ANDY Nicol, the former Scotland captain, spoke up for English and French rugby club officials who are demanding a revamp of the continent's Heineken and Amlin Challenge Cups although he doesn't expect them to be brave enough to launch their own rival competitions.
Nicol, a former Glasgow Warrior, spoke out as fears grew among supporters of Warriors and Edinburgh that their teams could lose the right to an automatic place in Europe's premier club competition. He said a switch to entry based on finishing positions in the RaboDirect Pro12, or a Champions League-style qualification system, would be justified and would add excitement to the season, though he added the rider that he believes that every one of the countries which contest the RBS 6 Nations should have at least one representative in the competition.
Nicol, a former Lions scrum-half, made history in 1998 by becoming the first Scot to lift the Heineken Cup when he led Bath to victory against Brive in Bordeaux. He said: "I think a meritocracy is the right way forward. We've been here before with France and England: they are the two biggest boys in the playground and they flex their muscles every so often. But I think they have a point in certain aspects of the European game. I think it does need to be looked at because I don't agree with the qualification standings as they currently are.
"What they are doing here is a bit of brinkmanship. I don't think they are saying we are definitely not doing the Heineken Cup as we know it next season. They are saying 'let's move things along a bit quicker'. I believe there was something like 40 differences between the various parties and that's down to about 10 now. They are getting close and this is just another push."
Nicol stressed: "A change would up everyone's game. It would make the tournament more credible, and would make end-of-season Pro12 games more competitive for the top teams from Scotland, Ireland and Wales. In the last few years, Glasgow would have qualified by merit and Edinburgh wouldn't, so they would have been in the Amlin Cup. I think that might be okay, because we should reward success. As long as every country is represented. If neither of the Scottish sides were in the top six say, then I think the better-placed team should still get in. The Amlin is a good-quality competition. Take a look at last year's quarter-finals: six were former Heineken Cup winners.
"There is no doubt the Heineken Cup is what everyone wants to be in but, if you deserve to be in the Amlin, that's where you deserve to be."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article