You guys can not seriously believe that clubs who actually have to buy "has-been" players to compete, have a serious chance against the likes of the Crusaders or Chiefs or Sharks?
I think most people with even a limited degree of rugby knowledge can see that the S14 teams are better, but that the heineken cup is a better competition.
Can you honestly say that many of those clubs would compete with a realistic chance of winning without all their imports? I think not.
The quality of the play in a Nations domestic scene is a very good indicator of the strength of the National team and vise versa, and given the rather poor record from Europe in the test department over the past four years, it's clear that the play at domestic level is not as good as other domestic competitions(ie super 14).
In the Heineken Cup, English, French etc players are losing out to foreigners that can't even be selected for the national team thus further reducing the depth of talent in Europe.
George Gregan has said (admittefly from a 2nd division Toulon point of view) that the play is much slower and less skillful than in S14, but also that the S14 was an inferior competition.
From any angle it just looks like past international no.9's want to be in the paper
and that the top 4 S14 teams would likely sh*t all over the top 4 HEC teams from a great height
Let the fiery rebuttals begin
