It is a sad, sad situation when the once mighty Heineken Cup is reduced to an unnecessary round of matches - it is called the Last 16.This will comprise a set of the most one-sided games - and where the hot, hot favourite gets home advantage to tear his chosen sacrificial lamb apart.It is hard to fathom how we got here from the sleek lines of the six pools of four teams, quarter, semi, and final model that ran from 1999/2000 to 2019/2020 and this nowhere fit for purpose jalopy.It is not that we have lost out on having some of the great days of rugby entertainment, the quarter-final. It is just putting up with a needless, rubbish, post-Six Nations weekend to get the teams pared down to eight.That's where some of the Heinken Cup JFK-moments thrillers such as Leicester-Munster (2023), Toulouse-Leinster (2006), Harlequins-Leinster (2009), Leinster-Clermont (2010), Munster-Ulster (2012), Harlequins-Munster (2013), Munster-Toulon (2018) happened.The official explanation, the party line is that EPCR has lost a weekend on the calendar and this was the newly designed format. Well, hello? Given that the pool stages now comprise four pools of six teams in which only four games are played, why not play five games? That would actually be fairer all round. Or brains trust? Why not suck in the Last 16 date and, instead, not play home and away quarter-finals. This would light up the first of the competition's knockout set pieces.Yes, the word mismatch is attributable to opinion, but there is a serious set of mathematics behind this specific assertion.This is especially true this season, as the Last 16 has neither runaway English Premier leaders Bath nor second-placed Bristol nor any of the South African clubs who decided, en masse, they couldn't compete in one-off away pool games and sent second teams to fulfil those fixtures.Those who believe Bulls and Sharks shouldn't be ranked in the top 16 clubs across the three leagues involved aren't paying enough attention.Right now, ahead of this weekend's Champions Cup ties, if you bet € 1 on the home team winning each of the eight matches, you would make €1.75 after the eight games.Not all of them will be as processional as Bordeaux-Ulster and Toulouse-Sale while Toulon-Saracens, Northampton-Clermont, Castres-Benetton, Glasgow Leicester and, yes, Leinster-Harlequins are not far off.Perhaps Irish people see their own sides in best light but Munster look to have the best (only) chance of posting an away victory; Munster are 7/4 to win - that's right you would get more back if the Reds won that bet then if the other seven home wins came up.Meanwhile, there are the TV times: This fare opens Friday night when Northampton plays Clermont, a particularly not-so-much-in-demand tie. Northampton is the worst-placed English Premier team involved (eighth of 10), with Clermont (fifth) being the second-worst French team left in the Cup. Europe's two most glamorous rugby clubs, Leinster and Toulouse, play Saturday and Sunday at 3pm respectively with the former opposite the Aintree Grand National (4pm) and the latter opposite Fulham-Liverpool (2pm) and the Manchester derby, United v City, at (4.30pm). Munster kick off on Saturday at 5.30pm.There is a conspiracy theory with regard to modern-EPCRs continual inability to get the six-gun out of the holster, rather shooting itself in the foot at every available opportunity.This suggests English Premiership clubs (down to 10 at the moment as bankruptcies mount) want EPCR's Champions Cup downgraded and to be seen as secondary to their Gallagher Premier.And working on that, convince the South African clubs to jump ship and leave the URC, get two Welsh clubs to join (Wales have brilliant rugby viewership figures)...so that all the UK television/sponsorship money would get diverted their way.I am not sure I'd go this far; it strikes as too much joined-up thinking for the incredibly bad-at-planning English clubs ut if this weekend's rugby is as badly configured and as mismatched as it seems to be on paper, there may be a reason to start fulminating a bit more on this.Right now, the EPCR have meddled so much with the product it is like rugby has stepped back to the 1990s. Two decades forward and now three decades back.By the way, that bet: If you do Munster to win and put it with seven home wins, the return is €6.50 for one euro. The Irish Mirror has a rugby WhatsApp group where you can get breaking new and top stories straight to your phone. Click here to join. You can leave our group at any time if you don't like it. Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts.