Édition du Nord

Select Edition

Nord Nord
Sud Sud
Mondial Mondial
Nouvelle Zélande Nouvelle Zélande
France France

Fusion Premiership - URC : les dirigeants de l'URC démentent mais...

Par Jérémy Fahner
Vue générale de l'écusson du United Rugby Championship pendant le match entre Leinster et Ulster à la RDS Arena le 27 novembre 2021 à Dublin, en Irlande. (Photo by Oisin Keniry/Getty Images).

Nous évoquions ce vendredi le projet de fusion entre la Premiership, le championnat anglais, et le United Rugby Championship (URC), la ligue qui regroupe des clubs irlandais, écossais, gallois, italiens et sud-africains.

ADVERTISEMENT

L’information, sortie par The Telegraph, n’a pas manqué de faire réagir. Les dirigeants de l’URC ont publié un communiqué pour démentir ces rumeurs.

« Contrairement aux informations diffusées dans les médias, le BKT United Rugby Championship n’est pas engagé dans des discussions concernant une ligue britannique et irlandaise.

« Depuis l’introduction des quatre équipes sud-africaines en 2021, le championnat a connu une période soutenue de succès exceptionnel, atteignant des records d’audience, de fréquentation, de croissance sur les médias sociaux et un niveau de compétitivité accru. »

Des propos illustrés par des chiffres indiqués dans le communiqué : + 3% de spectateurs dans les stades, +27% de téléspectateurs, 29% de croissance sur les réseaux sociaux, +366% de vues sur YouTube…

The Telegraph persiste et signe

La Premiership, de son côté, n’a pas réagi et The Telegraph, tout en prenant note du démenti de l’URC, persiste et signe.

« Le Conseil des investisseurs de la Premiership, qui représente les propriétaires des clubs, a discuté des différentes options quant à la structure du championnat lors d’une réunion à Londres jeudi, dans le cadre d’une étude stratégique visant à examiner les moyens d’augmenter la valeur des futurs droits de diffusion », croit savoir le journal dans un article publié vendredi soir.

« Leur préférence reste sur la possibilité de créer une ligue britannique et irlandaise et ils ont accordé leur soutien aux dirigeants de la Premiership pour une concertation plus approfondie avec l’URC afin d’explorer cette option. »

ADVERTISEMENT

Le quotidien anglais ajoute que la fédération irlandaise (Irish Rugby Football Union) serait également favorable à la poursuite des discussions entre les deux ligues.

Visiblement, le feuilleton ne fait que commencer.

Related

Visionnez gratuitement le documentaire en cinq épisodes “Chasing the Sun 2” sur RugbyPass TV (*non disponible en Afrique), qui raconte le parcours des Springboks dans leur quête pour défendre avec succès leur titre de Champions du monde de rugby

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Commentaires

0 Comments
Soyez le premier à commenter...

Inscrivez-vous gratuitement et dites-nous ce que vous en pensez vraiment !

Inscription gratuite
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

G
GS 15 minutes ago
Bundee Aki sends new reminder to All Blacks he's the one that got away

It's good to see, as I expected, that you are inherently dishonest and won't answer three simple questions.


Your reflex is to react with abuse and vulgarity, highlighting your position's inherent weakness and ignorance. So feel free to abuse me all day because it does not take away the accuracy of my questions.


By refusing to address the questions and then answering with abuse, you confirm that they are accurate and truthful.


Again, refusing to answer the question allows you to avoid the fact that Ireland effectively brought its way to success, as everyone in the Southern Hemisphere understands.


I mean, the sad, simple fact is that in the recent QF loss to the ABs - Ireland scored one try, and all others were scored by Kiwis - including two by so-called "project players."


The amusing thing is—and I'm unsure if you realize how funny it is—when rolling out the abuse to all things Kiwi and Kiwi rugby, you are so blinded by your abuse that you haven't taken time to consider that you have multiple Kiwis running around in your national team and that your team's success is largely built off the Rugby IP of a Kiwi coach. I mean, a little self-reflection might assist here, I would imagine.


As I leave, let me leave you again with those three questions and the simple challenge of answering them: Are you honest enough to do so, or will you reply with abuse?


Agree or disagree:

1. The IRFU enacted a policy of "Project Players."

2. The policy targeted professional rugby players who they considered could, after the residency three-year residency period in existence at that time(now five years), play for Ireland.

3. None of the Southern Unions - RA, NZRFU, etc- have ever enacted any centralized policy and have ever had any "project player."

97 Go to comments
B
Bull Shark 2 hours ago
Why the All Blacks overlooking Joe Schmidt could yet hurt them in the Bledisloe battle

Every year we read about the Wallabies chances in the Bledisloe cup.


And every year the same result.


This time around the chances are even more slim. 1. This is the worst Australian side for some time. With or without Schmidt. He’s no miracle worker. 2. This is still a very good NZ team. Despite the absolute mess they’ve made around running the team. If Argentina can put 40 on Australia - NZ can put 40 on them. No problem.


It’s going to be a 20+ ball game in NZs favour. Minimum. And then NZ will be back in their public’s good books.


If they pump Australia again, they’ll be declared the next World Cup winners with Ireland. Shared.


Until the autumn tests of course. When NZ lose one or both games against the Irish and French and we’ll be back to this story again.


Ahh. The media and fans. So predictable and fickle.


The ABs will become consistent winners again once razors has had the opportunity to learn how to be an international coach. He’s only been doing it for a few months now.


Like I’ve said before. Razor waking in and blowing the competition out of the water is insulting to the many fantastic international coaches who has to work hard to get to that level of success. Even the great Henry and Hansen had to slum it in Wales.


If NZRU actually knew what they were doing they’d have developed their boy razor more. They’ve set him up for failure. They should have retained Foster (or Schmidt) instead of discarding him like a leper.


But at least one thing is certain on the horizon. If Razor doesn’t cut it beyond 2027 - SARU and Rassie Erasmus would have done the good work for them and prepped Tony Brown for the job. I just hope he tells them to stuff it because he’s being treated so well by an organization that knows how to treat its people.

10 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ Inside the mind of Franco Smith: The 'school head boy' who scaled the URC's Everest Inside the mind of Franco Smith: The 'school head boy' who scaled the URC's Everest
Search