Rob Davies says British and Irish league will be in place from 2022

Just read this on the BBC site ,its just an insane idea why would English clubs swop fixtures at worse a few hundred miles apart Exeter to Newcastle for matches in Italy or S Africa, or assuming its an all British Isles league the only lucrative matches would be Munster and Leinster . The Premiership is very competitive in its present format so can see no need to change it.

It won't happen.

rosbif wrote:Just read this on the BBC site ,its just an insane idea why would English clubs swop fixtures at worse a few hundred miles apart Exeter to Newcastle for matches in Italy or S Africa, or assuming its an all  British Isles league the only lucrative matches would be Munster and Leinster . The Premiership is very competitive in its present format so can see no need to change it.

Because the WRU would drop Italy and South Africa in a heartbeat if a British & Irish league was possible. It is the Holy Grail. The shareholders of Celtic Rugby DAC who own the PRO14 are still WRU, IRFU and SRU.

Deluded nonsense

There is not a chance the english teams will go for it. Share their pot of gold?

Nothing it it for the pro 14 teams either. The euro cup would also be redundant.

I would have said no chance, but we have all sold our souls to CVC, so who knows?

How would it work? Conferences? Divisions? The latter would involve too many turkeys voting for Christmas.

What would this league look like? I presume it would replace the Heineken cup and I presume they would want some divisions. I don't think they'll tolerate Saracens putting 60 points on Ospreys B side.

Ospreys saying it might be a ploy to get investment or keep the wolves from the door. They aren't in a good place on or off the field and who really knows if they will be around in 2022.

British and Irish league won't happen for 3 reasons unless someone eats alot of humble pie
IRFU will own 4 teams in any new agreement while the SRU will own 2 (As might the WRU). Not sure club owners would like that.
Ireland will not accept a salary cap that includes central funded contracts (though I doubt a B&I league would have one).
Any divisional set up would require 3 Irish, 2-3 Welsh and 1-2 Scots in the top division.

CVC will look to rationalise the season. We should not assume the current dates of the 6Ns are sacrosanct, though this is a quiet time for TV sport currently.

Chairman of Ospreys admitted he did not know what the future held, but was surmising that there would be change with a B&I league a possibility. This would make the current European stuff largely redundant. Others have suggested that CVC are looking at a Euro league. If done divisionly it could see sides seeded based on past performances - which would not deliver too many Welsh clubs into the top division.

I suspect we will see major change but what that looks like depends on who is driving it.

The obvious issues with a B&I league - even moreso Europe - is the English and French clubs. They see no reason to change.

Surely it is more money for a strong Pro league and strong Premership.

Cracking the SA market would bring in lots for the Pro14

If there is to be any combined league then I don’t see why the IRFU would seek or agree to reduce the number of teams in any top division. The four provinces currently occupy the top two spots in the conferences.

Pot Hale wrote:If there is to be any combined league then I don’t see why the IRFU would seek or agree to reduce the number of teams in any top division.  The four provinces currently occupy the top two spots in the conferences.  

If the change in Euro qualification has taught us anything it's that the IRFU will have four teams in the top division.
Sadly it has also taught us that the Welsh teams may not be ready to take advantage of a new league (probably because the IRFU will own the league)

Pot Hale wrote:If there is to be any combined league then I don’t see why the IRFU would seek or agree to reduce the number of teams in any top division.  The four provinces currently occupy the top two spots in the conferences.  

It helped that they were back home from Japan so soon.

miaow wrote:

Pot Hale wrote:If there is to be any combined league then I don’t see why the IRFU would seek or agree to reduce the number of teams in any top division.  The four provinces currently occupy the top two spots in the conferences.  

It helped that they were back home from Japan so soon.

Most of the star players of this year never went