Champions Cup 2024

thefizz

Whats the strory with tickets for the final? Can't find any online?

thefizz

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122100963#Comment_122100963

Problem sorted, web site working for me now.

ersatz

I have no idea how the headshot on DuPont only merited a yellow. Seemed like the kind of foul red cards are invented for.

Digifriendly

2 great semi finals. Hoping for a classic final.

eagle eye

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122102000#Comment_122102000

I don't either,he lowered his head to be on the same level as the defender and there was no mitigation.

hold my beer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122100998#Comment_122100998

What website?

AbusesToilets

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122102000#Comment_122102000

I presume Brace viewed DuPont as having pulled back from the ruck as the clearout came in. Warburton was making that point after the game, and I'd have some sympathy for the Northampton player, but definitely think he was massively lucky to only see yellow

OldRio

I see there is talk of changing things around yet again. 'Destination semi finals'???

OldRio

A link to the article

https://x.com/willgkelleher/status/1787530982620282998

Exclamation Marc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122105777#Comment_122105777

Will they ever stop fűcking around with this competition…

Only the EPCR would sell 115 thousand tickets to two games and think "nah, lets change this".

Podge_irl

I assume the idea behind it is that the destinations would "bid" for the right to host? Seems like an absurd hope when you spend all your time finding new ways to ruin the competition.

OldRio

I know TNT are negotiating for the rights. But the idea of moving the semi final to a completely different country would negate the pool stages and screw over the fans.

Having 50% of the finals in the last 10 years in England is more of an issue IMHO.

awec

I am not against the destination semi finals as I have always thought that the home advantage teams get in this competition is far too strong.

This issue pre-dates even the current format.

icdg

It’s a daft idea but probably has little to do with the TV rights.

TNT Sports are under new ownership and they are under pressure from their new owners, Warner Bros Discovery, to cut costs and this is an expensive enough deal for them in that it requires them to televise every game. No doubt part of the rationale in bringing in FTA partners in recent years was to widen the host broadcaster pool as before 2018 the UK broadcaster was responsible for the lions share of the host broadcast arrangements (except games in France and Italy).

The December start for Europe these days takes a bit of pressure off having to have a deal done by the start of next season and id still expect it to be TNT if only because Lions and Sanzaar (which they take only whistle to whistle coverage anyway) aside Sky has completely abandoned rugby union as a host broadcaster and Premier doesn’t have the resources to do it. They are probably paying a bit of hardball over the fee - as yesterdays Sunday Times article implied - but I don’t think they’ll pull out.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/article/champions-cup-tnt-sports-stall-tv-deal-rugby-union-vztdk0md7

(paywalled but nothing in it that hasn’t been said by either me or previous posters).

AbusesToilets

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122106141#Comment_122106141

It's a pretty standard thing for most sports to reward the best performing teams with home knock out games. What sport hosts a playoff game in a tournament like the HC at a neutral venue? College basketball is the only one that comes to mind.

pickarooney

Hurling?

rugby (top 14 semis)

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122106932#Comment_122106932

I mean, the HEC used to. The Top14 does.

The problem with removing the home SFs (and I do understand the argument) is that it removes almost all jeopardy from the group stages, which is limited as it is.

awec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122106932#Comment_122106932

Not really.

In football the euro knockout games are 2 legs to avoid making home advantage too influential.

StormForce13

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122106141#Comment_122106141

It's perfectly acceptable to do destination semi-finals in a one-country domestic comp like Top 14, the FA Cup or the GAA semi finals where travelling arrangements for supporters are reasonably straightforward.

But doing it in a tournament that covers 7* countries, thousands of miles apart, and with only a few weeks between QF and SF for supporters to make travelling and accommodation arrangements, would seem to me to be a very anti-fan proposal.

* or more, if a Georgian, Spanish or Portuguese team ever makes it to a semi final.

Ribs1234

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122107068#Comment_122107068

the argument being put forward is that it would be EASIER for fans if semi finals are pre ordained. Any suggestions if this is correct?

