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<blockquote data-quote="An Tarbh" data-source="post: 28376"><p>I've always maintained that it was a bad idea to have the Celtic League go to a home and away format, they nearly had it right in the early years with the 2 pools of 6 teams but that made the competition too short. The Celtic League needs to be run the same way as the Super 12/14 whatever, maybe add in quarter finals to keep the interest for more teams. </p><p></p><p>This would certainly help to address the issue of player burnout. </p><p></p><p>Irish, Welsh and Scottish players would then have 10-13 games in the Celtic League, 6-9 in the Heineken Cup and 10 internationals. That would certainly be manageable for the players plus the IRFU would be more keen on allowing the players to participate in the Celtic League. </p><p></p><p>As for the English and French that's where the real problems lie with burnout. Obviously reducing the Top 16 to Top 14 will make a small difference. I don't know about alternating home and away fixtures in both leagues. Whether scrapping completely something like the Powergen Cup or downgrading it to a development squad tournament might be the way to go. It's hard to overcome traditional elements when it comes to scrapping cup competitions. Just ask Leeds fans, I doubt they'd be too keen on getting rid. Hang on it has been scrapped now we're getting this Anglo-Welsh Cup, or am I wrong? What does that do for HEC qualification in England if a Welsh team wins the cup?</p><p></p><p>As for a European League, as a Leinster fan it wouldn't bother me, we'd be in the top 14 that Moffet is talking about so we'd be playing quality teams week in week out. It wouldn't catch on with the teams who already play regularly in the HEC being asked to play in a second tier, won't really work. </p><p></p><p>As for Teh Mite's anti-Welsh rant, it was the IRFU who kicked out the Welsh Regions when they signed the deal for the Anglo-Welsh Cup. Mere triviality though, good to see we've sorted the league out, although not quite in the right format yet.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="An Tarbh, post: 28376"] I've always maintained that it was a bad idea to have the Celtic League go to a home and away format, they nearly had it right in the early years with the 2 pools of 6 teams but that made the competition too short. The Celtic League needs to be run the same way as the Super 12/14 whatever, maybe add in quarter finals to keep the interest for more teams. This would certainly help to address the issue of player burnout. Irish, Welsh and Scottish players would then have 10-13 games in the Celtic League, 6-9 in the Heineken Cup and 10 internationals. That would certainly be manageable for the players plus the IRFU would be more keen on allowing the players to participate in the Celtic League. As for the English and French that's where the real problems lie with burnout. Obviously reducing the Top 16 to Top 14 will make a small difference. I don't know about alternating home and away fixtures in both leagues. Whether scrapping completely something like the Powergen Cup or downgrading it to a development squad tournament might be the way to go. It's hard to overcome traditional elements when it comes to scrapping cup competitions. Just ask Leeds fans, I doubt they'd be too keen on getting rid. Hang on it has been scrapped now we're getting this Anglo-Welsh Cup, or am I wrong? What does that do for HEC qualification in England if a Welsh team wins the cup? As for a European League, as a Leinster fan it wouldn't bother me, we'd be in the top 14 that Moffet is talking about so we'd be playing quality teams week in week out. It wouldn't catch on with the teams who already play regularly in the HEC being asked to play in a second tier, won't really work. As for Teh Mite's anti-Welsh rant, it was the IRFU who kicked out the Welsh Regions when they signed the deal for the Anglo-Welsh Cup. Mere triviality though, good to see we've sorted the league out, although not quite in the right format yet. [/QUOTE]
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