The Heineken Cup's unloved, slightly spotty cousin will certainly be harder to win after a significant overhaul according to Rob Kitson in the Guardian.
"The inspired invention that is European club rugby returns this week in all its glory. To gauge the impact the Heineken Cup has made since its inception 15 seasons ago, just try to imagine the game without it. A life lived in black and white, as opposed to glorious technicolour, with only domesticity to enliven the winter months? It is possible that professional rugby union would never have flourished in the way it has without its most stunning centrepiece.
"Loitering in the shadows, though, has always been its unloved, slightly spotty cousin. The newly restyled Amlin Challenge Cup, which aspires to be an oval-ball Europa League, has mostly been regarded as a consolation prize that not every competing club seems to cherish. Only in the knock-out stages has it traditionally come alive as everyone suddenly appreciates it might just be a pot worth lifting. The sense of Heineken Lite, even so, remains hard to shake."
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