The future of a European club competition is mired in uncertainty despite Thursday’s decision by France’s leading sides to abort the tournament they had been planning with Premiership Rugby as a replacement for the Heineken Cup.
Although the announcement of Ligue Nationale de Rugby that it was pulling out of the Rugby Champions Cup was seen as a defeat for Premiership Rugby and a victory for the four RaboDirect Pro12 unions and the French Rugby Federation, which last week said the Heineken Cup would continue next season without the English, the French clubs have not left their partners isolated nor committed themselves to European Rugby Cup Ltd.
They said they were prepared to sign a new accord to take part in the Heineken Cup but on two conditions. The first was that the English clubs were willing to participate and the second was that a new body be set up in place of ERC to run it. A complication was that the clubs talked about the change not happening until the 2015-16 campaign and that next season in Europe would be a transitional one.
That raises the prospect of English clubs going without European competition next season. The chief executive of Premiership Rugby, Mark McCafferty, said he found it “hard to see us going back” but left the door ajar for a deal to participate in an ERC tournament for one final year. “If we can see there is a new structure to replace ERC and we have the detail of that, then something might be feasible,” he told the Press Association.
That would depend on BT Sport, which has a contract with the English clubs to cover cross-border matches from next season, agreeing to waive its rights. ERC has a television deal with Sky.
The president of the LNR, Paul Goze, denied his clubs had “gone into reverse gear” and added that, if their two conditions were met by February, they would agree to play from 2015-16 in two 20-team tournaments, currently the Heineken and Amlin Challenge cups, with the proceeds divided equally between the three leagues that supply teams to them: the Top 14, Premiership and Pro12.
The presidents of 12 of the 14 LNR clubs – Montpellier and Castres were the absentees – met in Orly along with seven second division sides to discuss the way ahead after the president of the French federation, Pierre Camou, had put pressure on them to abandon the Rugby Champions Cup and return to ERC, the body they last year gave notice of leaving at the end of the season, along with Premiership Rugby.
“I had spoken to the French before their meeting and the one surprise was the transition year,” said McCafferty. “I am not sure what they have in mind, whether they will take part in Europe next season if we are not involved, and need to talk to them again.
“My view is that it would be very difficult to start a new European tournament in 2015-16 because the World Cup is taking place then. It would be better to wait until the following season but it is clear that the position of the French clubs has not changed: they, like us, want a tournament that is meritocratic, financially fair and run by a different body from ERC.
“The French have been talking about governance on Uefa lines, a mix of unions and leagues, and we would need to look at that with them. The French clubs have not capitulated or abandoned us, though we would still like something to be set up next season.”
On the question of television coverage, McCafferty said: “I have spoken to BT and they want to find out exactly what LNR have in mind.”
French U-turn throws future of European club rugby into confusion
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