games?

Compared to the old Pro 14 structure of minimum 10 league games + 3 European games, yes 21/22 season will have less with 11. The structure of both competitions has changed. They will no doubt throw in a friendly. Will not be full crowds anyway with a while so they are doing per game rebate with the new season ticket.

[UlsterNo9]

Compared to the old Pro 14 structure of minimum 10 league games + 3 European games, yes 21/22 season will have less with 11. The structure of both competitions has changed. They will no doubt throw in a friendly. Will not be full crowds anyway with a while so they are doing per game rebate with the new season ticket.

Thanks Neill

https://www.ulsterrugby.com/2021/06/1-w ... wals-open/

From reading this you'll be paying the same for the 11 games next season that you would have been for 13 games two years ago. Well at least according to the table within link above.

The rebate is then pro rata during the season for games with restricted attendances due to Covid.

It's poor of Ulster rugby to say there is a price freeze when in reality they are not comparing like for like.

Having said that I'll still be renewing. I've missed it.

[Polly Cotton]

Who cares

[Bobbievee]

"From reading this you'll be paying the same for the 11 games next season that you would have been for 13 games two years ago. Well at least according to the table within link above."

Yeah; probably renew as well, but £500 in the stand for 11 games getting pricy. ( 9, plus 2 HC if I have understood the earlier post?) . Just about worth it so long as visiting teams keep sending full squads to our home games, and all 11 matches are "real" matches. Don't want to be paying the sort of money to watch run outs,

First signs that this is all now being run and decided on by an investment company.

I will gives it this season to see how it works out, but not impressed.

[BR]

They have taken an already unfair league system and made it even less fair.

If you're a top 4 team, you have to play the other top 4 teams twice. If you're Glasgow, you get to play the bottom 3 teams twice.

It just feels like they are trying to hobble the Irish sides, and it looks like the IRFU are happy to agree to it.

Can't see them sticking with the HEC qualification system when it is up for renewal. That may be fairer, but I feel the HEC loses something when it does not have representation from each union. But even when they return to a top 8 HEC qualification system, the inbuilt bias of the ProNN should prevent the Irish side (or maybe the SA sides from dominating).

However - by far the most concerning aspect of this - It doesn't look like Guinness are renewing their sponsorship - that means no pourage rights at Ravenhill.

[kingofthehill]

BBC getting rights to match.
Positive - it’s free
Negative - Winker and Ferris.