Former Wales and British and Irish Lions fly-half Dan Biggar has revealed his frustration at EPCR’s decision to once again allow Leinster to host an Investec Champions Cup semi-final at the Aviva Stadium.
The rules of the competition determine that the highest seed gets home country advantage, but the Irish province have effectively been permitted to have the encounter on their own turf.
While the RDS Arena is being redeveloped, Leinster have played most of their homes matches at the Aviva Stadium, with the odd game at Croke Park.
Bordeaux also get big advantage
Biggar has also taken issue with the decision to enable Bordeaux-Begles to use Stade Atlantique for their Champions Cup clash with Bath, another ground in the southwestern French city.
In contrast, had the English side hosted a home semi-final, they would have had to travel to Milton Keynes, which is over 100 miles away, while Edinburgh’s Murrayfield was the venue if Glasgow Warriors had qualified – a 50-mile journey.
The Welshman believes that it “defeats the whole object” of home country advantage as he responded to ex-England fly-half Andy Goode, who kicked off the debate.
“My point on this, and the same with Bordeaux, is have they not earned the right to do that by their performances in the group?” Goode said on The Rugby Pod.
“People will moan about it because it’s Leinster, because they go to the Aviva and because they’ve had the success of getting to semis and finals, but you earn the right. Winning your four group games gives you that pathway.
“They have got lucky because most people expected Glasgow to beat Toulon at the weekend and then the semi-final was going to be at Murrayfield.
“You can’t fault them, they earned the right by the seedings.”
However, it doesn’t sit right with Biggar, who responded: “The seedings are right up until the quarter-finals. What it states in the semi-finals is you get home country advantage.
“This year, Leinster are playing at their home ground, and Bordeaux are playing in their city.”
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Goode did state that the RDS is usually Leinster’s home ground, but, as Biggar points out, that has not been the case for the past two seasons.
“But for this season, their home ground is officially the Aviva. They’re playing in their home ground, Bordeaux are playing in Bordeaux,” he said.
“What it doesn’t say is you should have home city advantage; it says you should have home country advantage.
“For me, I don’t think personally Bordeaux should be allowed to play at the football stadium in Bordeaux, and I don’t think Leinster should be playing in Dublin because it defeats the whole object.
“You may as well just say you have home semis as well.”
The issue with taking the game outside of Dublin
One possible issue for Leinster is the lack of stadiums big enough to host a major semi-final, but that is certainly not an excuse for Bordeaux.
“That’s the problem, isn’t it? At least Croke Park is away from their home ground,” he said.
“Bordeaux shouldn’t have been allowed, and that isn’t an argument you could say about France; there are a million stadiums in France near the Bordeaux region where you can play games.
“It doesn’t look that great.
“Bordeaux should get their quarter-final and last-16 at home, the same as Leinster, but then the semi-finals are home country, not home city.
“That is where you think Bath and Toulon have got an even bigger mountain to climb because of where they’re playing.”