The South African team’s arrival in Europe is not the answer to the biggest Champions Cup question.

We live in a world where Australia participates in the Eurovision Song Contest, and with the exception of Canada, American teams compete for baseball’s World Series title every year.

S.To that end, let’s first put aside any worries about the South African team making their European debut this weekend and misnaming their destinies and focus on what that means on the pitch. .

For better or worse, Harlequin’s journey to Durban to face off with sharks represents a new dawn for what was once considered the blue ribbon contest of gaming. Silence is understandable.

Now, for those unfamiliar with the Unified Rugby Championship, the opening South African final between the Stormers and Bulls is just one aspect of the big ball experiment.

The sight of silverware being lifted in Cape Town confirms a faster-than-expected challenge to Leinster’s hegemony, and off-the-pitch events will make just as many headlines.

The emergence of a new coronavirus variant around this time last year has made quarantines at travel teams’ hotels worrying, and disease-related issues have hit tour parties more recently.

In fact, about five years after the event, it was still on the air when prostitute Scott Baldwin injured his hand after being bitten by a lion during the telecast of the Osprey beating the shark on Friday night.

URC desperately needs a new approach, greater competition and something to spark interest, but it’s tempting to wonder if the South African could be the solution to the problems plaguing the Champions Cup.

The competition has endured several problems since its inception in 1995. Despite numerous setbacks, including the British boycott of 1998/99, the threat of reunification by France in 1997, and what was seen as a failed rebranding and restructuring in 2014/15, clubs in the northern hemisphere continued to grow. There were no highlights. The season is not so important as to prevent its occurrence.
But the pool stages of the last two seasons have been a comedy due to Covid, which was limited to just two games in 2020/21 before a string of cancellations last season, and then the wrath of a team whose fate was not decided. . field. .

With another winter gone and the natural hope that the pool stages will be at least fully played out for the first time since the pandemic, the nature of the competition still leaves much to be desired.

Last season saw some quality draws as the last 16 men played in one game instead of home and away this season, but the 24 teams were split in two, with a top spot from each advance. This is the 3rd year of the pool format for 8 people. In previous four-team pools that have existed for years, the format is unimaginative.

Even if 16 of the 24 teams make the play-offs, the competition will continue into the spring, especially on the drawn Ulster sides, England, France, URC and Leicester, Montpellier, Stormers and La Rochelle.

South Africans are finding it harder than ever to predict who will lift the trophy at the Aviva Stadium in May. After two years of high-level competition, it goes without saying that Mark McCall’s Saracens his team is back.

But I’m afraid the Sharks, Stormers, and Bulls are the answer to a different question than the one the organizers probably need to answer. This remains a pool stage format.

Source: Belfast Telegraph

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