ONE OF THE worst aspects of the European Cup is the unfairness of the ‘neutral venue in the home country’ rule when it comes to the semi-final stage. The tournament rewards form in the quarter-finals by giving merit-based home ties but for some reason abandons it completely for the final four.
Unfortunately, this was seemingly the only thing the Anglo-French axis didn’t want changed when the tournament was renamed the Champions Cup and we are stuck with it again this year.
The EPCR have announced the potential venues for the semi-finals and if Leinster get past Bath, they will travel to either Marseille or Brighton.
If you were booking a holiday that decision would be a no-brainer but in this case a trip to the seaside in England would be considerably easier for Matt O’Connor’s men than travelling to the south of France as it would mean avoiding two-time European champions Toulon.
Here are the full permutations:
Champions Cup semi-finals – 18/19 April
RC Toulon v winners of Leinster Rugby v Bath Rugby
Stade Vélodrome, Marseille (capacity: 62,895)
OR
Wasps v winners Leinster Rugby v Bath Rugby
American Express Community Stadium, Brighton (capacity: 30,750)
ASM Clermont Auvergne v winners Racing Metro 92 v Saracens
Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, Saint-Etienne (capacity: 39,774)
OR
Northampton Saints v winners Racing Metro 92 v Saracens
Ricoh Arena, Coventry (capacity: 32,609)
Challenge Cup semi-finals – 17/18/19 April
Gloucester Rugby or Connacht Rugby v Exeter Chiefs or Newcastle Falcons
Kingsholm Stadium or The Sportsground
London Irish or Edinburgh Rugby v Newport Gwent Dragons or Cardiff Blues
Madejski Stadium or BT Murrayfield Stadium
Much like the way the venue for the final is announced in advance, the tournament would be better served for having neutral venues for the semi-finals as well.
In 2010 and 2011, Toulouse and Leinster met at the semi-final stage with the home team winning in each year. It would have been fascinating to see how the games would have played out if neither team had the advantage of playing in front of a partisan crowd.
