stayback wrote: » anyone know when the draws are on for the champions cup 2022
Cookiemunster wrote: » FFS. A week between the QF and SF just so they can have a 2 leg last 16? There are the same amount of rounds as with the classic groups of 6 format. Why the fuk can't they just go back to that instead of the ridiculous group stage they've come up with?
thomond2006 wrote: » Round of 16 over two legs, that will be ticket earner.
Jump_In_Jack wrote: » One reason I can think of is that the bottom 8 teams go into the challenge cup, so the 16 teams remaining probably want to get a guarantee of Home match before exiting, and the Home&Away gives them guaranteed income from a Home match. Otherwise it could be tempting in the qualifiers to give up early (ruins the qualification stage of the competition) and drop down to the Challenge Cup and try to get a Home match there perhaps.
Cookiemunster wrote: » They could have just reverted to the 'classic' format. Three guaranteed home matches for everyone.
Podge_irl wrote: » Absolutely nobody is deliberately losing a match to drop into a competition no one cares about just to get a home game. Anyway, 2-legged games are a terrible idea at the best of times. But this looks particularly crap.
Red Silurian wrote: » Assuming it's 8 groups of 3 with the top 2 qualifying for the Round of 16 and not the completely ridiculous 2 groups of 12 setup they had last season? Not too bad if so Clubs are desperate for a cash injection and Munster in particular always screwed their season ticket holders increased prices for knockout games
Lost Ormond wrote: » How have Munster screwed ST holders? Ad its not going to be groups of 3. It will be the 2 groups of 12 as more likelihood of greater competition, going to final round to decide qualifiers for knockout stage which isnt as likely with groups of 3
Red Silurian wrote: » The 2 groups of 12 we had last year had every top tier side playing the lowest tiered sides resulting in some very one sided match ups with 5 teams coming out with maximum points (4 on merit alone) and some crazy scorelines being racked up With 8 groups of 3 (Top 2 going to last 16) you would have much more interesting matches and a much more fair way of deciding winners
Cookiemunster wrote: » Next years pool stage has been confirmed as the same format as last year. With a return to 9 weekends I think it's ridiculous that they didn't revert to 6 pools of 4 that worked for 15 years and was loved by the fans.
crisco10 wrote: » I don't get it at all. The "group stage" last year was a bit of a farce, but all understandable in the times of COVID etc etc. But to adopt it as the format going forward just seems insane. The groups of 4 threw up so many great weekends, from the Christmas back to backs and the mathematically challenging week 6. I tend to agree with Awec, this to me looks like the start of the erosion of the tournament.
Draw is on now
Gotta say all the Irish clubs can be happy enough with that, all four have a great shout to make it though based on that.
What a grim format.
Those behind it have managed to destroy the Champions Cup.
When are we expecting fixtures -> weekends?