There seem to me to be several issues which exercise opinions when considering the ZC. Overburdening the players and the cost to fans are two, but the one which strikes me as key is: what purpose do they serve? What do they prove?

There are two methods by which it can be determined which team is “best”. The first is the league structure, which determines who can best deal with the steady drip, drip of pressure as it builds over the course of a season. It tests consistency, the ability to stay the long haul and most importantly measures each team against all of its peers.

The downside is that there is an element of a “forgiving” nature to this structure. If you lose a game; well there’s always next week. This can encourage a sense of operating in the comfort zone.

The second means of measuring a team’s quality is one which measures a team’s ability to deal with instant pressure the knock-out competition, in which there is no tomorrow, no come-back. It’s now or never. These competitions build towards a (theoretically) gripping, sudden-death finale.

The weakness of this structure? That a team can get lucky and by winning four or five games can become champions. The distinction between these two competitions is vital. Both have strengths and weaknesses and only the truly great teams can win both. I don’t feel that I’m being too contentious in arguing that there is a need for both competitive structures.

My objection to the Play-offs is simply that in trying to combine both they prove neither. The league is the league. At the end you get a clear indication of who is best – a lucky team does not win a league. This determination is simply undermined and clouded by the imposition of a play-off structure on top of the league.

In English RU we have a perfectly good competition which performs the second function. It’s been around a while. It’s called “the Cup”! What exactly does the ZC give us that the cup can’t? Actually I suspect the question is better asked the other way round.

The RFU Knock-out Cup (in whichever guise it is presently found) provides an "inclusivity" which embraces the whole of the English game, giving “junior” clubs an opportunity, albeit miniscule, to achieve glory. It also spreads around the revenue and gives the players and fans of smaller outfits an opportunity to stand with the big guns from time to time.

Important issues in these days of closed-shop elites and occasional, “if it’s convenient” promotion. It proceeds throughout the season, weaving a thread of continuity uniting the game from it grass roots to its elite pinnacle and, traditionally at least, builds to a climax to which all clubs feel they have contributed.

The ZC excludes all but the elite and adds games to an already overlong season resulting in stale, repeat, fixtures between jaded players watched by small numbers of disinterested fans. Play-offs are successful in sporting cultures where there is no Cup competition and where the underlying league structure is not based on the principle whereby all teams play each other, for example the NFL and the Super 12s. The key to these cultures is that the season is (relatively) short.

Which brings me nicely to my next point: the length of the season. Now I love Rugby. It tests my mind in a way which poofball never could. It has a savage beauty, power, passion, camaraderie and an edge which calls on that part of my soul which delights in mayhem and violence. No other sport truly compares.

But there comes a point at which I need a break from it. More is not always better! At the end of May I want to watch my other sporting love. It’s time I gave my attention to my beloved Lancashire and their ever failing quest for the County Championship. This, of course, is at the heart of my objection to Summer Rugby. But that’s another question for another day!

Not only is my appetite for rugby diminished by early summer but the players, having slogged their way through rain and mud and snow and sleet and ice and even a little sun (Sept & May!) are plain knackered and their performances show it. I’d rather watch paint dry (and I know some of you will think that’s just the same as cricket) than another poor quality, repeat of a game I’ve already seen once this season and spend my hard-earned to do so at that.

Finally there’s the distraction issue. All attention should at this point of the season be focused on the European Cup Final - the season’s natural climax. Instead we have to worry about a trivial made up competition which proves nothing save that players can be broken, fans exploited, and a season’s hard graft trivialized.

There’s an old saying about killing the goose that laid the golden egg. That is what the Play-offs run the risk of doing. We know who the best league team are. We know who the best knock-out team are. We’ll soon know who the best team in Europe are. Short of a world championship decider against the S12 Champions what more is there?

Oh yeah, the opportunity to wring a few more shekels out of the long suffering supporters.

Excuse me, but I’ll pass.

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