Anglo-Welsh Cup plan sets off alarm bells

Rugby News: News that the Welsh RFU and their four regions are entering negotiations with their English counterparts over an Anglo-Welsh Cup has spread alarm and anger within the IRFU and the Irish provinces.

Were it to come to pass, such a competition would jeopardise recently completed negotiations over next season's Celtic League, as well as casting a cloud over that troubled competition in both the short and longer term.

Ironically, this latest development comes just at the point when it seemed that all three Celtic countries were finally singing off the same hymn sheet.

After protracted negotiations, two weeks ago a Celtic League board meeting appeared to agree to a fixture list which - helped by the scrapping of the Celtic Cup - ensured no Celtic League fixtures taking place during the autumn Test window or on Six Nations' weekends.

Furthermore, this incorporated a commitment from the IRFU to the Irish provinces, and in turn from them to the Celtic League, that their frontline Test players would be available for 16 of their 20 matches.

At a commercial meeting between the chief executives of all the competing teams in Dublin last Thursday, Cardiff's Bob Norster informed his Celtic cousins that the Welsh were considering a response from England - driven by the BBC, the English Premiership clubs and the RFU - for an Anglo-Welsh Cup to replace or galvanise the Powergen Cup.

The proposals under consideration are for a 16-team competition (involving the 12 English Premiership clubs and the four Welsh regions) to be divided into groups of four before semi-finals and final.

Thus, a minimum of three weekends would have to be found in an already congested calendar, with the proposal on offer being the last two weekends in September and the first weekend in January _ which would clash with Celtic League matches.

Needless to say, as this entailed possible further redrafting of the Celtic League fixtures - even if it means having the least possible impact on Leinster and Munster - Norster's revelation went down like a lead balloon, and has prompted the IRFU chief executive Philip Browne to write a letter expressing his concern to his Welsh counterpart David Moffett.

There is also the underlying fear that a proposed Anglo-Welsh Cup would undermine the Celtic League and ultimately lead to the Welsh cutting their Celtic ties for an Anglo-Welsh league in, say, two or three years time.

"We're seriously disappointed," admitted Leinster chief executive Mick Dawson yesterday. "After years of us dragging our heels we had finally got around to giving the competition some real meaning and credibility. We have been negotiating for weeks and as soon as we finally come to an agreement to have the rug pulled from under us like this is very disappointing.

"It's going to make it very difficult to give the Celtic League the commercial credibility it deserves if the Welsh do this. I'm not sure how far down the road they are with the proposal, but I think it's a fairly serious offer."

The plan is being driven strongly by BBC Grandstand and initial soundings suggest the Welsh regions are enthusiastic, not least because the competition reputedly guarantees their four regions a minimum of £200,000 each.

Stuart Gallagher, the Llanelli chief executive, commented: "We are very supportive of the proposal. These opportunities don't come along very often. We simply can't turn it down, either from a rugby or a financial perspective."

Leinster and Munster have been paired in the same half of the draw for the Celtic Cup, raising the possibility that the two provinces could meet in the semi-finals of a competition which is not likely to be held again after this season.

The winners of the Leinster-Glasgow quarter-final (to be held at Lansdowne Road as the resurfacing of Donnybrook begins this week) host the winners of the Munster-Edinburgh tie, almost certain to be held at Thomond Park, while the winners of the Dragons-Llanelli quarter-final will be at home to either the Ospreys or the holders Ulster.

CELTIC CUP: Quarter-finals: Match 1: Neath Swansea Ospreys v Ulster, Saturday, April 30th, 5.30; Match 2: Munster v Edinburgh Rugby, Thomond Park (TBC), Saturday, April 30th, 7.30, live on Setanta Sports; Match 3: Leinster v Glasgow Rugby, Lansdowne Road, Friday, April 29th, 7.30, live on Setanta Sports; Match 4: Newport-Gwent Dragons v Llanelli Scarlets, Friday, April 29th, 7.05.

Semi-finals (to be played over the weekend of May 6th/7th/8th): Winner of Match 3 v Winner of Match 2; Winner of Match 4 v Winner of Match 1. Final: Saturday, May 14th (at a neutral stadium in the home country of one of the finalists).