Rugby's first World Club Cup to be staged in 2028
A tournament featuring the best club sides from both the northern and southern hemispheres, to be held every four years, has received unanimous backing from all the sport's governing bodies.
Sixteen teams will qualify - eight from the Investec Champions Cup and the remainder drawn from Super Rugby Pacific and Japan.
European Professional Rugby Club (EPRC) chairman Dominic McKay confirmed before Saturday's Investec Champions Cup final between Northampton and Bordeaux in Cardiff that an idea mooted for "the last two or three years" will now be delivered.
McKay said: "We've been trying to work our way through this project to see if we can deliver it.
"And over the last few days we've had great meetings with our Board, great meetings with our General Assembly, who represent the three leagues (the TOP14, United Rugby Championship and English Premiership) and stakeholders from seven unions, and everyone is unanimous about wanting to deliver a World Club Cup - through EPCR."
The tournament will launch in June 2028, elevating the Champions Cup knock-out rounds to the Rugby World Club Cup and "supercharging" the closing stages of the EPCR Challenge Cup, the EPCR said.
McKay added: "The Investec Champions Cup is the greatest club competition in the world, and we're going to continue to protect that, nurture it and develop it further.
"We've got some ambitious plans for both the Investec Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup, which we'll unveil over the coming weeks.
"And, to elevate the whole of professional club rugby, we want to create this World Club Cup proposition in 2028 and 2032 with our friends from the South.
"We have these incredible competitions that we own and operate, and we want to find a way to elevate them further and bring in teams from Australia, from New Zealand, from Japan, and we'll do that through the World Club Cup."
PA
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The best supermarket bakery revealed – it beats Greggs on both price and taste
THERE is nothing like tucking into a loaf of freshly baked bread or croissants straight out of the oven. Demand for fresh bakery goods has been growing among shoppers as households delight in little indulgences. Greggs has become the nation's go to bakery for a treat for many shoppers. But supermarket offering rival the chain in both taste and price. We decided to put four products to the test from each of the bakeries and assess based on taste and value to give an overall score. From each, I tried to buy one jam doughnut, one croissant, one white bread roll, and one small white baguette. We look at the innovative products, plus value for money that supermarkets are offering customers. Here are how the supermarket bakeries stand up. Greggs Doughnut, £1.05 Croissant, £1.35 9 Although not a supermarket, Greggs is the heavy-weight high street bakery. Earlier this year, the business said sales grew by 7% to more than £1billion for the half-year with new stores continually opening. As well as lunch-time favourites such as sausage rolls and sandwiches the chain sells all the bakery staples. Plain rolls and baguettes are not on the standard menu. We found the doughnut was lacking a little in sugar dusting and wasn't evenly spread. At £1.35 for a single it's far more expensive than the supermarket options, which start at 26p. You don't select your own doughnuts, and the one given to me was slightly damaged on top, plus it tasted very bread-like. I also found the jam lacking in flavour and tasted quite artificial. One of my least favourites out of the test. The bakery sells croissants but only until 11am, and as I arrived after, I missed out. Asda Doughnuts, £1.38 for a pack of five, 27p each Croissant, £1.06 for a pack of two, 53p each Baguette, £1.34 9 The supermarket has been rolling out single serve fixtures to in-store bakeries. There are 23 items to choose from including all the bakery favourites you'd expect to find, such as cinnamon buns and cheese twist. Items are not baked in-store and instead delivered each day. The supermarket is an affordable option for shoppers beating discounter Lidl on price on selected staples including croissants priced at 53p. There was only a bigger sized baguette available to buy - but it was crusty and very fresh. However, the croissant was not flaky enough. And the doughnuts were tasty but a little sticky for my liking. There weren't any fresh white rolls available to buy on the day. Lidl Doughnut, 49p Croissant, 59p Bread roll, 29p Baguette, 39p Lidl has overtaken Tesco in terms of market share, according to recent data. The supermarket is also most popular among shoppers going by online searches which consistently beat the competition. New bakery items are regularly added. Most recently, the supermarket had a viral hit with its new birthday cake bun for 79p. The caramel suisse is another recent addition to the supermarket's offering that has won over fans. Earlier this year, the supermarket cut the price on 11 bakery items and now sells its croissants for a palatable 59p and crusty white rolls for 29p each. The supermarket delivers a winning combination of great value, innovative new products and tasty treats. The croissant was tasty but seemed as though it had been in the oven a minute or two too long, as was