THE HERALD REPORTS

KEVIN FERRIE, Chief Rugby Writer August 27 2008
Plans to extend the Anglo-Welsh Cup competition will not derail overdue plans to introduce play-offs to the Magners League.

The announcement this week that Welsh provinces are set to take part in a competition with leading English clubs that will involve more fixtures than the current EDF Cup competition was an embarrassment to the Celtic Rugby board which runs the Magners League on behalf of the Irish, Scottish and Welsh Rugby Unions.

Although it seemed almost designed to upstage today's Magners League launch, there appear to be no major complications in terms of the tri-nation tournament, as Archie Ferguson, one of the SRU's representatives on the Celtic Rugby board, explained.

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"We don't want to talk about what will be announced tomorrow but I'm confident that what has been agreed among the three Unions will go ahead as planned," he said last night.

That is expected to include the introduction of end-of-season play-offs.

Part of the reason they have not been introduced in Celtic competition sooner has been fixture congestion, largely caused by the Anglo-Welsh competition, allied to an insistence by the Scottish, Irish and Welsh team managements on maximising access to the international players.

Under the terms of a new agreement with their Union, though, the leading English clubs are restricted as to how many of their domestic Guinness Premiership matches they can play on international weekends.

While full details of the new deal negotiated by the English to continue playing the Welsh beyond this season have yet to be announced, they seem keen on something that will allow them to have a meaningful list on those Test weekends. That would mean a reduction in clashes with Magners League weekends, making it easier to play a full home and away programme ahead of play-offs.

It also suggests that the new Anglo-Welsh competition will have a development feel about it, since most of their Test players will be unavailable.

This article was originally posted on 27-Aug-2008, 06:54 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 27-Aug-2008, 06:54.