A Heineken Plate Competition

Now that we're at the business end of the season, and folks are looking at league positions, KO games, remaining fixtures and the probability of rotating squads to target games, what are the thoughts of a secondary KO competition for the HC non-qualifiers (instead of just the three who parachute down to the Amlin).

The hypothetical scenario is that the next best eight teams from HC pools go into a Euro Plate competition. On this years results that would have quarter-finals as:

Biarritz v Saints
Quins v Ospreys
Scarlets v Glaws
Glasgow v Leicester
(or some other fixture list depending on how seedings are worked out from the pool results).

Last season:
Clermont v Glasgow
Wasps v Ospreys
Munster v Bath
Blues v Scarlets


Would this be seen as a worthwhile competition, or merely a distraction from the leagues?
Might it add even more incentive to the last knockings of the pool games for those that cannot qualify for HC but might qualify for the Plate?
Better than the Amlin parachute or not?

I would have said no until I saw the fixtures. The Scarlets would have been in the semi-final last season gutted.

Being serious I think hte dropping down to the Amlin Cup is probably a better option, as if there was a Euro Plate below the HEC and above the Amlin Cup then the Amlin would be seen as a totally worthless competition, and would teams in it really give a flying one? At the moment, with the parachute thing, a team playing in the Amlin Cup will need to be a HEC quality side (ok, not top side but high up), in order to lift the trophy, which would prove they are worthy of a HEC spot the following season. Also IMO it raises the interest in the tournament.

I am not a fan of this. The secondary competition is already the Amlin.

Neither am I am fan of teams who have failed in the HC dropping down to the Amlin.

Don't want another competition where some clubs can artificially inflate their European ranking points.

We have the Amlin.

beshocked wrote:I am not a fan of this. The secondary competition is already the Amlin.

Neither am I am fan of teams who have failed in the HC dropping down to the Amlin.

Don't want another competition where some clubs can artificially inflate their European ranking points.

+1

Though it is stupid that we have 6 groups in the HC - should be 4 or 8.

LondonTiger wrote:

beshocked wrote:I am not a fan of this. The secondary competition is already the Amlin.

Neither am I am fan of teams who have failed in the HC dropping down to the Amlin.

Don't want another competition where some clubs can artificially inflate their European ranking points.

+1

Though it is stupid that we have 6 groups in the HC - should be 4 or 8.

True London Tiger. How about expand the HC to 32? 8 pools of 4. This would allow more teams from abroad into the Amlin such as from Georgia,Portugal,Russia etc.

The 32 could be 12 from Rabo, 10 from AP, 10 from Top 14. Alternatively could be 12 from Rabo, 8 from AP and from Top 14, 4 places for emerging nations.

In the Rabo, of the play-off contenders, Ospreys, and Glasgow have a rest weekend coming up, while Scarlets have the option to prioritise Rabo over Amlin or vice versa.
Similar situation in Jeff and T14, with Tigers, Saints, Glaws, Castres, plus Biarritz and Quins with the Amlin option.

So failure in KO competitions enhances the possibility of success in leagues?

On a mercenary level, there would be 4+2+1 games at, let's say, 10k bums on seats at £35 per bum in the Plate competition to enhance the coffers. That's somewhere around £2.5million squid (gross) added to rugby income in Europe, plus TV and sponsorship on top.

The possibility of Plate qualification would mean nearly all of the HC pool contenders go into the last rounds with something to play for, minimising dead rubbers or teams just going through the motions.

LondonTiger wrote:

beshocked wrote:I am not a fan of this. The secondary competition is already the Amlin.

Neither am I am fan of teams who have failed in the HC dropping down to the Amlin.

Don't want another competition where some clubs can artificially inflate their European ranking points.

+1

Though it is stupid that we have 6 groups in the HC - should be 4 or 8.

Here's a new one. And a v2 first.
Both beshoked and I agree on two separate and opposingly sourced posts.

Here's one for you beshocked - +1