slightly more browned than i would have liked. The baguette was narrow so not much soft bready part inside. I would have preferred it a little more crusty on the outside. The doughnut was powdered sugar but I think a granulated sugar works better. Plus, they were a little stingy with the jam on the inside. The roll was tasty and chewy on the outside with a soft middle. Morrisons Croissants, 50p Bread roll, 50p Baguette, 80p Morrisons says it's the only major UK supermarket where bread, rolls, and doughnuts are made from scratch in more than 400 of its supermarkets every day. This is on top of pastries and cookies and hand-filled cream cakes and also offers 27 varieties of freshly baked bread. Given the supermarket pride in its in-store bakeries, I was frankly a little disappointed. There were no jam doughnuts in the store I visited, which appeared to be related to a problem with machinery, so couldn't include them in the test. The baguette was a good size and tasted reasonably fresh but not like it had come out of the oven that morning. The croissant was on the smaller side and soft on the outside. And the roll was definitely going tougher and quite hard on the outside, and I didn't like the taste either. Sainsbury's Doughnuts, £1.30 for a pack of five, 26p each Croissant, £1.20 Bread roll, 50p Baguette, 60p 9 Sainsbury's has pulled back from baking all items in-store from scratch, finishing off selected items instead. The supermarket offers a good selection of products from everyday loaves to cookies, muffins and cake slices. It also regularly refreshes its offering and has recently introduced an 'Under the Sea gingerbread man, £1, as well as rainbow cookies, £1.50, and a giraffe baton, 80p. The crusty roll was excellent and tasted very fresh. The croissant was a touch on the expensive side, but it was perfectly crisp and flaky on the outside well-sized, and soft and moist on the inside. Definitely the winning croissant, for me. The baguette was slim but tasty. The doughnuts were also a winner with a good amount of zingy jam and plenty of granulated sugar. Although you have to buy a five-pack of doughnuts, they work out at reasonable 26p each - cheaper than Lidl. Overall lip-smackingly good and generally well priced too. My go-to bakery choice for future. Tesco Doughnuts, £1.30 for a pack of five, 26p each Croissant, £1.20 Bread roll, 80p Baguette, 80p 9 Selected Tesco bakeries bake items from scratch though the majority of bakeries "finish" items in-store. It's not the cheapest for staples, but it matches rival Sainbury's on the croissant and doughnuts. The supermarket was my favourite croissant, crunchy flaky and perfectly cooked, it tasted really fresh. I was also happy with the freshness of the roll and baguette and both were a good size. The doughnut was a little sticky on the outside but very soft dough, almost melt in the mouth and plenty of jam. Value: 3 Taste: 4 Overall score: 7 Waitrose Croissants, £1.30 Bread roll, 50p Baguette, 85p Waitrose has bakeries in supermarkets across the country. With nearly 80 options to choose from, the brand said customers are currently loving sourdough loaves. Sadly, there were no jam doughnuts in store that day. A member of staff informed me they'd not been able to order the bags for packaging. However, the croissant was crumbly on the outside and tasted good with a rich buttery flavour. The baguette was perfectly fine albeit slightly soft on the outside. The roll was very good soft and chewy on the outside and tasted fresh. However, it was the most expensive out of all the croissants. The produce was a good middling choice but nothing really stood out. Marks & Spencer Doughnuts, £1.10 for a pack of four, 27p each Croissant, £1.25 Baguette, 80p 9 You'll find up to 110 products in M&S in-store bakeries. There are 600 across the country. Like most supermarkets, M&S hand finishes the goods in store rather than baking from scratch. The baguette was nice and thick, and tasted lovely and fresh with a soft white inside. The doughnuts were the smallest sized out of all the supermarkets but were very tasty. There was plenty of sugar and jam, plus I liked that the dough itself had a slightly crisp outside while being fluffy on the inside. The croissant was tasty as well as being soft flaky and a decent size. How to save on your supermarket shop THERE are plenty of ways to save on your grocery shop. You can look out for yellow or red stickers on products, which show when they've been reduced. If the food is fresh, you'll have to eat it quickly or freeze it for another time. Making a list should also save you money, as you'll be less likely to make any rash purchases when you get to the supermarket. Going own brand can be one easy way to save hundreds of pounds a year on your food bills too. This means ditching "finest" or "luxury" products and instead going for "own" or value" type of lines. Plenty of supermarkets run wonky veg and fruit schemes where you can get cheap prices if they're misshapen or imperfect. For example, Lidl runs its Waste Not scheme, offering boxes of 5kg of fruit and vegetables for just £1.50. If you're on a low income and a parent, you may be able to get up to £442 a year in Healthy Start vouchers to use at the supermarket too. Plus, many councils offer supermarket vouchers as part of the Household Support Fund.
