The Pull of London
One of the great assets of women’s rugby in England is the spread of its talent. Players in the Allianz Premier 15s come from every corner of the land, from Cornwall to Northumbria, from Kent to Cumbria, and all stations in between.
But the pull of the capital ensures that this diversity is skewed.
In the three and a bit seasons of the Prem 15s London clubs have dominated the scene; Saracens and Quins disputed the first two finals, would have done last season, and look like doing so in 2021. The dominance isn’t total though. In contrast to Wasps who have been consistently there or thereabouts, Richmond, the fourth club in the capital, didn’t stay the course and were relegated.
But top players continue to be drawn towards those three successful clubs.
This season the south-west has gained in prominence through the emergence of Exeter Chiefs as a real force. With Bristol and Gloucester-Hartpury they form an imposing trio of strength in those parts.
The outlook in the other regions is less promising. Worcester Warriors and Loughborough Lightning hold the torch for the widespread Midland counties; Sale Sharks are attempting to build a real stronghold in the north-west, having effectively replaced Firwood Waterloo as the standard-bearers. But they are not finding life easy; many of their new recruits came to them ready-made from Waterloo.
Durham Mowden Park, representing the north-east, have made a brave effort to match the best in the land. A few years ago they had a squadron of Red Roses; now they have none.
Purely in terms of the current crop of Red Roses the spread is worryingly uneven. Of 28 contracted players in the last published list – it dates back more than a year – the three London clubs dominate the scene: Sarah Beckett, Hannah Botterman, Jess Breach, Shaunagh Brown, Bryony Cleall, Poppy Cleall, Amy Cokayne, Vickii Cornborough, Vicky Fleetwood, Zoe Harrison, Claudia Macdonald, Sarah McKenna. Marlie Packer, Leanne Riley, Abbie Ward, Emily Scott and Lagi Tuima. To them we can add figures who have appeared in England colours this season:
Abby Dow, Ellie Kildunne, Harriet Millar-Mills and Meg Jones. That is a complete Red Roses side with talent to spare.
One-way Traffic
It leaves a mere eleven to represent the rest of the nation. And yet those 21 based in London come from all over the place, the underlying movement being from north to south.
Must it be so? In the men’s game the answer is certainly no. Over past decades clubs have been busy leaving the capital, most notably Wasps to Coventry. For several years only Quins and Saracens have represented the capital; now London Irish are returning (to Brentford) after a lengthy absence.
One central reason is the men’s professional status. A young player will be willing to migrate to any top club that promises to pay him a living wage. For the women that remains a pipe-dream, hence the lure of London and the south-east where employment is more certain both for the present and the future.
The effect is to tilt the scales beyond the reasonable. When Saracens meet DMPDS, they can leave full England caps on the bench because they have enough on the field already, thank you. By contrast, since the Tyrrells began in 2017 DMP, as they then were, have said goodbye to Katy Daley-Mclean, Tamara Taylor, Abbie Ward, Heather Kerr, Claudia Macdonald and Jo Brown among others. That is a severe drain. Waterloo likewise lost valued players like Cath O’Donnell, Holly Aitchison and Sarah Beckett southbound.
Until this year the new Prem 15s have been too predictable; we could confidently wager that Sarries and Quins would win through to the final. Competition has now grown tighter, the pair combining to lose four games between them. But will an outsider finally be able to break their stranglehold on the knock-out final? A glance back to the days of the Premiership reveals a very similar pattern; for most seasons it was a London club that gained the trophies.
At the other end of the table there is only so much comfort a proud club can draw from beating local rivals.
Any Way Out?
Since the underlying causes are socio-economic – in other words, the money in your pocket – there is no easy solution. It would require a dictator’s hand to point a player from Club A to Club B. Unthinkable? Otherwise it needs a benevolent millionaire (billionaires welcome) to support a regional club, as Tony Rowe has done at Exeter. But the Chiefs’ current success is based in large measure on the import of leading talent from overseas.
The Prem 15s has been organised twice running on a three-year schedule. That means that we are likely to see this London bias continuing right until season 2022-3. That may been fine for the haves, less so for the have-nots. It will need somebody with acute brain-power at Twickenham Towers to create a more even platform for the following year.
The current set-up works admirably for the Red Roses’ prospects; less so for all ten clubs involved.
And must the Red Roses play in London?
It will be interesting to see where the one home pool-game in the Six Nations is to be played. Spectators are unlikely, even two months hence, but which provincial club deserves to host the great event? For a Scotland match a ground in the north would seem the sensible option. If England had a home draw for the final weekend that could leave Twickenham as the safe bet.
