Heineken Cup knockout rounds should be over two legs

[Getofmeland]

I think you'll find Cornish Pirates have Won!!

 

[King_D'Arcy]

If we had the technical wizards of 4chan or 1 of those intense internet forums someone would be posting a report about this on the BBC Sport homepage now

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Maybe the knockout stages in the World Cup should also be played over 2 legs...

No three legs. Home, away and neutral matches.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

All world cup matches should be neutral,
As such I vote that New Zealand aren't allowed to take part this year, and all of their matches are declared a walkover to the opposition.

 

[lucky number 7]

All world cup matches should be neutral,
As such I vote that New Zealand aren't allowed to take part this year, and all of their matches are declared a walkover to the opposition.

Ireland would still lose ...

 

[100%Munster]

If a team deserves to win the heineken cup they should be able to beat any side anywhere

 

[roryjbd]

It would make the first leg crap as there won't be the dramatics of teams going for the last minute drop goal or edging out a win.

 

[psychic duck]

It would make the first leg crap as there won't be the dramatics of teams going for the last minute drop goal or edging out a win.

no, it would mean both teams would play their absolute hardest for 80 minutes to get as much of a lead or less of a deficit for the second match

and there can still be all that in the second leg anyway, like Munster's miracle match which is one of the first matches people think when it comes to late drama

 

[staph.glorious]

This was more of a bugbear for followers of European rugby when Italian sides were a certain five-pointer, home or away. Now the Heineken Cup groups are beginning to level out in terms of a contest. The challenge of not only topping a pool, but vying for a home quarter final is part of the thrill of the competition. This must be maintained.

The only flaw of the Heineken Cup (and the Amlin Challenge, perhaps) is the draw for semi-final advantage. I should think that the seeding achieved from the six pools is worthy of being carried over one more round to the semi-finals. In the absence of home-and-away knockout matches, the luck-of-the-draw must be abolished.

I'm mostly echoing 'snoopy snoopy dog dog' from Page 1 of this thread:

The four highest seeds get home draws in the quarter final. The same should happen for the semi final. I don't believe there's room in the calender to add a second semi final leg.

 

[psychic duck]

This was more of a bugbear for followers of European rugby when Italian sides were a certain five-pointer, home or away. Now the Heineken Cup groups are beginning to level out in terms of a contest. The challenge of not only topping a pool, but vying for a home quarter final is part of the thrill of the competition. This must be maintained.

The only flaw of the Heineken Cup (and the Amlin Challenge, perhaps) is the draw for semi-final advantage. I should think that the seeding achieved from the six pools is worthy of being carried over one more round to the semi-finals. In the absence of home-and-away knockout matches, the luck-of-the-draw must be abolished.

I'm mostly echoing 'snoopy snoopy dog dog' from Page 1 of this thread:

I'm not too bothered about quarter finals as the home advantage is not given out randomly

but I insist semi finals should be two legs, to as you say abolish "the luck-of-the-draw" element of the competition

also I don't buy this Italian teams are no longer a guaranteed five point home and away win

yes I agree they are improving and Aironi did have a freak win and Treviso ran Leicester close

but looking at the overall 12 matches they played combined, they conceded a try bonus point every match and there were scores such as 62-15, 44-9, 55-16, 43-6

(I'm not sure they try their best in all the away matches)

Aironi had a points difference of -146 and Treviso -139, the next lowest was -84

for the last two seasons the two best runner ups have come from the group with the Italian sides in

I agree they are improving and will improve further but they are still the two teams you most want to have in your pool, and people should stop saying as it's a fact that it's not easy to get five points against them, over the last two years there has been three occasions where they haven't been a five point victory for the opposition

that's 1 in 8 matches

 

[staph.glorious]

also I don't buy this Italian teams are no longer a guaranteed five point home and away win

Yeah, I kind of walked in with a bad cliché there.

But if you have nothing against the home quarter final, why not maintain the seedings for a semi-final then?

 

[DorceOutSide]

then all the french sides would lose

 

[warrior fan]

I don't think the Heineken Cup is broke, but I certainly think that a 2 legged semi final would polish up an already pretty good competition. For the Great British sides, there is the weekends of the pointless, non competition of the Anglo-Welsh cup that could be scrapped in order to free up 6 weekends (including the semi and final).

From an English point of view, what would be perfect for me would be if we scrapped the anglo welsh and made the premiership a 14 team premiership. This would then leave 2 weekends free (which would have previously been the anglo welsh semi final and final, which would could be used for a home & away semi final of the Heineken Cup. Or alternatively, scrap the anglo welsh cup, but leave the prem at 12 and leave 4 of the weekends free to help avoid player burnout and help free up weekends to play postponed fixtures and just have 2 weekends for a 2 legged heineken cup semi final.

Either of these systems would surely make more money for clubs, and get rid of the shite that is the anglo welsh cup that no-one cares about till the final. The top seeds could also still keep their advantage in the quarter finals, and could also chose which leg of the semi the wanted to play at home- which can also be a massive advantage in sport and especially rugby, so the advantage of finishing top seed wouldn't be lost at all.