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It’s fair to say that giving away free tickets to the final probably wasn’t part of the brave new world the organisers had in mind for the Champions Cup.

When it was announced last August that the tournament’s inaugural showpiece was to be held at Twickenham, we were promised an “unforgettable experience”, to quote director Bruce Craig, the Bath owner.

The original plan had been for the 2015 Heineken Cup final to be staged at Milan’s San Siro stadium, but with that competition being replaced by the new streamlined Champions Cup, there was also to be a change in venue.

London was to host the second-tier Challenge Cup final as well, with the nearby Stoop - home of Harlequins - the ground chosen.

European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR) - the new company set up to organise the two tournaments - said this arrangement would “guarantee the best possible financial return to clubs”, while Craig insisted it ticked every box for fans.

(Image: Action Images / Paul Childs)

And yet, with just days to go to Saturday’s final between Toulon and Clermont Auvergne, we found ourselves in a situation over the weekend where tickets were being made available free of charge.

The word spread like wildfire on social media that you could pick up a pair for just a £2 booking fee via the Ticketmaster website.

This is turn provoked a huge outcry from people who had already bought tickets for as much as £80 a pop - and understandably so.

It’s now emerged it was a mistake or, to put it another way, an old fashioned cock-up.

The free Euro ticket was supposed to be linked to the purchase of a seat for next month’s Aviva Premiership final at the same venue, but no such requirement was included.

The link has now been removed, but only after a fair few fortunate folk had snapped up the freebies.

Good luck to them, but it’s inevitably left a bitter taste in the mouth of many who have paid full whack, while it doesn’t look good for the competition organisers.

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The fact they had to put a buy-one, get-one-free offer - linked to the Premiership final - on the table in the first place reflects the problems they have had in filling Twickenham this weekend.

Even with the website error, only 45,000 tickets had been shifted for a game that should be the high-point of the season in European club rugby.

In an 82,000-capacity stadium, that is going to mean a hell of a lot of empty seats.

Now, of course, it was always going to be difficult with an all-French final. That was very much the doomsday scenario. It makes it a very hard sell, but that sell hasn’t been helped by the scheduling of this season’s inaugural Champions Cup.

In a change from the accustomed Heineken Cup format, the final was brought forward from the end of May to the beginning of the month, with the knock-out stages being crammed into a four-week period.

It’s telling just how many rugby-following folk I have spoken to weren’t even aware the final was taking place this Saturday, so used are they to it being held at the end of the season.

The change had been demanded by the French clubs who didn’t want the latter stages of their Top 14 championship disrupted and Premiership Rugby were willing to accommodate their wishes.

This in itself sends out the wrong kind of message about the Champions Cup. The final should be the pinnacle of the European season, not hurried out of the way in order to allow domestic tournaments to take centre stage.

It’s a scheduling switch which has backfired badly. Reducing the gap between the semis and the final to just two weeks has left little time to do a co-ordinated push on ticket sales, which is sorely needed given the teams involved.

Apparently, no more than 8,000 supporters are planning to travel over from France, with defending champions Toulon having returned 40 per cent of their ticket allocation.

This has left a lot of empty seats and not much time to shift them, hence the two-for-one Premiership-linked offer, which in turn led to the embarrassing freebie fiasco.

The consequence of all this is that there is likely to be change of heart for next season.

Organisers have indicated that the final will be moved back to the middle of May from 2016, which would certainly be an improvement.

It is crucial that lessons are learned from the first season of the new Europe, because there have been undoubted problems.

In particular, the revamped - or should that be devamped - Challenge Cup has failed to take off, with the removal of automatic entry into the Champions Cup a big mistake.

That resulted in a number of teams, most notably the French, treating it with complete disdain, putting out second string sides.

Not one team from France made the quarter-finals and, even though it did provide Welsh interest at the knock-out stages, it was a damp squib overall.

Thankfully, the organisers have taken this on board and have moved to introduce remedial measures.

Next season, the Challenge Cup winners will qualify for the Champions Cup and after that they will go into the end-of-season play-offs when teams from the Aviva, Top 14 and Pro12 will battle it out for 20th spot.

In addition, the French league will provide financial incentives for its clubs who make the last eight of the second-tier event and hopefully that will make some difference.

Commercial is a priority...

Another priority is stepping things up on the commercial side. The criticism of Heineken Cup organisers ERC was that they had failed to maximise the commercial potential of the competition.

TV revenue has increased, with a joint Sky-BT Sport deal having been the compromise which enabled the new event to get off the ground after months of dispute.

But there’s just the one sponsorship partner on board, those old faithfuls Heineken - and at a much reduced level from when they were title sponsors.

The long-running European dispute, which delayed the agreement on introducing the Champions Cup, hardly helped, as it was too late in the day to attract new backers.

But there has to be a big drive on the sponsorship front for next season to bring in the kind of money that was being confidently projected when the English - and French - clubs were calling for structural change.

