Rugby playoffs: are they fair?

Thanks to sporting play-offs, it’s been an exciting couple of weeks in my adopted county of Northamptonshire.

Last Saturday, Northampton Town FC made their first trip to Wembley for 15 years for the League Two play-off final. Thousands of fans descended on the capital – although it’s probably best to gloss over the result.

This Saturday, it will be a similar story, as the Northampton Saints face East Midlands rivals the Leicester Tigers in the Premiership final at Twickenham. The match is a sell-out.

Both the football and rugby teams can be grateful the play-off systems in their respective leagues allowed them a day in the sun: Town finished sixth in League Two, while Saints ended the season fourth in the Aviva Premiership.

Leicester Tigers defeated Harlequins 33-16 at Welford Road in the Premiership semi-final

And let’s not forget London Welsh only earned their place at English rugby’s top table after taking advantage of last season’s Championship play-offs.

So I suppose I shouldn’t be complaining too much about the play-offs. I was at Welford Road for the Tigers’ victory over Harlequns and I’m off to Twickenham on Saturday, where I will be able to cheer on my local team.

But how can it be fair that Northampton, who finished three places and 12 points adrift of table-toppers Saracens, should be able to wipe out that advantage over the course of an 80-minute semi-final?

Six times since the introduction of the play-off system to choose the English champions was introduced in 2002-03 the table toppers have not lifted the Premiership trophy. Six times the team which proved to be consistently the best squad over the course of the best part of nine months had their glory snatched away over the course of a couple of late-season games. And six will become seven on Saturday as either Richard Cockerill or Jim Mallinder’s men are crowned “champions”.

Of course, supporters of the system would argue the mark of a true champion is one who can perform when the pressure is on. However, isn’t that the point of a cup competition, rather than a league? Does it sort the men from the boys? Does it weed out the chokers – Gloucester have topped the table three times without winning the league – and reward those, Wasps most prominently, who peak at the right time?

The play-offs certainly add extra interest to the final stages of the season in both football and rugby, and in football, it is surely more acceptable that the league winners should not have to face the play-offs.

You can see why the Premiership favours their system of bringing the curtain down on the season in front of a sell-out Twickenham, especially as the cup competition no longer runs. Arguably, it also helps even up the season for those teams which lose players during the Six Nations and the autumn internations (though shouldn’t the same arguments therefore apply to relegation?).

But a major part of the problem, too, is the fact that, unlike the equivalent top flight in football, there could otherwise be very little to play for at the top of the table by the end of the season. With half the league qualifying for the Heineken Cup, teams in third, fourth and fifth could have almost nothing to play for in the season’s final weeks without a knockout phase to come.

So are there any solutions? It’s difficult: teams which finished top used to get a bye straight to the final, but it often meant their momentum stalled and they suffered for that.

Could you give the higher-ranked teams a points advantage in the semi-finals? No, ridiculous idea – it would be both arbitrary and encourage negative, defensive play.

So maybe, to misquote Winston Churchill particularly badly: the play-offs are the worst form of deciding the champions except all the others – at least until we get some reform of European competitions (the subject of another future rant).

Still, if the Saints go marching into Twickenham on Saturday and defeat the Tigers, I doubt the merits of the play-off system will be at the forefront of my mind.

**Disclaimer: I realise the Premiership is not the only league which uses play-offs!