Mark's Alternative Season's Structure
By Mark H
May 21 2005
In the second of our articles looking at alternative season structures, Mark H shares his view of how the Premiership season could look.
I’ve gone down the route of the system that the French rugby union used in 2003/04 after the World Cup had finished, but to me it offers a more even season than we currently have. This would mean that on this season’s placings, the pools would be:- Pool One – Wasps, Pool Two – Leicester, Example play-off groups from this season, based on final finishing positions:- Play-Off Group 1 – Wasps, Play-Off Group 2 – Leicester, Top two from each group go to semi-finals played on neutral grounds (both at Twickenham or a ground with a capacity of at least 25,000), with the winners going through to a Grand Final to give the RFU and Sky the finale they want. 2 games in all. The teams finishing third in each play-off group would play each other over two legs to decide the 5th and 6th ranking, with the fourth placed teams meeting likewise to decided 7th and 8th. The bottom four in each original pool would go through to the "Relegation" group, and carry points earned against the three other teams from their pool forward. Teams then play the four teams from the other original pool home and away, with the bottom two at the end of the group stage going down. 8 matches. Timing wise for this kind of season would mean an earlier start by one week, but it would also all but remove the need for league rugby to be played during either the autumn internationals or the Six Nations. I would play all rounds of the Powergen Cup up to the final during international weekends, with the final remaining as a showpiece day at Twickenham. The effect would be two-fold, in that the clubs would have to blood promising youngsters during early rounds, but it would also mean that the Heineken Cup place for the cup winners would be removed. They would, under my plan, be compensated by having the automatic top seeding for the European Challenge Cup, if the club hasn’t qualified for the senior competition. A sample fixture list would look, therefore, like this:- 27/08/05 Premiership Pool Round 1 03/09/05 Premiership Pool Round 2 10/09/05 Premiership Pool Round 3 17/09/05 Premiership Pool Round 4 24/09/05 Premiership Pool Round 5 01/10/05 Premiership Pool Round 6 08/10/05 Premiership Pool Round 7 15/10/05 Premiership Pool Round 8 22/10/05 29/10/05 05/11/05 Premiership Pool Round 9 12/11/05 Powergen Cup Last 32 / Autumn International 19/11/05 Premiership Pool Round 10 / Autumn International 26/11/05 Powergen Cup Last 16 / Autumn International 03/12/05 10/12/05 17/12/05 Premiership Pool Round 11 24/12/05 Premiership Pool Round 12 31/12/05 Premiership Pool Round 13 07/01/06 Premiership Pool Round 14 14/01/06 21/01/06 28/01/06 Play Offs Round 1 / Relegation Round 1 04/02/06 6 Nations 11/02/06 6 Nations / Powergen Cup quarter finals 18/02/06 6 Nations 25/02/06 Play Offs Round 2 / Relegation Round 2 04/03/06 6 Nations / Powergen Cup semi-finals 11/03/06 6 Nations 18/03/06 Play Offs Round 3 / Relegation Round 3 25/03/06 Play Offs Round 4 / Relegation Round 4 01/04/06 08/04/06 Powergen Cup Final 15/04/06 Play Offs Round 5 / Relegation Round 6 22/04/06 29/04/06 Play Offs Round 6 / Relegation Round 8 06/05/06 Ranking matches 1st leg 13/05/06 Championship semi-finals / Ranking matches 2nd leg 20/05/06 Championship final 27/05/06 European finals This system still allows for the autumn internationals, which the RFU consider to be their cash cow, and for proper championship semi-finals and finals. I see the main benefit to be that teams have to come out firing before Christmas to have a chance of the championship, and then have to maintain that during the season if they want to win medals. It also allows for more division one teams to come through to the elite, and should in turn strengthen the competition there. Once in the Premiership, it would be up to those individual clubs to decide how they progress as a club. All 16 sides would get identical funding, but doing this would mean that the parachute payment would be greatly reduced. There are drawbacks, of course. For those teams that just miss out on the play-off groups at the end of fourteen rounds, with the exception of Europe and the Powergen Cup (if they’re still in them), the only “prize” is avoiding relegation. Time, surely, to develop Academy players and get them used to league rugby? Another drawback is the slightly lop-sided nature of the fixture list.
I’d therefore increase the Premiership to 16 clubs and split them into two pools (but NOT on a regional structure) based on results from the previous season i.e.
Teams which finished in positions 1,4,5,8,9,12,13, and 16 in one pool, and the teams which finished in positions 2,3,6,7,10,11,14, and 15 in the other, with positions 13-16 being the Top 4 in National 1.
Home and away games in each pool, 14 games in all, with the top 4 from each qualify for two further play-off groups of four, with 6 games in all.
Total rugby for top eight sides (except the losing semi-finalists) - 22 games.
Total rugby for bottom eight sides - 22 games.
Current league rugby for at least four sides is 24 games, for three more 23 games.
The two weekends between the end of the original pools would be used organise fixture lists and work out any points carried forward for the Relegation groups.
Four semi-finalists, winners of the 5th v 6th ranking play-offs, plus any cup winning side in