The Vodacom United Rugby Championship is set for some major changes - including returning tmeritocracy for qualification to the Heineken Champions’ Cup, better travel arrangements and longer tours for South African sides and a possible women’s URC competition.
URC chief executive Martin Anayi said there was a proposal - which needs unanimous approval from all 16 clubs in the tournament - that the eight qualification spots should go back to a meritocracy, rather than the shield system that has been in operation in the first two years of the competition.
This season the Cell C Sharks missed out on qualifying, even though they finished eighth, because the competition structure meant a Welsh team - Cardiff - who finished 10th, had to be included as they won the Welsh shield.
Anayi said it was likely that it would return to a meritocracy if the clubs agreed.
"I think that’s most likely. 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,” he said.
“We also said, because there a quite vocal objection to that within some of our stakeholder groups who didn't want that but they said they would go with that for a two-year period and then we would review this summer.
"But unless it is unanimous to continue as we are, we will revert back to a straight meritocracy."
NO 'DESTINATION FINAL'
Anayi also added that the current format of the highest-ranked side hosting the URC final would continue, and the traditional “Destination final” - which has been used in European competitions, would no longer apply.
“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.”
EASIER TRAVEL
When it comes to the travel concerns that have dogged South African teams this season and have made long 40-hour journeys a norm while European flights more than ever before, there were plans to address this, including making the tours longer to ensure less frequent flights.
Anayi did concede that since the plans for South Africa’s inclusion were drawn up, the price of an average ticket had gone up 35 per cent.
“That inflation has been quite difficult,” he explained about the behind-the-scenes logistics.
The cost of the European teams travelling to SA is covered ‘centrally’ by the URC, while the South African Rugby Union covers the cost of the SA teams’ travel.
“There is a hell-of-a-lot more we need to do,” he admitted adding that there was a move to find better “routes and scheduling” to cut down on travel time. Anayi expected SA Rugby to sign off on slightly longer tours to combat thisi.
“It will result in only two tours, rather than three or four tours,” he said. “To reduce flights, would be to add another match to the tour. When it’s a four-match tour, teams can settle into a location and get integrated into their hotel.”
Charter flights were also an option, but Anayi said URC are “trying to make it more direct and at convenient times, while expanding the number of business class seats available.
“There is a very low number of business class seats available on those routes and there is an over-subscription.”
The URC boss also said the likely start date of the next season would be on the weekend of October 20-22, the same weekend of the Rugby World Cup semifinals.