Heineken Champions Cup: URC set to return to top eight qualification
- Published
Cardiff beat Ospreys on the final day of the United Rugby Championship to finish as the top Welsh side but none of Wales' four regions qualified for the play-offs
United Rugby Championship (URC) boss Martin Anayi has confirmed Heineken Champions Cup qualification is set to return to a meritocracy.
The league provides eight sides to Europe's premier club competition.
That is currently decided by the winners of four geographical pools and the next four top-ranked sides, but from next season it will revert to the top eight, regardless of country.
"It's highly likely we will revert back to a straight meritocracy," said Anayi.
Based on this year's standings that would mean no Welsh or Italian side would qualify for the Champions Cup. The new qualification process will be implemented for next season's URC tournament.
The top eight this season consisted of four Irish sides (Leinster, Ulster, Munster and Connacht), three from South Africa (Stormers, Bulls and Sharks) and Glasgow from Scotland.
But Cardiff, who finished 10th, take one of the spots instead of the eight-placed Sharks because they won the Welsh shield as the highest placed Welsh region.
For the first two URC seasons, alongside the league table, there were four pools created within the competition consisting of four teams.
They were called the Welsh, Irish, Scottish/Italy and South African shields and the four winners would be guaranteed a Champions Cup place even if they finished outside the top eight in the final URC table.
"The way it works now is we take the four geographical shield winners and next four highest placed sides in the league, and we did that because we wanted a broad range of teams in the Champions Cup," said Anayi.
"There was quite a vocal objective to that within some of our stakeholder groups who didn't want that. They said they would go with that for a two-year period and then we would review this summer.
"Unless it is unanimous to continue as we are, we will revert back to a straight meritocracy."
Anayi says it it is vital a Welsh side qualify for the URC play-offs after the failure to get a team in the top eight for the last two seasons.
"It is very important for Welsh sides to get in the play-offs and I think that will be good for the league," said Anayi
"There's some reason to be hopeful in Wales I believe.
"What we as a league would love to see is at least one of those teams do what Glasgow have done this year, and challenge at the top end of the competition.
"I believe that is possible, even in the short term, because you've got talent in Wales to retain and build off that basis.
"It will be challenging because they will reduce the cost base but they have to do that to ensure they can be sustainable and grow again.
Cutting costs
Finishing in the top eight for Ospreys, Cardiff, Dragons and Scarlets will be harder next season.
The four regions are facing financial cutbacks following the recent renegotiation of their funding agreement with the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU).
There will be a salary cap for 2023-24 of £5.2m for each of the four teams, which will be reduced to £4.5m the following season.
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Squads will become smaller and there are no proposed salary caps in any of the other countries.
Anayi says he will meet with WRU interim chief executive Nigel Walker and Professional Rugby Board (PRB) chair Malcolm Wall to discuss the changes.
"They are going to give us a lot more detail about how is this going to work and the plan," said Anayi.
"I think they see it as an opportunity to bring through the next generation of players in Wales.
"They feel like they've got a strong generation to come through and need the opportunity to play.
"Personally I like that, and there's a good opportunity to do that post-World Cup."
Anayi spoke about the league looking to break the 10,000 number for average crowds but the Welsh regions are not near that for their URC matches, which often do not benefit from any away support.
"We do have an amazing fan base in Wales," said Anayi.
"There's a lot of work for us to do at URC and EPCR [European Professional Club Rugby] in Wales and we need to focus on that and reconnect.
"Wales were world number ones and Grand Slam champions in 2019, while the Scarlets were close to getting through to a Challenge Cup final this season while playing some good rugby.
"I see the incredible work and you'd think there's no issues at all in Wales but for some reason that's not translating in fans coming back.
"Success goes a long way in Wales and we saw that when the Scarlets won the Pro 12, they had record crowds that season, and the season after.
"I was down watching Scarlets v Glasgow and it was busy. There were loads of people around the pubs in Llanelli."
Anayi backed the decision to retain four regions.
"They've made a decision to stick to four sides, and the cost base is as it is because they want four," he said.
"Three would mean the cost base would be higher. They've made a bold, good call to stick at four. It's good for them, and therefore it should be good for us."
It was also confirmed the URC 2023-24 season is due to begin on the weekend of 20 October, which is the same weekend as the World Cup semi-finals.