News that Bath RFC is planning to set up a women’s section brings whole new dimensions to the future of the Premier 15s
It would add another Premiership club to those already on the inside (Bristol, Exeter, Quins, Sale, Saracens, Wasps and Worcester).
Of the remaining Premiership clubs (Leicester, London Irish, Newcastle and Northampton) all have indicated an interest in joining, Irish very recently. All would possess back-room staff capable of supporting their initiative, but none has financial stability. Even before the onset of the pandemic English professional clubs were finding it hard, if not impossible to make ends meet.
It is quite impossible for the RFU to look favourably on approaches from all of them within the current shape of the league (a mere ten clubs). It would need a step-change in structure; for example a doubling in size. If all the men’s Premiership clubs were admitted, the AP 15s total would rise to 15, an awkward number to deal with. Could five other clubs be found of the necessary quality? The leading clubs in the Championship (North and South) had dreams of promotion. They have had no rugby at all during the pandemic. This has led to a further widening of the gap between them and the ten in the AP 15s.
It would still be admirable if some of these tier-2 clubs, for example West Park Leeds, could find favour, but they would need favoured treatment.
A league of twenty clubs would be practical only if the schedule was limited to a single meeting between clubs. The home-and-away principle would have to be cast aside.
Another possibility would be two evenly balanced divisions, based as far as possible on geography. Even then the balance would be skewed. Bath would add a fifth club in the west/south west (with Bristol, Exeter, Gloucester-Hartpury and Worcester).
We have to remember that Lichfield, one of the leading clubs in the former women’s Premiership, was ousted partly on geographical grounds. If it had been retained, Darlington Mowden Park would have lost its place. DMP remains the only club in the far north of the country. It would be joined by Newcastle if their application proved successful – or if the two clubs combined. That was a possibility entertained before the last adjustment to the league.
A third possibility would be a restructure in the level immediately below the Prem 15s. Currently the Championship is divided into North and South groupings. Adding the professional clubs to the mix might be a solution to the problem.
Will the current standards in the AP 15s be maintained if more clubs are admitted? There are reasons to doubt this. If they can be, then women’s rugby in England will move far far ahead of all other nations in the northern hemisphere.
Each of those aspirant clubs talks of bringing on young players, through academies and university links. But these plans take many years to bring to fruition. This is proved by the experience of current AP 15s clubs: DMPDS, Gloucester-Hartpury and Lightning have all had to bring in talent from elsewhere to reach the standards needed.
Both the two latest clubs to reveal their interest, London Irish and Bath, lie relatively close to other centres of excellence, Quins and Wasps, Bristol and G-H. It leaves large stretches of the country without representation. As just one example: should there not be a Yorkshire club involved?
One of the disadvantages of the current set-up is the length of journeys players have to make each weekend. Fortunately nearly every match is played on Saturdays, allowing a day of recuperation before a return to work.
It is fortunate for the RFU that it has two more years in which to debate these issues.
