Intransitive competition has received much attention over the past decade. Indeed, these cyclic arrangements of species interactions have the potential to promote and stabilise species coexistence. However, the importance of intransitive interactions in real-world species-rich communities containing a mixture of hierarchic and intransitive interactions remains largely unknown.

Here, using simulations, we explore the behaviour of intransitive loops when they interact with outer competitors, as would be expected in real-world communities. Our results show that dominant competitors often cancel the beneficial effects of intransitive loops of inferior competitors. These results call for caution when inferring beneficial effects of intransitivity on species coexistence. Although intransitive loops are a frequent motif in competition networks, their positive effects on species coexistence may be less important than previously thought. The specific properties of a sub-network - such as stabilisation by intransitive loops - should thus not be interpreted independently of the global network.