Good riddance to the URC shield system

The United Rugby Championship (URC) is expected to revert to a meritocracy in qualifying for the Heineken Champions Cup.

The United Rugby Championship (URC) is expected to revert to a meritocracy in qualifying for the Heineken Champions Cup, with improved travel conditions for South African teams as the league attempts to improve on its first two seasons.

It is a move that has been welcomed as the shield system was viewed as problematic.

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URC CEO Martin Anayi stated that there is a proposal – which will requires unanimous permission from all 16 teams in the tournament – that the eight qualification positions be returned to a meritocracy rather than the shield system that was in place for the first two years of the competition.

URC SHIELD SYSTEM SET TO BE SCRAPPED

This season, despite finishing eighth, the Sharks did not qualify because the competition format required a Welsh side, Cardiff, to be included because they won the Welsh Shield and no side from their section finished in the top eight.

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Anayi said the URC would likely return to a meritocracy if the clubs agreed.

“I think that’s most likely.

“The way it works now is we take the four geographical shield winners and the next four highest placed sides in the league, and we did that because we wanted a broad range of teams in the Champions Cup,” he said.

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“We also said, because there is a quite vocal objection to that within some of our stakeholder groups who didn’t want that but they said they would go with that for a two-year period and then we would review this summer.

“But unless it is unanimous to continue as we are, we will revert back to a straight meritocracy.”

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EASING THE TRAVEL BURDEN

When it comes to the travel concerns that have dogged South African teams this season and have made long 40-hour journeys a norm while European flights more than ever before, there were plans to address this, including making the tours longer to ensure less frequent flights.

Anayi did admit that since the plans for South Africa’s participation were developed, the average ticket price had risen by 35%.

“That inflation has been quite difficult,” he explained about the behind-the-scenes logistics.

The URC pays for the European teams’ trip to South Africa “centrally,” whereas the South African Rugby Union pays for the SA teams’ travel.

“There is a hell-of-a-lot more we need to do,” he admitted, adding that there was a move to find better “routes and scheduling” to cut down on travel time.”

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Anayi expected SA Rugby to sign off on slightly longer tours to combat this.

“It will result in only two tours, rather than three or four tours,” he said.

“To reduce flights, would be to add another match to the tour. When it’s a four-match tour, teams can settle into a location and get integrated into their hotel.”