Premiership Rugby Cup: A competition for future stars or just a fixture clog?
It’s not too common to see midweek fixtures in English rugby but tonight the Premiership Rugby Cup continues as Worcester Warriors host Gloucester Rugby at Sixways.
The Cup, formerly known as the Anglo-Welsh Cup, is consists of the 13 Premiership teams in three pools based on regionality. But for a number of years now it’s become an afterthought for the competing teams.
Strong start
The inaugural Cup dates back to the 1970s when it was the premier trophy to win in England. Various sides won it throughout its early days and it worked using a knockout system – similar to football’s FA Cup.
The competition developed as the game went professional, and crowds continued to show up for the Twickenham finals. Upwards of 70,000 turned out in the early naughties for the London event.
The competition became the Anglo-Welsh Cup for the 2005-2006 season to combine the English premiership with the four Welsh regions – Cardiff, Newport, Scarlets and Ospreys.
This totally cut off the FA Cup-style tournament structure whereby small clubs – like Exeter in those days – could get dream ties against the big Premiership sides.
The opening four finals saw crowds of 40,000 plus descend on Twickenham, peaking at over 65,000 when the Ospreys beat Leicester Tigers in 2008.
Since then, however, the Cup has dwindled in popularity and attendance at finals struggle to reach five figures, the Welsh sides have left the setup and the finals have been staged around the country.
The Cup has lost its spice. It was once seen as a great competition with non-Premiership sides, and it’s now just an afterthought.
Teams flip flop between picking their best teams and just fielding a XV because the need to, and many in the terraces back a return to the old format.
Championship
Some suggest Premiership Rugby could make some smaller, less drastic changes to the competition which could see the popularity of the competition return.
Premiership clubs could be placed in pools with Championship clubs with rules on the top flight sides to somewhat level the playing field.
The Cup feeling has left this competition, and instilling a potential ‘dream’ final at Twickenham for clubs like Cornish Pirates and Ampthill would do wonders for the second division.
The issue comes, however, in governance – as usual. The Premiership is run by Premiership Rugby and the Championship by the Rugby Football Union (RFU).
The Championship has also seen the RFU cut funding to the clubs and the Premiership’s current ring-fencing position only hinders the second division – which is generally in need of significant investment.
Derby day in the Cup
Tonight an in-form Gloucester Rugby travel to Worcester Warriors in what’s dubbed the M5 derby – after the motorway linking the two cities.
The home side lost in the Premiership at the weekend but have started to string an impressive set of performances together since the arrival of Steve Diamond.
Gloucester are rumbling on, having just beaten fierce rivals Bath in the league, and travel to Sixways Stadium in pole position in Pool 1.
The other game this evening, Exeter against Bath, was called off over Covid-19 cases and so there is just the one, untelevised, match this evening.
Gloucester have sent a very youthful squad, though there is a level of experience at No 9 and 10, as they have a Premiership match on Sunday – Worcester have a bye but have also chosen an experimental side.
The positive of the current Cup format is that the pools are regionalised and so Gloucester and Worcester are joined by Bath, Bristol and Exeter in their pool.
There’s so much potential to be exploited in an exciting Cup competition, but until the format reveals itself to be worth watching throughout the season, it will remain a fringe trophy teams will target when they have little else to play for.