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February 28, 2004

Hugh calls for a change

Posted by Editor on February 28, 2004 07:59 AM | 3 comments | Print | E-mail author

Hugh Campbell thinks the Celtic League format should be changed
Hugh Campbell has joined calls for change to a Celtic League format that, at present, sees teams continue to play through the Six Nations.

A number of teams have been playing without key players called up for international duty.

"Playing through the Six Nations actually does us more harm than good," he said. "The Borders would never have beaten Edinburgh last week had Edinburgh played all their internationals.

"Yes, we beat league leaders Ulster but that actually went against the loss of internationals as we were without four key men to international call-ups - our captain Cammy Mather, experienced hooker Gordon Bulloch, fly-half Dan Parks and Andy Henderson, the centre, while Ulster had only David Humphreys and Tyrone Howe called up.

"It was a great win for us and underlined our recent improvement, but, in fact, because the Borders beat a below-strength Edinburgh side we didn’t leapfrog the Borders and start the climb back up the table as we would have expected.

"I feel it makes a mockery of the league, playing games without all the top players, and it’s not helpful when we’re looking to attract sponsors and show it in its best light.

"Leinster and Munster have suffered without internationals available, and their defeats to lower-placed sides has a huge bearing on the rest of the teams in the league.

"I know the issue has been discussed by the Celtic League management today, but I’d like to see a change made for next season.

"One way around it might be to reduce the Celtic League to an 11-game competition, where we play teams home or away, like the Super 12, then we move into the Heineken Cup and then the Six Nations. When the Six Nations is on, we could play the Celtic Cup competition, and then, when the Six Nations finishes, have a great play-off finish to the league season with the Celtic League clubs back to full strength."

Comments
Posted by Donald on March 1, 2004 09:42 PM | Reply to this comment

Interesting idea but surely the best way to improve squad depth is by giving the fringe players a chance when the internationalists are away on Scotland duty. In respect of sponsors chopping and changing the format is just as likely to deter sponsors as playing with "weakened" sides.

Posted by Gordon on March 1, 2004 11:26 PM | Reply to this comment

Agree with you Donald. We've been desperate for a proper league set-up for ages and now we've got one there are calls to go back to play-offs. Give it a chance.

Posted by John Kennedy on March 2, 2004 01:05 PM | Reply to this comment

You don't hear the ZP clubs moaning about playing through the World Cup and Six Nations - they just get on with it. Mabye scrapping the Celtic Cup might give the season a bit more slack.

At last we've got a league that can rival the ZP and we're now suggesting going back to the fragmented season we had beforehand. It might hurt for a couple of seasons but lets build the strength of rugby in Glasgow so the absence of some players for part of the season isn't a disadvantage and actually gives players from the club game a chance to impress.

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