Quick resolution needed...

Another pressing issue is the administration, with the organisers still looking for a permanent chairman and director-general. This needs to be resolved quickly and with a couple of big-hitters brought on board.

There also needs to be a decision on who is going to be running the business on a day-to-day basis.

Staff of Dublin-based former organisers ERC have been kept on by EPCR to run the event in this first transitional year, but what does the future hold?

Will they be staying on permanently and moving to the new base at Neuchatel in Switzerland or will there be new personnel? It remains to be seen.

So plenty of teething problems and plenty of people still to be convinced that there was any need for change in the first place.

Irish fans and commentators, in particular, have eagerly pointed to the flaws and failings. There is a deep-rooted resentment and anger over there about the way in which the new competition was forced through by bullying English clubs, as they see it.

My view

And what do I think?

Well, I think there was a need for change.

The old system of near automatic entry from the Pro12 was unfair, with English and French clubs having no such luxury.

Making qualification tougher has benefited both the European Cup and the Pro12. The streamlining of the Euro top-tier from 24 to 20 teams has upped the overall standard, with no groups offering a relatively easy passage to the quarter-finals, as has sometimes been the case in the past.

It was telling that there was something to play for in all five pools going into final round of group matches, making it a fascinating weekend.

So the rugby has been excellent, building on the proud traditions of the Heineken Cup and maybe even moving up a level.

There has also been a positive spin-off for the Pro12, which has become much more competitive, with only one automatic entry per country and teams running a big risk of missing out if they rest star players to the extent they have done previously.

It’s also worth noting that the Welsh pro teams are better off financially as a result of the new European deal and they are set to benefit further again from increased competition sponsorship, such is the formula in place.

Ultimately, their decision to back the English clubs over the Champions Cup proved the correct one, as it provided them with a stronger bargaining position in their long-running dispute with the WRU and led to improved financial deals for them both domestically and in Europe.

So there have been plusses to balance the minuses, while Saturday’s final will be anything but lacking in quality with Toulon and Clermont boasting a host of world stars, not least Leigh Halfpenny and Jonathan Davies.

The sadness is there won’t be that many people there to see it and that, along with the other teething troubles, need to be addressed if this really is to prove a brave new world for European rugby.

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The Pros and cons of the new Europe

Pluses

The Rugby

Cutting from 24 to 20 teams with the transition from Heineken Cup to Champions Cup has increased the overall quality, with the group stage proving even more competitive and pools staying alive into a fascinating final weekend.

TV Deal

The joint Sky-BT Sport TV deal, agreed on as a compromise to settle the long-standing Euro dispute, saw an increase in television revenue and more money for all three leagues - the Aviva Premiership, French Top 14 and Pro12.

Pro12 spin-off

The new qualification system for the Champions Cup, with just one guaranteed spot for each country, has made the Pro12 far more competitive and ensured that interest will be sustained into the final weekend of the regular season.

Welsh winners

While no Welsh team made the knock-out stage of the Champions Cup, our regions have secured an improved financial deal from the new Europe, one which is set to improve further as more revenue come. And, of course, there is set to be a Welsh winner, with Leigh Halfpenny and Jonathan Davies on opposing sides in the final.

French force

In the past, French clubs tended to excel at home in Europe, but failed to travel, not always taking it that seriously on the road. But this season they have been a real force away from home in the Champions Cup, adding steel to the competition, with Racing Metro winning at Northampton, Clermont coming out on top at Munster, Toulon triumphing at Ulster and Toulouse victorious in Bath. With both finalists, the French are setting the standards at Europe’s top table.

Minuses

The scheduling

Moving the final from the traditional Heineken Cup end-of-May slot to the beginning of May, with just two weeks between the semis and the final, has diminished the status of the occasion as the pinnacle of European club rugby and left little time to drive ticket sales.

The TV deal!

While it has brought in more money, the new broadcasting deal has meant that armchair fans have had to subscribe to two satellite channels - Sky and BT Sport - if they want to follow their teams and the split arrangement has perhaps diluted the focus and reduced the buzz around the event.

The final attendance

With only around 45,000 tickets sold for Saturday’s all-French final at Twickenham, it could be the smallest crowd for a European Cup final since Toulouse beat Perpignan in front of 28,600 spectators in Dublin in 2003. The freebie ticket fiasco over the weekend hardly help the image of the final.

Organisation

We are still waiting for the appointment of a permanent chairman and director-general of the new competition organisers EPCR, while there’s uncertainty over who will be running the show on a day-to-day basis moving forward, with the staff of Heineken Cup bosses ERC having remained on board this season.

Challenge Cup

It might have sustained Welsh interest in Europe, via the Dragons and Blues, but the second-tier event has suffered badly from general apathy, with a number of teams - especially the French - showing no interest. Not providing the winners with entry to the Champions Cup was a big blunder.