NICK CAIN

THE capacity of this game to devalue its own gold standard tournaments is illustrated by the idea that the new World Club Cup, which is scheduled to start in 2024, will involve the European Cup being shelved at the quarter-final stage every four years.
It means that in order to create the new World Club Cup competition, which will involve eight leading teams from Europe and the same number from the southern hemisphere, the integrity of the European Cup will be trashed.
An annual competition which has galvanised the club game in Europe will now not have a champion every fourth year...