Bath owner Bruce Craig: keep Champions Cup sudden death
Bath owner Bruce Craig wants the Champions Cup to stay sudden death. No second chances. Win or go home.
Craig set out his position ahead of Bath's opening pool game against Montpellier in October 2026. The Champions Cup is Europe's top club competition, bringing together the best teams from England's Premiership, France's Top 14 and the United Rugby Championship. He does not want its knockout rounds watered down.
The debate centres on plans for a revamped 16-team tournament. One idea on the table is home-and-away ties in the last 16 and quarter-finals, with aggregate scores deciding who goes through. Craig said he opposed that switch and favoured straight knockout, where one bad night ends a European run The Guardian.
He also called for the three leagues to find common ground. By the end of 2026, he said, there needs to be a common direction of travel between La Ligue Nationale de Rugby, which runs the French professional game, the United Rugby Championship and England's Prem.
Craig, 63, speaks with the weight of longevity. He has been involved with Bath for 16 years, having bought the club from Andrew Brownsword in 2010 The Guardian. The West Country-born entrepreneur now shares ownership with billionaire James Dyson as the club's chairman.
Off the field, the biggest change is bricks and mortar. Work on Bath's refurbished city-centre stadium beside the River Avon, known as Rec 2.0, is scheduled to start in March and finish by September 2028. The Rec is Bath's famous home ground, hemmed in by the city centre, and the rebuild has been a long-running saga for supporters.
On the field, Bath arrive with credit in the bank. They won their first league title in 29 years in 2025, beating Leicester 23-21 in the Premiership final at Twickenham The Guardian. That victory ended decades of near misses and restored them to the top of the English game.
For fans, this means the conversation has shifted. Bath are no longer talking about potential. They are defending champions, planning a new ground and arguing about how Europe should look.
