Home advantage to the final?

[ellis9]

I am a little confused. I have heard various people say different things.

We have a home QF at Welford Road and if we win that do we get home country advantage? I thought we did!

[Spicer]

I believe that is is correct. Home quarter followed by a home country semi, assuming we win the quarter final.

[Old Hob]

Not necessarily. Winning away in your quarter final should be rewarded say EPR so the permutations are:

http://www.epcrugby.com/home.php

[Darc Tiger]

It will be Racing in England, or Toulon in France.

[KUSADASI TIGER]

KNOCKOUT STAGE
2.4 The clubs ranked 1 to 4 will have home advantage for the quarter-finals as follows:
Club 1 v Club 8 (QF1)
Club 4 v Club 5 (QF2)
Club 3 v Club 6 (QF3)
Club 2 v Club 7 (QF4)

NB The new format for the semi-final matches in the Champions Cup recognises performances by clubs during the pool stages as well as the achievement of a winning a quarter-final match away from home.

The winner of QF1 will play the winner of QF2 in one semi-final, and the winner of QF3 will play the winner of QF4 in the other semi-final as follows:

Semi-final 1: winner QF1 v winner QF2
Semi-final 2: winner QF3 v winner QF4

The semi-final matches will be played at venues designated by EPCR, but the following clubs will have home country advantage in their respective semi-final matches:

(a) For Semi-final 1

If the clubs ranked 1 and 4 win their QFs, the club ranked 1 will have home country

If the clubs ranked 1 and 5 win their QFs, the club ranked 5 will have home country advantage

If the clubs ranked 8 and 4 win their QFs, the club ranked 8 will have home country advantage

If the clubs ranked 8 and 5 win their QFs, the club ranked 5 will have home country advantage

(b) For Semi-final 2

If the clubs ranked 3 and 2 win their QFs, the club ranked 2 will have home country advantage

If the clubs ranked 3 and 7 win their QFs, the club ranked 7 will have home country advantage

If the clubs ranked 6 and 2 win their QFs, the club ranked 6 will have home country advantage

If the clubs ranked 6 and 7 win their QFs, the club ranked 6 will have home country advantage

The final match will be played at a venue designated by EPCR.


2.5 In the event of a tie at full-time in the quarter-finals, semi-finals or final, extra time of 10 minutes each way will be played. If the scores remain tied, the winner will be determined as follows:
(a) the club that scored the most tries in the match (including extra time) or
(b) if equal, by a place-kick competition.

[DickyP]

The system is explicitly designed that if an away team wins a quarter final then they get home country advantage in the SF. If two home or two away teams win then highest seed gets home country advantage.

The draw being in two halves we are already sure of an English team in the final as there are 4 English teams in the top half of the draw. Also home country is irrelevant.

In our half there are us and three French teams. Toulon are laughing as if they win whoever else wins they have a home country advantage in SF. If we win and they do then it's France as they are an away team and if SFP win and they win it's France (anyway) but evn if it'd been some other team they are a higher seed.

So effectively the only team in the entire contest the design of the SF can 'harm' is Tigers.

[Bristol Tiger]

So effectively the only team in the entire contest the design of the SF can 'harm' is Tigers.

Well that stands to reason. Come on Racing then!!!

[Maidman]

It is interesting to consider where the two semi-finals might take place if they are both to be played in England.

I don't think you could have one but not the other at Twickenham, and I doubt we would get two at Twickenham. Milton Keynes? Olympic Stadium?

[Iain]

I've been told ours is looking like it would be Pride Park or the City Ground.

I doubt the organisers would fancy a Twickenham semi final after last year, when about 14 people watched Saracens.

[ellis9]

I hope it's Pride Park out of those two, only because I've never been there.

[Bill W (2)]

I've been told ours is looking like it would be Pride Park or the City Ground.

I doubt the organisers would fancy a Twickenham semi final after last year, when about 14 people watched Saracens.

THEY SHOULD HAVE ALLOWED DOGS IN!

[Hot_Charlie]

I hope it's Pride Park out of those two, only because I've never been there.

I reckon that would be reasonable if we were to have a home SF against Racing. Had we potentially been against one of the other English sides, there could have been an argument to take it somewhere a little bigger, such as Villa Park or even up the M1 to Elland Road.

[Jose]

I would prefer the olympic stadium, but i may be biased given that it's only 20 mins from my house! Would knock at least 2 hours off my usual journey. More seriously, can't see the point in city ground or pride park. No bigger than king power and just awkward for everybody. Anyhow, need to win a QF first so no point worrying yet.

[longlivethecrumbie]

I would prefer the olympic stadium, but i may be biased given that it's only 20 mins from my house! Would knock at least 2 hours off my usual journey. More seriously, can't see the point in city ground or pride park. No bigger than king power and just awkward for everybody. Anyhow, need to win a QF first so no point worrying yet.

If I remember correctly you can't have it in the city in which you play, as it's home country advantage rather than home advantage, but I've been wrong before......

[MrPartridge]

Pride Park or the City Ground

Not wanting to really get ahead of myself and start talking about our SF in England… but these seem very 'left-field' possibilities. Neither were used in the RWC, unlike say Milton Keynes.

My understanding is that the SF are the weekend of 23/24 April so just to note:

Derby (capacity 33,500) are home the Sheffield Wednesday on 23rd April
Milton Keynes (capacity 30,500) are also home to Brentford on 23rd April
Forest are away (capacity 30,000), but I'd still be surprised if that was the SF venue
Coventry are away too, so Ricoh is empty (capacity 32,600)

Can't see any competition rules on stadium size but I think 30,000 would be the minimum.