While there may be some structural changes coming down the track, CEO Martin Anayi has said he is keen for the United Rugby Championship’s home final format to be retained for the foreseeable future.
Whereas some showpiece deciders in the previous incarnations of a competition that began as the Celtic League in 2001 have been held at predetermined venues, it was decided in advance of last season’s inaugural campaign that the highest ranked team in the URC would be afforded the opportunity to play host to a final.
There is always room for the competition to evolve and Anayi acknowledged that next season will more than likely see qualification for the European Champions Cup reverting to a more traditional top-eight meritocracy rather than the current system that is based heavily around the various shield competitions for each union. Yet when it comes to the final weekend of the URC itself, Anayi doesn’t envisage any alteration for the time being.
“We moved away from the ‘Destination Final’ when the South African teams came in, largely because obviously you could have two South African teams in a European ‘Destination Final’ and that might be tricky. Which in year one, we obviously had with Stormers versus Bulls. So we’ve moved away to a highest ranked team route,” Anayi explained.
“That’s why this weekend is really interesting, because if Leinster win they’ve got a final in the Aviva Stadium. If Munster win and Stormers win, then they’re down in Cape Town. That’s why we’ve gone that route and that is really, really tricky for us, but actually this year there is an extra gap of a week between the Champions Cup final in Dublin.
“So we’ll have a bit more time to put it on logistically than we did last year, which was a five-day turnaround. For us, I think the home final route is the way to go and what we should stick to.”
Anayi also elaborated on the possibility of the URC developing its own women’s league and the potential for a European women’s competition, akin to the Champions Cup in the men’s game.
“That’s a key initiative internally for us, and over 50 per cent of our workforce are women. They are very, very keen, as I am, to see a women’s competition of some description. We’re really keen on talking to the Premier 15s and learning a lot of lessons from their learning through the process the RFU have run with that.
“We want to be really integrated at union level and at World Rugby level. Lots and lots of conversations are ongoing. The desire is absolutely there. I think there comes a point where you have to piece this all together and say ‘right, this is what we’re going to do’.
“We’re really keen to see an EPCR women’s competition of some description as well. Because it’s very important that we’ve got that on the agenda also there. We’re trying to talk to our French colleagues and as I say, we’re already talking to the Premier 15s. There has absolutely got to be a competition in there somewhere, we just want to make sure that it’s as sustainable as possible,” added Anayi, who is a current board member of the EPCR.
Anayi also said the start date for next season’s URC will more than likely be the weekend of October 20th-22nd – the same point that the semi-finals of the Rugby World Cup are due to take place.
