THE Scottish Rugby Union has secured the same level of European Cup funding as it had with three teams, but has lost its seed status for the Heineken Cup as part of a new rankings system.
The 2007 Accord has been finally agreed, confirming what Gordon McKie, the SRU chief executive had hoped, that the decision to axe the Border Reivers would not lose the union a third share of their ERC monies, estimated at around £700,000.
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her unions have agreed to continue with the existing levels, but while the Accord is for the next five years, with a two-year rolling option beyond 2012, Scotland's situation in terms of teams entered – the nations would prefer Scotland to put one of its sides into the European Challenge Cup to maintain the credibility of the second-tier tournament – and share of funding will be reviewed each year.
However, the on-field challenges for Edinburgh and Glasgow do not get any easier. Only a month after the IRB decided to link World Cup qualification to global rankings, ERC have followed suit and yesterday announced that competing nations had agreed a new seeding system based on rankings for the Heineken Cup. The rankings will establish four tiers of six teams each for next season's Heineken Cup with this year's champions and Europe's other most successful nations in the top pot.
What this means to Scottish rugby is that Edinburgh and Glasgow, though guaranteed places in the competition, are likely to be in the bottom tier for the draw. Glasgow did appear to benefit from the old seeding system last year when they pulled Viadana, Saracens and Biarritz while Edinburgh were thrown in with Toulouse, Leicester and Leinster after finishing below Glasgow in the Magners League.
However, neither Scottish team will be among the top seeds in the next few years as they will now be drawn according to where they stand in the ERC rankings – Glasgow are currently 24th and Edinburgh 27th. There will still be 24 teams in the Heineken Cup, so the SRU are guaranteed two places, while Ireland supply their top three provinces, England and France have 13 qualifiers between them – both have six guaranteed spots and whichever nation goes furthest this year collects a bonus one – Wales have three and Italy two.
The 24th spot is taken after a play-off involving the highest-placed fourth Irish or Welsh team in the Magners League and the third highest side in the Italian championship.
An SRU spokesman said last night: "The new ranking system will even out the draw better across the six pools and should decrease the chances of the so-called pools of death in which Edinburgh, in particular, have found themselves in the recent past. The new ranking system also provides meaning and incentive right through the pool stages even for teams who can no longer qualify for the knockout stages."
Sean Lineen, the Glasgow coach, added: "It just hits home that we have to perform. We're in a cut-throat league and when you look at the top 24, 30 even, you can see the haves and have-nots of European rugby that we're up against. It is tough, but we have to try to punch above our weight more regularly.
"We haven't done well lately, but there are definite signs of improvement at Glasgow with us going for a year unbeaten at home and winning three Heineken Cup games. I'm not waving flags but it's a small step forward, and to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Heineken Cup will always be a massive challenge for us."
The full article contains 614 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