Would it be easier if there is a gap between the quarter finals and semi finals? Perhaps play the final the week after the semi final instead (disrupts fewer teams)

I don’t see 115,000 hotel beds being available in Lisbon for one weekend (I could be very wrong) but perhaps it doesn’t matter whether the “fans” are those that actual supporters or just locals who are interested in a day out

At least there are some exciting places being mentioned rather than North London

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122107282#Comment_122107282

Yeah, you can plan in advance, but who is going to plan a semi final in advance? At least the final has a novelty factor of it's own. Do you even know which Semi-final your team might end up in?

And as you say, the destination needs to cater for all the travelling fans, so we're going to end up doing the circuit of London and big French cities all over again.

pickarooney

It'd probably be Dubai, New York, Singapore if they could get local fans to buy into it.

AbusesToilets

Having the final in different and interesting cities is great, bring on the Italian and Portugal trips please, but semis should reflect the teams competing in them and reward the best performances.

If the HC semis wanted to do destination locations it could work if they did the semis and final back to back weeks, all in one country or city. That way fans could make a trip out of it

awec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122107856#Comment_122107856

It doesn't reward the best performances though, it's pretty arbitrary and can also be influenced by the pool draw.

You can say Leinster topped their pool so deserved to play at home against Northampton. It's fair point.

But Northampton also topped their pool and their reward was a game against Leinster in Dublin.

There is no counter-balance to it at all, the home / away thing carrying through every knockout round is too much IMO.

Toulouse are in a similar boat, home games the whole way through. Last year, Leinster and La Rochelle both had home games the whole way through to the semis, Leinster coincidentally had it in the final too but that's just pure luck.

Exclamation Marc

Destination semi-finals flat out won't work for rugby and its a mind bogglingly idiotic idea.

Rugby fans just don't travel in the same numbers as football fans do so the idea that EPCR might even partially fill a stadium in a neutral country on short notice where the flights will likely be quite pricey for a game that's not a final is so short sighted. Add to that that if fans planned to attend a destination final, it is more likely than not that those fans wont want to (or have the ability to) travel for a semi-final game three weeks before-hand on short notice.

We can argue the merits of the fairness of semi-finals (and I think the current model of earning your home semi-final through the group stages is fine), partially attended semi-finals will look absolutely rotten for the sport.

Exclamation Marc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122108211#Comment_122108211

Ah that's just not true. Northampton didn't secure enough bonus points to finish ahead of Leinster in the overall standings - everyone knew the deal well ahead of time that you needed to be seeded in the top two to guarantee a home-semi final and Northampton left points out there. If they wanted to secure a home semi-final they would have if they had played better and gotten two more bonus points. There's absolutely no injustice about Leinster and Northampton both topping a pool and one getting a home semi-final.

And the argument that it's influenced by the pool draw can be said about absolutely any sport so that argument is not a runner.

crisco10

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122108319#Comment_122108319

Seems bonkers to me to be changing the semi final arrangement. We are just seeing the lessons starting to be learned about how the group stage DOES have jeopardy. If Leinster hadn't pushed for that TBP beyond 80 minutes in Welford Road (or indeed didn't beat LAR in LAR), the Semi Final would have been a "home" one for NH. Teams will see this, and in years to come appreciate these small differences, and give the random group stage its reward.

What's also been lost in this years conversation, is that one of Leinster's games was a away to the reigning champions. So the arbitrary draw that is the group stages didn't exactly work for Leinster this year.

awec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122108319#Comment_122108319

No but it's silly that total points have such a strong influence on your pathway through this competition when two teams in two different groups will play completely different opponents.

This has been a problem with this competition that long pre-dates the current format.

OldRio

It's not a problem at the moment. If some teams decide not to go for every possible point that is their decision.

lawrencesummers

anybody having problems with their champions cup final tickets? And unable to get anyresponse from the ticket office