OUTSPOKEN AND UNMISSABLE… EVERY WEEK
Ideas like the Club World Cup get my support if they encourage rugby of real quality at the highest level. However, it is crucial that they have a genuine place in the calendar which does not disrupt competitions that are established already – unless there is a very good reason.
The reality for English rugby at the moment is that there are bigger issues at play with clubs like Worcester and Wasps in trouble, and other Premiership clubs also facing a difficult financial situation.
When the Premiership clubs become sustainable again, then you can start talking about a world club competition. But club rugby is first about domestic competition, and then about the European Cup, and then – if scheduling allows, we can look at the Club World Cup concept.
It is interesting to look at the football version of the world club cup, which has been around for a long time. It is difficult to think of any football club that markets itself as world club champions. For example, Chelsea won it by beating Brazilian club Palmieras earlier this year in the Abu Dhabi, but it didn't save their manager, Thomas Tuchel, from getting the sack.
Another move that does not make much sense to me, is replacing the knockout stages of the European Cup to make way for the world club competition. The other important factor is that it must find a window between international matches, because overlapping with them will simply not work.
The key question that must be asked is whether the fans and the players want the Club World Cup. If they give it the thumbs up, the next step is where it is played. Will it be played in a single country? Will it be in the Northern Hemisphere, or the Southern Hemisphere, or a combination of the two?
It all sounds a bit complicated with 16 teams involved, and from the point of view of travel logistics and preparation having one venue for the competition probably makes sense, because if it is to work financially it needs the support of players and fans. We need to know if it is in the UK that it is well supported locally, because it is not clear how many fans from New Zealand, South Africa, or Japan, will make the journey north.
When the Sharks played the Stormers at Twickenham a few years ago, it was quite well supported but all these variables need answers – especially where it fits into the season, and how much appetite there is for it among the English clubs? A big issue for the Premiership is whether English clubs will be able to compete with the reduced salary cap.
The idea of where the Club World Cup fits into a Lions year is also problematic, because the early plan is for it to be played for the first time in 2025. The bottom line is that it cannot be allowed to disrupt Lions preparation for the tour of Australia.
For the moment it appears to be a sounding out process, and although at leading Premiership clubs many will say that the world tournament sounds great, I imagine if you talked to a Bath player they would say, “we won't be in it anyway”.
But we have got to realise in Rugby Union that less is very often more, and that we cannot just keep on cramming matches into the fixture list. When it comes to priorities it is essential to get the domestic leagues really firing before you embark on anything like a Club World Cup.
However, the reality is that it does not hold the same cachet at winning your domestic league. That is what a club will be remembered for most, and the same with the European title, but at the outset I don't expect the world club tournament to be as big.
It will mean different things to different clubs. Teams like Saracens, Leinster, Toulouse, and Wasps, who have won domestic titles and European cups, will probably want to win a world club competition, but for clubs who have yet to win a domestic title the strongest call is still that provided by local rivalries, and battling your way to the top of the league after a long, hard season. That is what you want to win most.
At the moment the competition format is not very clear, and you only have to look at the seeding for the 2023 World Cup to see that it is often difficult to get right. The crucial element is to arrive at a format which gives everyone a fair chance, and is uncomplicated.
On the positive side the Club World Cup provides a stage to see the world's best players, which is amazing – and the prospect of games like Leinster v Crusaders or La Rochelle v Queensland is an exciting prospect.
Initially, you would like to think that the Club World Cup organisers will be clever enough not to make the mistake of putting the final in Dubai, or Singapore, because they are halfway between the hemispheres. At the outset it should go to established rugby nations where it can draw on a big spectator base, before moving onto the global stage when it is established.
The only other critical factor is for the people who thought of the Club World Cup concept to explain to the rest of us why it makes perfect sense once every four years for there to be no European Cup champions, considering that it is currently the big biggest club showpiece tournament in either hemisphere.
