Is the Heineken Cup played on a level playing field ?

[Getofmeland]

Watching the Quarter Final games of the Heineken Cup, 2 thoughts occurred to me, well 2 thoughts about the teams I was watching, several thoughts occurred to me about the individual refereeing performances (such as when ARE you allowed to stand IN a ruck and pick up the ball and why does nobody know that supporting your weight by putting both hands on the ground in a ruck is "bridging" and has been illegal for at least 10 years). The 2 thoughts regarding the teams where; how can teams like Leicester who operate under a £4 million salary cap in their domestic league can be expected to compete with teams like Toulouse who operate under a salary cap of around £7 million in theirs? The second thought that crossed my mind, which really evolved from the first, was how could a team like Leinster largely made up of albeit very well paid home grown talent compete with a team of international superstars like Rugby Club Toulonnais. Gathering information regarding different clubs finances would probably require some sort of industrial espionage so I thought I'd instead look at just how many "overseas" players (and by "overseas" players I mean players born outside the country in which their club is based, or who do not qualify to play for the National side of that country as oppose to players who do not have European passports) each team named in their Quarter Final squads. A point made all the more relevant when Exeter Chiefs were charged by the Aviva Premiership with "selecting 3 overseas players in a match-day squad" against Bath. In France Top 14 clubs are also subject to restrictions surrounding their number of overseas players, but currently provided 50% of their playing staff are classed as "home grown" then they are not breaking any rules.

Of the 8 teams who qualified for the Quarter Finals of the Heineken Cup 4 of them where French clubs, so I think it's a reasonable assumption that their higher salary cap is beneficial when it comes to competing with teams from other countries. When it comes to the number of overseas players that each team picked in their Quarter Final line ups I was slightly surprised that Biarritz Olympique had selected the most "overseas" players with 11 of their match-day 23 being foreigners, however I wasn't surprised to discover that the team who named the second most overseas players in their match-day 23 were R C Toulonnais, 10 of their 23 players where from outside France, including 5 English players. Even more surprising to me was the news that the team who named the fewest overseas players in the match-day squad, with just 3 of their 23 being "overseas" players was Stade Toulousain all 3 of their overseas "stars" were tight 5 forwards with props Daan Human, Census Johnston and second row Patricio Albacete making the starting 15.

7 was the most popular number of "overseas" players, of the 8 Quarter Final teams 4 of them, Leicester Tigers, Ulster, Northampton and Union Sportive Arlequins Perpignanais each had 7 foreigners. The Leinster v Leicester Quarter Final in Dublin was the game which involved the fewest "overseas" players, the home team fielded 4 foreign players, including 3 front row players, Cook Islander Stan Wright and South African's Richardt Strauss and Heinke Van Der Merwe, their other was New Zealand born Fijian Fullback Isa Nacewa. Leicester Tigers, a team usually known for their success with young players who graduate to the senior side from their academy side and who often sign home grown players rather than foreigners somewhat surprised me with their 7 "overseas" players, but an injury to an English Second Row in George Skivington was responsible for the inclusion of Australian born Tongan International Steve Mafi. 6 would still have been more foreign players than I would have expected from the English Champions but their conservative team selection may have been as a result of them believing that players with International experience where required in a hostile environment like the Aviva Stadium.

The only possible reason I can offer for the apparent lack of restrictions surrounding the number of "overseas" players within European club competition is the chance such rules could legally be classed as a "restraint of trade" but as such regulations exist within domestic competitions I can't see it being upheld. A restraint of trade agreement is considered to be void in incidences where there is an interest that merits protection and the development of a countries home grown rugby players would surely merit such protection. I assume that a universal salary cap within European competition would be very difficult, if not costly to police so maybe ERC can be forgiven for not proposing such regulation, but if the RFU and other unions want their teams to compete with the big spending French clubs in future they will surely need to reconsider their current regulations.

The key point to be emphasized here is that with the exception of Northampton, who selected the same number of foreigners as their opposition, the teams who fielded the most "overseas" players lost their Quarter Finals. So while some sort of universal salary cap for Northern Hemisphere rugby would make it a level playing field maybe teams, particularly the big spenders of French rugby would be better served ploughing their money into better coaches and developing home grown talent instead of importing megastars from abroad.

Blog by @Buck_Mitchell

 

[King_D'Arcy]

Nathan Hynes

 

[DorceOutSide]

leinster and the other irish teams have a great academy set up so theres no chance of the team being full of "overseas" players

 

[@buck_mitchell]

I think it mentions that Leinster had the 2nd fewest "overseas" players if you bother to read it "Dorce". But I wouldn't go getting too confident over the Irish provinces ability to produce star players, where were Ulster before Pienaar, Wannenberg, Muller, Diack and Botha showed up ? Living off a Heineken Cup and a Celtic League ***le that they won about a decade ago if I remember correctly.

 

[monkeypigeon]

I think it mentions that Leinster had the 2nd fewest "overseas" players if you bother to read it "Dorce". But I wouldn't go getting too confident over the Irish provinces ability to produce star players, where were Ulster before Pienaar, Wannenberg, Muller, Diack and Botha showed up ? Living off a Heineken Cup and a Celtic League ***le that they won about a decade ago if I remember correctly.

Eh yeh, and they're still doing that with Pienaar, Wannenberg, Muller, Diack and Botha. Doesn't mean they haven't started producing good players.

And what does 'Dorce' have to do with any of this. he didn't even comment.



Good read by the way. Interesting stuff to consider.

 

[Feicarsinn]

I wouldn't call Toulouse a team of international super stars. Toulouse are the exception to the current trend of French clubs IMO. Always bristling with French talent and with no more foreigners than say my own Leinster.


EDIT: Misread Toulon for Toulouse, apologies. Having about five overseas players in your 23 man squad should be the going rate IMO. You need to have a certain local pride to succeed at the very highest level. That said, you can see why Toulon have opted to fill their squad with star imports. They were no where a few years ago. To try and build up from the bottom, revolutionising their youth structure would have taken about a decade, too long for an amibtious sugar daddy.

 

[TRF_Cymro]

Good blog article, another good read. Enjoying them, cause good debate and I think you have some real valid points Buck. Keep it up.

 

[King_D'Arcy]

I think it mentions that Leinster had the 2nd fewest "overseas" players if you bother to read it "Dorce". But I wouldn't go getting too confident over the Irish provinces ability to produce star players, where were Ulster before Pienaar, Wannenberg, Muller, Diack and Botha showed up ? Living off a Heineken Cup and a Celtic League ***le that they won about a decade ago if I remember correctly.

What? My comment was simply made to highlight the fact that you left out Nathan Hynes in the list of overseas players Leinster fielded against Leicester. I also don't know why you're choosing to rub Ulster's shortcomings in my face considering I support Leinster...

 

[Shaggy]

Interesting read - I must admit that I probably haven't watched as much of the Heineken Cup as I promised myself I would, but Leicester in particular, always struck me as a club that does use a lot of overseas players. I know it's not exactly the same thing, but I remember watching them play and beat South Africa a couple of years ago, and it seemed a little like the United Nations V South Africa to me

 

[TRF_Olyy]

I know it's not exactly the same thing, but I remember watching them play and beat South Africa a couple of years ago, and it seemed a little like the United Nations V South Africa to me

That match was played during the International period though so all of their England internationals (of which Leicester traditionally have a fair few of) were away with England

Tigers do have a fair few foreign players on their books but they do have quite a few English/home-grown talents on their books too