"Born to rule"? They aren't absentee landlords they are self made business men!Donny B. wrote:Once again, you only read what you want to read. I'll always support Leinster no matter what they play in, but that doesn't mean I have to like how a great tournament has been destroyed to placate the paranoia and excuse-making of born-to-rule, might-is-right lowlifes like Griffiths, Wray and Bruce Craig.Beckenham Wasp wrote:
"The new bastardisation of a tournament that only true sociopaths like Beckenham Wasp and Edward Griffiths could support and still sleep at night".
That would suggest that you think supporting the new "bastardised tournament" would be far too immoral for you. Of course that is only if you aren't happy with being an insomniac.
If you had any real objections to the new competitions you would keep your money firmly in you pocket rather than help bankroll the evil schemes of the English and French clubs.
As soon as the new competitions get going all your faux moral outrage will be forgotten within a couple of months.
And we'll see if new tournament doesn't crash and burn within a couple of seasons as viewers are turned off by endlessly repetitive Anglo-French matches as nearly all variety is wiped out and the easier qualification removes a lot of the tension that made the tournament so thrilling at the pool stages.
It's a sad day for people who really love the game and want to see it grow, but hey once the English and French moneymen are happy that's all that counts right?
How many Scottish, Welsh and Italian teams have made the knockout stages of the European Cup in the last 4 years? 2 out of 32! That is an appalling record. In 3 of those 4 years there wasn't a single Scottish, Welsh or Italian team in last 8. The lack of variety in the competition is already there.
Also the new 5 groups of 4 structure will keep more teams in contention for the knockout stages for longer and the removal of the weaker Pro12 teams make the pools much more even.