Official EPCR Champions Cup Preview Thread - A New Hope

total former

sydthebeat wrote: »

the guy has 2 european medals, 3 celtic league medals, 3 six nations, 4 triple crowns, 1 grand slam, 3 lions tours

he has nothing to prove by going to france

Don't think he'd be going there to prove anything.

iroced

thomond2006 wrote: »

I hope Italy gets it as they were shafted out of it this year (2015 Heineken Cup was supposed to be at San Siro). I doubt it's going to happen though and empty seats at Twickenham certainly won't help their chances.

San Siro would have definitely suited the Toulon fans. Much of a muchness for Clermont though.

total former wrote: »

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/apr/20/european-champions-cup-empty-twickenham-final

Oh dear...

Also of note, ze French have put in a bid for Marseille to host the 2016 final rather than Paris.

I don't get the suprise... France is in a deep economical crisis. Unemployment is reaching record heights. I don't know if the Celtic Tiger is back in the Emerald Isle but how can you expect that many French people to spend several hundreds of € for a single game of rugby?

total former wrote: »

Anyway, it's irrelevant. Realistically, Toulon and Clermont fans are going to looking at this thinking, right, I've just been to the European semi-final, the Top 14 playoffs are coming up, I'm not bothered going to London.

And this is also very true.

thomond2006 wrote: »

There's a thread on another forum speculating if the semi-final draws are/were rigged. All I can think is, if they were rigged you certainly wouldn't want to make it easy for the French to get through!

What's the link with French fans not travelling to London and wishing for a final in Marseille next year?

sydthebeat wrote: »

at the end of the day, the teams are from 2 cities with a combined population of less than 300,000

they are not going to fill a 82,000 stadium in a different country

total former wrote: »

I think that's in the same way that Dublin has a population of 400,000 though, it's based on the 'city limits'. Both cities would be much larger than that in reality.

Yeah. Toulon urban area (all the inter-connected towns in the surroundings of Toulon) is just above 600k inhabitants and Clermont one is close to 500k.
sydthebeat numbers are for the town themselves.
That said these urban area figures are recent "concepts" linked with the economical development of the towns. I would not give them that much credit in terms of local sport supporting capacity (I mean many people making these numbers would be from different areas/countries who came for work and/or to enjoy the French riviera in the case of Toulon and would have little connection to the local culture/sports/etc...).

To speak of an example I know very well (Montpellier) the town itself is about 260k people while the urban area is not that far from 600k. A lot of the now currently connected towns would not be particularly supportive of Montpellier (I mean in general not only rugby speaking). Some would shout for Nimes. Some are historically connected to the western part of Hérault and would shout for Béziers. Many "new" montpelliérains would actually support Marseille with a general anti-Paris bias. Which is absolute non-sense for the "real" Montpelliérain since Marseille is THE enemy.

Coming back to Toulon, they are circled by 2 historical football regions (Nice & Marseille). And I'd say chances are in Toulon urban area many people would follow football more than rugby. After all Toulon is a bit of an exception in that area of France..

To conclude, considering this and the fact the final is in London and ridiculously expensive, it'll already be a miracle if Twickers is half-full!

Maybe what they could do is offer both Toulon & Clermont budget deals to encourage their supporters to make the travel and enjoy the final.

shuffol

total former wrote: »

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/apr/20/european-champions-cup-empty-twickenham-final

Oh dear...

Also of note, ze French have put in a bid for Marseille to host the 2016 final rather than Paris.

Funny how Ali Williams suggests that a few locals might come to support Toulon as they've Steffon Armitage playing for them yet no mention of poor Delon.:pac:

Fireball07

Racing

shuffol wrote: »

Funny how Ali Williams suggests that a few locals might come to support Toulon as they've Steffon Armitage playing for them yet no mention of poor Delon.:pac:

Well I suppose he's going to miss the final anyway.

shuffol

Fireball07 wrote: »

Well I suppose he's going to miss the final anyway.

Didn't think it was confirmed.

Grandpa Hassan

sydthebeat wrote: »

the guy has 2 european medals, 3 celtic league medals, 3 six nations, 4 triple crowns, 1 grand slam, 3 lions tours

he has nothing to prove by going to france

Players go to France for a nice fat paycheck to set them up for life. Nothing else

thomond2006

Leinster

Grandpa Hassan wrote: »

Players go to France for a nice fat paycheck to set them up for life. Nothing else

More competitive league, change of scene, new challenge...?

its_phil

Grandpa Hassan wrote: »

Players go to France for a nice fat paycheck to set them up for life. Nothing else

Pretty much that black and white...

Grandpa Hassan

thomond2006 wrote: »

More competitive league, change of scene, new challenge...?

The players might say that. I don't believe them

I don't begrudge them either

thomond2006

Leinster

Grandpa Hassan wrote: »

The players might say that. I don't believe them

I don't begrudge them either

The money is the main factor but I do think what I mentioned plays a part too. Tbh if money was the only factor you would to Japan where the big names are paid ridiculous money for a very short season.

Sever Tomorrow

Nigel Owens announced as ref for the final.

thomond2006

Leinster

Paul Goze from the LNR wanted two legged semi-finals. If they could fit that into the season that would take the luck element out of the semi-final draw.

Buer

Glasgow

Even if the money wasn't superb, I'd consider a move to France. A completely different culture, learning a new language and vastly better weather would all be serious draws to a lot of people.

molloyjh

Leinster

Buer wrote: »

...vastly better weather...

