Respected Premiership boss warns that a Club World Cup could ‘easily create bigger issues’
Exeter Chiefs boss Rob Baxter and the 2023 Super Rugby winning Crusaders.
Exeter Chiefs boss Rob Baxter has expressed his reservations about a possible Club Rugby World Cup as he believes it could create “bigger issues” for the game.
Reports emerged this week that a first Club World Cup could be staged in June 2028 after major men’s leagues in the southern and northern hemispheres agreed to key principles on the project.
New club competition
The tournament would replace the knockout stages of the Investec Champions Cup for that season, with eight teams from the EPCR’s top tournament qualifying for the global event, along with six Super Rugby Pacific sides and possibly two more teams possibly from the Japan Rugby League One competition.
Baxter guided Exeter Chiefs to a Champions Cup title in 2020 and has expressed his concerns over the proposed new tournament, particularly regarding travel costs.
“If someone says to me that in four years time they’ve got the finances in place that cover everyone’s travel costs and there’s a TV deal that means all the clubs involved in it get millions of pounds, and it helps all the clubs be viable, thriving businesses, I would say it’s exactly what the game needs,” Baxter told reporters.
“If what, as normally happens, is, ‘Let’s try and give it a go and see if we can make it work and see if we can create some interest,’ I would be very hesitant about it because you can very easily create bigger issues in the game trying to solve issues, as we have seen numerous times.”
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Travel issues and interest
Baxter’s remarks come after Bulls coach Jake White complained about his side’s travel issues ahead of their Champions Cup knockout match against Northampton Saints. SA Rugby responded to White detailing the flights and costs of the Bulls’ travels to Northampton.
The Exeter boss fears that a Club World Cup would create similar issues for all teams and would be compounded with further travels.
“We’re in a European competition now and the costs for us literally overnight from Sunday knowing the result in France, to trying to find a plane, trying to get over – and we’re taking the smallest plane we can – our costs are going to be in the tens and tens of thousands of pounds,” Baxter explained.
“That’s just now, and that’s within a European competition. Take the reality of that and make it a world competition and go, ‘Right, we’re going to have a look at this and this is the funding that’s in place and this is what might happen’ – as much we all might want to do it, you do actually have to be able to afford to do it.”
Baxter believes that the tournament would also need buy-in from all and not just the players and coaches.
“There’s nothing negative about interesting games of rugby, that’s what everybody wants,” he added.
“But at the same time we have to make sure that everybody else wants to watch it and everybody else wants to be involved in it, not just the players and the coaches.”
Quiz: Can you name the Saracens team that won the Champions Cup for the first time in 2016?
