The minute the United Rugby Championship (URC) final was confirmed to be played in Pretoria between the Bulls and Glasgow Warriors, the internet immediately went into debate over travel.
Now travel is not a new topic in rugby circles since South African sides traded Super Rugby for the URC, with many teams choosing to leave their star players at home when making the trip up north or south depending.
This time around the complaints came primarily from Glasgow Warriors fans, many of whom saw it as nearly impossible to plan and make the journey all the way to South Africa within a week. Of course, South African fans were quick to respond about the difficulties they face getting a visa to go up north, let alone affording it.
With the debate raging on we took a two-pronged approach by conducting a vote in one of our articles earlier this week, with four options to choose from and we also opened the floor for people to send their thoughts to Planet Rugby.
Vote
Let’s start with the vote by looking at all the options and their performance:
Option 1: Drop South African sides – 18%
Option 2: Use a geographically neutral finals venue – 3%
Option 3: Neutral finals venue changing every year – 24%
Option 4: Leave it as is – 54%
*At the time of writing
The overwhelming majority felt the best decision is to leave it as is and this could well be because it is not always guaranteed there will be a travel issue for the final. URC I had two teams from the same region when the Bulls travelled to the Stormers.
It is surprising to see as much as 18% feeling the South African sides should be dropped despite the commercial benefits of having them in the league and that is not even considering the quality they add to the competition.
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What YOU said
Now of course when approaching a complex issue like this there are more than four options to consider, which is why we put it to our readers to share their thoughts.
Naturally, there were several calls for an extra week between the semi-finals and Grand Final but realistically that is not possible with the rugby calendar already jam-packed as is.
Two particular opinions stood out from the rest with Leinster fan Mark Macken vouching for the format of the competition as it is.
“What you didn’t mention as a positive to the status quo is that it provides every URC game with jeopardy leading into the final round 18 and the subsequent playoffs,” Macken wrote.
“Every team realises how important home advantage is. Munster were favourites to win but how dramatic was that for Bulls fans to see Glasgow win? It gives fans another reason to be invested.
“Also the top 8 finish order has real significance as to where in the top 8 each team finishes. In short, it’s something unique to URC and it adds extra jeopardy to the competition in my opinion.”
Another reader, Fred Scheepers, offered a totally different view on the matter. Scheepers believes the responsibilities of hosting the finals should be passed between the nations and he feels while it takes away focus on finishing league positions, it could help for alignment with European competitions, the Champions and Challenge Cups. He concluded with another idea on how the play-offs could take place.
“I like the idea of neutral venues chosen a year in advance so that one can plan for it from a visa, travel, flights point of view etc. – perhaps rotate the final venue amongst the pools, Ireland host one year, Wales the next etc. When it is Ireland’s turn again then choose a different venue – if the previous venue was Leinster, then the next is one of the other three team’s grounds. If it is too small, then the national stadium,” Scheepers wrote.
“I also get it that it might take away the emphasis on where a team finishes in the top 4 or 8, but that could contribute to teams fielding weakened teams in the Champions or Challenge Cup.”
“Another option could be that the teams finishing first & second automatically qualify for the semis, and teams that finish third, fourth, fifth and sixth play-off for the other two slots. I know it reduces the number of teams in the play-offs, but what is a team that finished seventh or eighth in a 16 league team doing in the play-offs – chances are they will get knocked out straight away anyway, this keeps the play-offs more competitive I think.”
Have your say
Thank you once again to all those who shared their thoughts on the matter. It does not stop there, if you have anything to contribute to the ongoing debate or ANY topics in rugby union reach out to us using the email planetrugbyeditor@planetsport.com and you could get featured.
It is also very nearly time for the Test season to start so it is the last chance to join our SuperBru pool where you can face up to our writers. Click HERE to join.
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