EPCR CEO Jacques Raynaud spoke about the draw for the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup. He expressed his excitement about the competition and explained how the matches are decided.
The rules of both competitions have not changed this season. Does this mean that you have found the perfect formula?
Yes, but we will improve it further. Our first concern was to return to the group stage after the conferences that had not convinced. We have two major ingredients: it is an open draw, where we only protect the seeded teams who are the winners of the three championships and the winner of the Champions Cup. Then, the teams play four teams and no longer two. These are choices that were made to energize the group stage and to make it more interesting, fascinating and international. Last year, apart from a Perpignan – Newcastle, all the matches still had something at stake on the last day. However, we are still looking for improvements and we have some suggestions and we will communicate them in due course.
The round of 16 two-legged tie was a great spectacle two years ago. Could we see this format again soon?
We are looking but we are still on eight weekends. The problem with the round of 16 two-legged matches is that it requires an extra weekend to be perfectly playable.
This Tuesday afternoon, you organized the draw for the next editions of the Champions Cup and the Challenge Cup. What do you remember?
What comes to mind most of all is that it is the thirtieth anniversary of the competition. We are returning to Cardiff, where it all began for a final with 72,000 spectators expected. The draw in Cardiff thirty years later, a few days after the Top 14 final… The season has barely ended and we are starting a new one. We are already looking forward.
Once again La Rochelle and Leinster will face each other. What do you think of this rivalry?
This is the story of this draw! An incredible story. The last confrontations between the two teams have been the best of the best, whether it was the final in Dublin in 2023 won by La Rochelle or the tropical storm last year with the victory of the Irish… This rivalry has written some very beautiful stories. It is a very beautiful dramaturgy for the Champions Cup.
Last season, Leinster beat La Rochelle but came up against Stade Toulousain, at the end of an intense final. Was it the most impressive you have seen?
For a few years now, we have been well served in terms of drama during the finals! For this one, I said to myself: “We’re not going to have a final without a try anyway.” That was my fear! And yet, it was tense, hard, exciting but that it would end without a try was unthinkable on paper. The finals have been extraordinary since the post-Covid.
Is this Toulouse generation, which has once again achieved the double, the most remarkable in the history of the Champions Cup?
What is a fact is that Toulouse marked the tournament by taking its sixth star and by taking down its four-star rival. That was the stakes of this last final and that is what we remember. I was very happy with the statements of the Toulousains who said “double pleasure, double trophies, double emotions”. I found it very beautiful and I think I read it on Rugbyrama! To get back to the subject, there are always cycles, like that of Munster, Toulon and now Toulouse. The Irish would have liked it to be a Leinster cycle. In all disciplines, there are cycles, like in Formula 1 or in cycling.
Otherwise, what do you think of the draw?
Group 2 in general seems very strong. Especially when you look at last season’s results. There is also Clermont who are making their return to the Champions Cup. Elsewhere, I want to tell you that if I were English or South African in Group 1, I would say that I have drawn heavy! The feeling that dominates all the groups is that it is very open.
A Challenge Cup?
When we look at the results of this draw from a French perspective, we look with curiosity at Vannes, who are the new kids on the block. RCV will see an English club, a Georgian, a Scottish and a Welsh one. They will see the country! It will be a great edition for the Breton club, who will see many different styles of rugby.
For clubs to fully plan, they still have to wait to know which clubs they will host and where they will travel. How do you decide on these matches?
It is a software in which we enter constraints. For example: “On such a day, the stadium is occupied by football, on such a day the club cannot travel to South Africa”… We submit about a hundred criteria into a software called Megalytic, which is used in football and rugby. From a random algorithm point of view, it gives us the formula that satisfies the most constraints. We enter into the software the football calendars, the fact that the South Africans cannot play on Sunday evenings after 6 p.m. for security reasons, the different concerts that there may be… To give you an idea, last year, with more than a hundred criteria, we were able to satisfy 90% of them.
When will we know the schedule?
Last year we released it the following week but this year it will be in the next few days, next week at worst.
Do you understand why some teams are reluctant to travel to South Africa and sometimes even decide to rotate their squad to avoid the arduous journeys?
South Africa has a very positive record on the influence of the Champions Cup in the world and on its sporting level. From a sporting point of view and television contracts, we have added an extremely important market. Also, from a player health point of view: the South Africans play in their time zone, whereas before they were constantly facing jet lag. Afterwards, there have been epic matches in South Africa. These are different styles of rugby and I hear a lot of good things about it. Afterwards, I understand that a sporting director manages his squad. In general, we still have the privilege that the teams for the most part put out their best team.
