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In accordance with the Heads of Agreement drawn up by the nine unions, federations and league bodies, the 20th place in the Champions Cup will be decided by a series of play-off matches.
The play-offs will include the following clubs:
The seventh-ranked club from the TOP 14, or the winner of the Challenge Cup if from the TOP 14 and not already qualified for the Champions Cup.
The seventh-ranked club from the Aviva Premiership, or the winner of the Challenge Cup if from the Aviva Premiership and not already qualified for the Champions Cup.
The eight and ninth-ranked clubs from the PRO12, or the winner of the Challenge Cup if from the PRO12 and not already qualified for the Champions Cup. This club will take the place in the play-offs of the ninth-ranked club.
Tichtheid wrote:If you look at the successful teams over the last few years, Connacht, Glasgow, Leinster (twice) and Ospreys, they all won playing expansive rugby. The thing that struck me particularly about Leinster and Connacht is that expansiveness was not about individual brilliance (ignoring BOD for a minute), it's more about running good lines straight off the training pitch and running off quick ball. When Leinster cut us to ribbons at the end of the season a couple of years ago I was almost applauding the ruthlessness and simplicity of it, for anyone not an Edinburgh fan it was brilliant to watch, it was that old cliche of doing the simple things very well and at pace.
My point is that Lam and Schmidt were the brains behind their wins, just as Toonie is what drives Glasgow. We don't have that kind of thinking at Edinburgh. Watching the highlights of last weekend's game Dean showed good pace to run in from a dropped ball and Kinghorn's little chip through was really nicely executed. Those two plus Hoyland are the core of the backs. Allen has shown some bright sparks this season, Burleigh was a good New Zealand Super 12 player without worrying the All Blacks.
My feeling is that we need someone to come in from elsewhere to instill a bit of confidence in the players, get them organised properly and send them out knowing they will play full-on for 80 minutes and that they will win.
I'm not sure I'd say Ospreys have been successful the last few years - they're usually scrapping to make top6.
Tichtheid wrote:I'm not sure I'd say Ospreys have been successful the last few years - they're usually scrapping to make top6.
I should have been more precise, I meant that when those teams won the league they did so playing expansive rugby, the Os won the final against Leinster despite a terrible refereeing display if memory serves.
Tbh, I don't really remember that much about the Os in that particular season, but I was trying to get across the point that Glasgow, Leinster and last season's Connacht built success via excellent coaching.
germain wrote:Tichtheid wrote:I'm not sure I'd say Ospreys have been successful the last few years - they're usually scrapping to make top6.
I should have been more precise, I meant that when those teams won the league they did so playing expansive rugby, the Os won the final against Leinster despite a terrible refereeing display if memory serves.
Tbh, I don't really remember that much about the Os in that particular season, but I was trying to get across the point that Glasgow, Leinster and last season's Connacht built success via excellent coaching.
Ospreys are one of the more regular team in the pro 12 in recent years. And the best welsh side. They are well coached and play an expansive brand of rugby. Last season was bad because of the WC (They're not as good without their internationals, it's been their main problem for years).
I still don't know what to think about Hodge. Can he be our rugby brain for some years? He has to prove it right now. The 7th place is not out of reach (9 points with one game in hand), and we all want a final in the challenge cup. May he rise to the task, he could be our man. If not, it would be clever to turn our eyes on someone else.
That is definitly a hight level of requirement, but this is one of the three top rugby job in Scotland, so the demand must be hight.
biffer wrote: Challenge Cup winner replaces the representative from their league if they haven't already qualified for the SuperSpiv cup.
germain wrote:
So winning the challenge cup doesn't allow you to play the Champions Cup?
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