The Parker Pen Shield, until now a stuttering vehicle for European clubs who fail to qualify for the Heineken Cup, is to undergo a major revamp next season in an attempt to transform it into a sexier, more spectator-friendly product.
Instead of the current structure which has thrown up too many one-sided pool matches, the Shield will switch to a knockout format involving 32 starting teams, with a tennis-style draw featuring 16 seeds, six apiece from England and France plus two from Wales and one from Scotland and Ireland.
Only the first round will be conducted on a home-and-away basis as part of efforts to prevent any repeat of Agen's crass decision to "throw" a pool game against Ebbw Vale this season to avoid fixture congestion. But the 16 losers will enter a new plate event.
"We were looking to reinvigorate the tournament and with this knockout format there will always be something to play for," said a European Rugby Cup Ltd spokesman.
Interest in this year's Shield has been raised by the prospect of automatic Heineken Cup qualification for the winners, and the four remaining clubs - London Irish, Pontypridd, Sale and Gloucester - made no secret of their motivation yesterday before this weekend's semi-finals.
Pontypridd, for example, are taking 30 coachloads of fans on Saturday to Oxford United's Kassam Stadium, which will now also host the Shield final on May 26. Their semi-final opponents London Irish, winners of the Powergen Cup last weekend, will meet the Welsh challenge head-on. "Qualification for the Heineken Cup is the holy grail of rugby and we all want to be in it," said the Exiles' director of rugby Conor O'Shea.
Gloucester's director of rugby Nigel Melville agrees but his priority is getting past Sale in Sunday's semi-final at Franklin's Gardens. In theory the game involves another reunion for the former rugby league colleagues Jason Robinson and Henry Paul. But the latter is far from certain to start and Melville feels the former Bradford player is still suffering from the "lambasting" he received in some quarters after his ill-fated England debut as a replacement in Paris.
Melville is also considering asking Paul to play full-back rather than centre and even the player himself accepts he needs to improve his club form to merit another chance to play alongside Robinson for England. "Jason's success hasn't made it any harder for me, other than the fact people keep bringing it up or saying: 'Why's he not scoring length-of-the-field tries like Jason?'
"What other people try and press on me is up to them but I've gone beyond what I wanted to achieve this season when I signed for Gloucester. We're second at the moment, we're in a semi-final on Sunday and to get into the England team and win the Hong Kong Sevens in my first year has been a dream come true. I am hungry for more but, obviously, I have got to be playing at club level to put myself in the frame for international rugby."
The former Wallaby centre Tim Horan has had a plate inserted in the broken wrist which has ruled him out of Saracens' remaining fixtures. Horan was hurt during the league defeat at Sale last Friday.
Tony Spreadbury, one of England's three full-time officials, has been reappointed to the International Rugby Board's panel of referees. He will take charge of Wales's game against South Africa in Cape Town on June 15.
Stade Français's owner Max Guazzini has told his players to coach themselves for the remainder of the season after dismissing the Australian John Connolly yesterday. Connolly, due to take charge at Swansea this summer, is to be replaced by the former Springbok coach Nick Mallett.
· A Twickenham beer-drinking record was set at Saturday's Powergen Cup final between London Irish and Northampton: 63,000 pints were sold, eclipsing the 45,000 at this season's international between England and Ireland.
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