English dissent towards the ERC now official

[Teh Mite]

Cobblers, the unions create extra fixtures fore money.


The top clubs make most of their income away from rugby, the remainder is made from mostly season ticket sales (which wouldn't drop in price if the number of fixtures were lowered).

 

[irelandfan123]

It would be fun if an english team won it next 2 years unlikely as it is they would be feeling it

 

[Howzy]

seen this on bbc sport just shows how good our players really are when coming up against the likes of teams from france, wales and ireland.

 

[Teh Mite]

nothing non-Celtic fans haven't been saying for a few seasons now.

I expect several rabbo franchise DORs will be up in arms over the new priority changes when it comes into effect, and those who've been resting on their laurels will be shown up.

It'd be worse (ie fair) for them if survival was also at stake in the "domestic" competition rather then just HEC qualification. The coat-tail riding "dominance" would suddenly dry up.

 

[Tony Manx]

there is no way this squad is double the cost of Leicester's, that table must have budgets for more than just a salary

The figures quoted are the total budgets for the clubs total expenditure as there is a salary cap in place.....see other thread!!

 

[Teh Mite]

Also in reply to PD: Bordeaux have a salary budget of somewhere between 7.5-8 million.

Pounds that is. Not worthless Euros.

 

[lucky number 7]

I don't see how this will effect the top teams in the Rabo..

At the end of the day the strongest team will win it and they have done so for some time now.

 

[Teh Mite]

I don't see how this will effect the top teams in the Rabo..

At the end of the day the strongest team will win it and they have done so for some time now.

If the lower teams start taking it seriously and Leinster suddenly find themselves in 7th...

 

[lucky number 7]

Our Academy = the ****.

We'll be grand

 

[psychic duck]

Also in reply to PD: Bordeaux have a salary budget of somewhere between 7.5-8 million.

Pounds that is. Not worthless Euros.

there is no way this squad
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Bordeaux_B%C3%A8gles#Squad_2011-2012

could cost nearly double this squad
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saracens_F.C.#Current_squad

Saracens have 17 internationals in their squad
Bordeaux-Bègles have 9 internationals in their squad (2 of which are from Spain and 1 from Romania and presumably are very cheap)

 

[Teh Mite]

Wasps used to say things like tht.

 

[Teh Mite]

there is no way this squad
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Bordeaux_Bègles#Squad_2011-2012

could cost nearly double this squad
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saracens_F.C.#Current_squad

Saracens have 17 internationals in their squad
Bordeaux-Bègles have 9 internationals in their squad (2 of which are from Spain and 1 from Romania and presumably are very cheap)

What's that got to do with the price of fish?

Oh yeah, [strike]know it all[/strike] fill in the blanks...

 

[psychic duck]

Wasps used to say things like tht.

What's that got to do with the price of fish?

Oh yeah, [strike]know it all[/strike] fill in the blanks...

I don't know what you're talking about? the point is that Saracens squad personnel have much bigger reputations and international experience than Bordeaux so it is hard to imagine that their squad costs nearly half as much

I would doubt that Saracens signings John Smit, Steve Borthwick, Kelly Brown, Richard Wigglesworth, Charlie Hodgson, David Strettle or Chris Ashton would be on lesser wages than Bordeaux's imports Ole Avei, Cameron Treloar, Rohan Kitshoff, Heini Adams, Nicolás Sánchez, Blair Connor or Lachie Munro

The figures quoted are the total budgets for the clubs total expenditure as there is a salary cap in place.....see other thread!!

Edit: just saw Tony Manx's post, so that €8m figure (about £6.5m) was the total expenditure budget, NOT the salary budget

 

[lucky number 7]

Wasps used to say things like tht.

Wasps didn't win 3 Heineken cups in 4 years , We've slowly built up a good panel due to a good youth system and a very strong culture of school players feeding.. and we have the backing of a strong governmental body.

 

[Groundhog]

there is no way this squad
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Bordeaux_B%C3%A8gles#Squad_2011-2012

could cost nearly double this squad
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saracens_F.C.#Current_squad

Saracens have 17 internationals in their squad
Bordeaux-Bègles have 9 internationals in their squad (2 of which are from Spain and 1 from Romania and presumably are very cheap)

Nice squad Saracens needs more Bruce Reihana and stuff.

 

[Teh Mite]

Wasps didn't win 3 Heineken cups in 4 years , We've slowly built up a good panel due to a good youth system and a very strong culture of school players feeding.. and we have the backing of a strong governmental body.

They did win 2 in 3 and used to have an awesome academy. RFU bias was hardly hidden either.

Familiar?

 

[Howzy]

looks asif wasps are trying to build a strong team for next season with signing likes james haskell and tom palmer

 

[Peat]

They did win 2 in 3 and used to have an awesome academy. RFU bias was hardly hidden either.

Familiar?

Wasps academy's still pretty damn strong tbh.

The big difference though comes in that Leinster are settled in a big stadium that they fill, not rattling around High Wycombe. No chance of financial instability there. Comparisons are better drawn with Leicester - even in fallow years, they'll likely be there or there abouts.

 

[Rinzler]

Maybe there's the possibility of changes to the H-Cup by simply reducing the number of teams to 20 (5 groups of 4), allowing 8 teams to qualify from the Rabo 12 but introducing some sort of play-off tournament (possibly games between teams that finished 7-10 in the league, or a game against a French or English team for those that finished 7 and 8). This would then make where you finished all important in the Rabo 12, deciding the ease of which you qualify. It may also be a good idea to bring the H-cup final forward into April, ensuring it isn't in the middle of the intense final weeks of the Aviva.

 

[King_D'Arcy]

I do think that it's unfair that all but 1 rabodirect team automatically qualify for the HC. allowing the 8 best teams of the previous season seems like a much more fair system.

However, this doesn't excuse the RFU's petulance. The Heineken Cup's format hasn't changed in the last 12 years. I didn't see the RFU threatening to drop out when Wasps and leicester were winning ***les. Their problem isn't really that an excess of Rabo teams get in. They just have their knickers in a twist because their teams aren't winning. the fact of the matter is Leinster would've won the last 2 Heineken Cups regardless of whether 8 or 11 rabo teams got in.