English are left behind as Celtic nations flex muscles

Senior Sports Writer

Tuesday 13 December 2011

Midway through the Heineken Cup pool stages, with every team having met all three of their pool rivals, both Scottish teams remain in realistic contention to be involved in the knockout stages for the first time.

Custom byline text:

Kevin Ferrie

Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh both sit second in their respective groups and, on the current standings, Edinburgh would be heading into the Heineken Cup quarter-finals as one of the best runners-up. Michael Bradley's side have the huge advantage of having metaphorically broken serve with an away win in their opening match and if they can turn the tables on Cardiff Blues on Friday, following last weekend's 25-8 defeat in the Welsh capital, by winning and denying their opponents a losing bonus point they will regain full control of their own destiny.

As things stand, Glasgow would squeeze into the Amlin Challenge Cup quarter-finals as the fifth best runners-up and, with defending champions Leinster unbeaten at the top of Pool 3 with two home matches still to come, experience would suggest that getting into the secondary tournament is their best chance of knockout involvement. Some may see that as a pessimistic analysis, but should either side – never mind both – get through to the Amlin quarter-finals it would represent something of a breakthrough.What seems to be becoming ever more clear, however, is that both teams are developing in the best possible environment to give them the chance to be competitive in Europe.Year upon year we are seeing the influence of what used to be the Celtic League grow stronger within the Heineken Cup. At the moment, the top two teams in Pools 1, 2 and 3 are all Celtic, while Ulster and Ospreys are also second in Pools 4 and 5. Going back to what would happen if the Heineken Cup quarter-final draw was to be made now, there would be five Celtic teams involved – Munster, Cardiff, Leinster, Scarlets and Edinburgh – two French sides – four time champions Toulouse and Clermont Auvergne – and just one English team, their champions Saracens.Again going on the current standings, the three teams going into the Amlin would be Ulster, Glasgow and Harlequins, with the Ospreys just missing out. With Newport Gwent Dragons having won two of their three matches in their Amlin pool it is not inconceivable that, of the 10 Celtic teams, nine could be involved in the knockout stages with only Connacht missing out, and even they have been competitive in their debut Heineken Cup season, losing by just eight points at Harlequins in their opening tie and by four against Gloucester last weekend.There is, too, the first evidence of what was long suspected, that giving the Italians access to this level of rugby will bring them on rapidly. On Saturday, Benetton Treviso defeated former Heineken Cup finalists Biarritz, just their second win in the past seven seasons. Still more striking, though, is that during a season in which Racing Metro, twice, London Irish, Northampton, Castres, Gloucester, Harlequins, the Scarlets and Bath have all lost at home, Treviso are so far undefeated at the Stadio Communale Monigo having drawn their opening match.All of this is just the latest evidence that undermines the propaganda frequently churned out by the English-oriented host broadcasters regarding the supposed superiority of their Premiership competition. Those claims are increasingly looking as ridiculous as the assertions continually made about the superiority of the footballing equivalent when, in the past 20 years, there have been three UEFA Champions League winners from the Barclays Premier League as compared with seven from Spain, five from Italy and two from Germany.This season is no fluke in the Heineken Cup, either. In the past four years the winners have come from what is now the Rabodirect Pro12, the only exception being 2009/10 which produced an all-French final.All of which might be interpreted as counter-hype on behalf of the Celtic nations, but there is a very serious point to all of this in terms of the commerciality of the respective leagues. Given that the vastly superior Rabodirect Pro12 largely comprises teams from the British Isles, there is something almost discriminatory about the preferential treatment given to the inferior product that is the English Premiership by both the sponsors and broadcasters.The only criticism which sticks in any way is that the Celtic and Italian teams are prepared to send out weakened teams in their domestic competition in order to ensure that players are at their best for European competition.How does that compare, however, with the likes of Montpellier, who sent a second XV to Glasgow because of a combination of fixture congestion in their domestic championship and the fact that they had failed to win either of their first two Heineken Cup matches? If such decisions have to be made surely it is more important to hold players back for the more prestigious competition.Either way, on a level domestic playing field sponsors and broadcasters should surely be weighing up the benefits of being associated with thriving brands such as Leinster and Munster, who are now consistently so much more successful than Leicester and Northampton.That, however, may have to be set against the prejudices of the English establishment types who are so closely associated with both English rugby and big London-based businesses, when they are forced to consider what might happen if all the Celtic teams gain access to the sort of spending power now enjoyed by the dominant Irish provinces.

Commenting & Moderation

We moderate all comments on HeraldScotland on either a pre-moderated or post-moderated basis. If you're a relatively new user then your comments will be reviewed before publication and if we know you well then your comments will be subject to moderation only if other users or the moderators believe you've broken the rules, which are available here.

Moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours. Please be patient if your posts are not approved instantly.

English are left behind as Celtic nations flex muscles

Commenting & Moderation

MOST READ

SPONSORED LINKS

MOST COMMENTED