Yeah I was looking forward to that last weekend. Got properly drowned on Sunday before the game.

bilston

Leinster

bilston wrote: »

I think that's fair enough, it is the biggest European club game of the season (and not in theory either) so you shouldn't expect to get tickets for peanuts.

Deleted User wrote: »

I absolutely do now though!

Many clubs offering 2 for 1 tickets at this stage.

I'm holding out for the scalpers outside the ground though.

irishbucsfan

Leinster

Deleted User wrote: »

Many clubs offering 2 for 1 tickets at this stage.

I'm holding out for the scalpers outside the ground though.

There'll be 2 for 0 tickets the night before the game the way sales are going, I'd imagine they'll be giving tickets away through clubs.

irishbucsfan

Leinster

On the other hand, thank god this wasn't the final that we sent to the San Siro. Hopefully the Munster-Leinster final of 2017 will be a better candidate.

bilston

Ulster

The EPCR really need to go back to a three week gap between knockout games, at least between the semi finals and final (to be honest I'd prefer a 4 week gap between the semis and the final). It completely devalues the Champions Cup final in my view.

With talk of a crowd of just 40,000 this is pretty much a disaster at this stage. The two week gap is a nonsense for supporters and players (recovering from injuries) alike and with a month of the season left after it's played it is much less of a showpiece occasion.

It also doesn't help either that the final will barely get a mention now in the UK media, albeit that is the nature of an all French final and is beyond anyone's control.

UnitedWeStand

http://planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,3551_45297,00.html

Cooper apparently not signed by Toulon now. Bizzare!

irishbucsfan

Leinster

irishbucsfan wrote: »

There'll be 2 for 0 tickets the night before the game the way sales are going, I'd imagine they'll be giving tickets away through clubs.

2 for £0 (£2 booking fee) for anyone who's bought Premiership Rugby final tickets...

Check yisser emails and get in touch with anyone who's got Prem final tickets for freebies I guess..

sydneybound

Poor feckless that paid £80 for the top tickets must be gutted as their going for £40 half price on London voucher websites. I reckon they'll go down even more, good enough for the RFU and the lot.

http://www.wowcher.co.uk/deals/london/deal-330883-detail/40-instead-80-priced-ticket-european-rugby/deal.html

When you put stuff and these sites you don't earn much yourself the voucher company takes the lions share.

rainbow kirby

Deleted User wrote: »

2 for £0 (£2 booking fee) for anyone who's bought Premiership Rugby final tickets...

Check yisser emails and get in touch with anyone who's got Prem final tickets for freebies I guess..

From the MRSC London branch FB page...

Cookiemunster

Leinster

sydneybound wrote: »

Poor feckless that paid £80 for the top tickets must be gutted as their going for £40 half price on London voucher websites. I reckon they'll go down even more, good enough for the RFU and the lot.

http://www.wowcher.co.uk/deals/london/deal-330883-detail/40-instead-80-priced-ticket-european-rugby/deal.html

When you put stuff and these sites you don't earn much yourself the voucher company takes the lions share.

They're now FREE from ticketmaster. Just the £2 booking fee. http://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/event/35004CF1F3BEADB2?page=tmuk&tmid=35004CF1F3BEADB2&did=uk15fr1vx&utm_source=EPCR%2520Free%2520Ticket%2520Offer%25202015&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Autoresponder%2520-%2520EPCR%2520Free%2520Tickets%25202015

Apparently the Clermont fan club has found out and fans are cancelling tickets en mass if they haven't already paid for then to get the freebies.

Greyian

Cookiemunster wrote: »

They're now FREE from ticketmaster. Just the £2 booking fee. http://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/event/35004CF1F3BEADB2?page=tmuk&tmid=35004CF1F3BEADB2&did=uk15fr1vx&utm_source=EPCR%2520Free%2520Ticket%2520Offer%25202015&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Autoresponder%2520-%2520EPCR%2520Free%2520Tickets%25202015

Apparently the Clermont fan club has found out and fans are cancelling tickets en mass if they haven't already paid for then to get the freebies.

That's gonna hurt the revenue of the new format a good bit.

phog

Cookiemunster wrote: »

They're now FREE from ticketmaster. Just the £2 booking fee. http://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/event/35004CF1F3BEADB2?page=tmuk&tmid=35004CF1F3BEADB2&did=uk15fr1vx&utm_source=EPCR%2520Free%2520Ticket%2520Offer%25202015&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Autoresponder%2520-%2520EPCR%2520Free%2520Tickets%25202015

Apparently the Clermont fan club has found out and fans are cancelling tickets en mass if they haven't already paid for then to get the freebies.

You couldn't make this stuff up.

And they thought when the unions were running this it was amateurish :eek:

errlloyd

Glasgow

That is an absolute disaster.

NoelJ

Cheers for this. Just got 2 free tickets. You don't need to have any other tickets which is mad!

phog

NoelJ wrote: »

Cheers for this. Just got 2 free tickets. You don't need to have any other tickets which is mad!

So anyone can pick up free tickets and not bother going making the exercise of giving away free tickets worthless.

Pure comedy.

irishbucsfan

Leinster

phog wrote: »

So anyone can pick up free tickets and not bother going making the exercise of giving away free tickets worthless.

Pure comedy.

It's an awful way to handle free tickets. I'm not in the country at the moment so I'm not sure if they tried to go down the clubs route first, but if they did they certainly didn't stick with it for long. Maybe giving them out through RFU clubs wouldn't be kosher.

Leinster

The waiting game pays off :pac: