Will the English Rugby Premiership merge with the United Rugby Championship?

A Premiership merge with the URC has become a possibility after the RFU reached out to the URC board.

Rugby media in the UK has mentioned “talks of British and Irish Super League”. It was recently reported by The Telegraph that the league “could” include South African and Italian teams.

A POSSIBLE PREMIERSHIP MERGE – A BIG CHANGE IN DIRECTION

It is an interesting move, especially as the RFU has a long history of disregarding the quality of the URC and has rejected previous attempts from the original URC (PRO12) teams to consider a merger when they were in need of a lifeline. There can be no denying that the Premiership is in trouble. We just need to consider the number of their teams that have gone into administration and have been relegated to the Championship. 

Let’s call it what it is. This is an approach by the RFU to protect their Premiership teams and not a kind offer to the teams of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, South Africa and Italy.

THE URC IS GROWING AND BECOMING VERY RELEVANT

The URC is in the third season of its new format. Crowd attendance has grown, as has television viewership. The format works, with national conferences playing two local derbies and cross-conference games against all the other teams. 

How many teams will the RFU want to compete in the British and Irish Super League? All ten teams or four qualifiers? If it is ten, this is no longer a merger. It is a takeover. Does the RFU hold the financial strength to demand that? 

A very possible result is that the Premiership is merged entirely with the current URC. That is what a merger implies. The concern here is that the current format will have to be changed to accommodate all of these teams. The risk here is that they go down the dead end that was Super 18 rugby. 

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THE SUPER 18 MESS

The format was not understood or liked by fans. There wasn’t the calendar space for all teams to play each other at least once. Wildcard teams not deserving of a playoff spot were thrown a lifeline for an extra game. Most lost as they were playing away from home against teams that were placed higher in the overall competition. It made no sense.

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WHAT OF THE EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS CUP AND CHALLENGE CUP?

Champions Cup and Challenge Cup qualification also come into play here. The new URC resolution is that the top 8 teams qualify for the Champions Cup irrespective of their national conference. The next four placed teams compete in the Challenge Cup.

Ireland and South Africa currently hold the numbers advantage with each country having four teams in the competition. Wales has three and Scotland and Italy have two each. A full merge would give England ten teams competing for those eight spots. The only logical solution is that the Premiership teams bring their ten European spots to the proposed new competition. Their top eight teams currently qualify for the Champions Cup and the next two for the Challenge Cup. If this is the case, they should be unprotected spots as per the URC’s current policy.

Another issue with this proposed Premiership merge with the URC is that there is the real risk of product dilution. Just add French teams and you have the Champions and Challenge Cup competitions.

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WILL IT COME DOWN TO MONEY?

With all of the concerns above stated, it is likely to come down to a boardroom blitz. CVC, the equity firm that holds ownership stakes in the Premiership and the URC. 

Whichever way the decision goes, will the correct rugby decision be made?

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