First Hints
At long last the RFU has given us an inkling of its strategies for the next cycle of the Premier 15s, due to start with the 2023-24 season. Sara Orchard broke the news in a BBC report on 31 May (https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/61642997 ).
It lays emphasis on the need to promote the interests of English players.
That is an issue I have been harping on for a long while. In March I wrote: ‘Perhaps the Prem 15s executive committee should consider limiting transfers, as per football.’ Is it the duty of English rugby to help overseas players raise their game? In the season just closing they have come largely from Celtic lands, North America, Spain and Japan to enjoy better coaching and competition.
That is fine for the players and fine for their national unions that don’t have to worry about providing a matching level of support, but it leaves those countries with an elite league much weakened by their absence. All those potential heroes operate far from their local heaths where youngsters can be inspired to follow their example.
Orchard reports Susie Appleby, head coach of Exeter Chiefs, as saying: ‘Yes, we have some overseas players, but Sarries have loads of England players, so what’s the difference? They also have Welsh, we have Welsh, every top club in this league is made up of different international players.’
This statement completely misses the point. It defies logic. ‘Sarries have loads of English players’ – so do all the ten clubs. Or perhaps she means: ‘Sarries have loads of Red Roses’. Yes, and that is a reason why they have been top dog for most of the Prem 15s’ existence.
The difference is that her side consists almost exclusively of non-England qualified players. Only three have found a regular place in a Chiefs’ starting Fifteen, Poppy Leitch, Flo Robinson and Merryn Doidge. Over the next season or two we will discover whether constantly shifting Robinson around from centre to scrum-half to fly-half has helped her progress towards a first England cap. Neither of the other two has been capped while at Sandy Park.
Let’s compare Chiefs with other clubs relying on a big influx from outside. In Round 17 of the AP 15s Bristol Bears had ten England-qualified players in their starting line-up; Worcester Warriors had nine but Glos-Pury had only five. That is too few. With the extra funding Gloucester have announced for the women’s section, that position may change.
Clubs gain a £7,500 bonus if on average they have sixteen England-qualified players in their starting line-up. Exeter can laugh at that paltry sum, given the generosity of Chiefs’ owner, Tony Rowe.
We have only to look at another well known professional league – in a different sport – to see how England-qualified players can be sidelined by the introduction of the best players the rest of the world can offer.
Appleby reveals that Rowe required his new women’s team to be competitive. That meant signing up players from abroad. Appleby did indeed invite English players to join the new enterprise, but none was willing to move. That will have been reassuring for the clubs that were not forsaken.
She may possibly try again during the close season.
‘Every club is made up of internationals,’ she says. Tell that to DMPDS. As George Orwell once said: ‘Some are more equal than others.’
Every player who joins the AP 15s from outside England weakens the home structure. Voices in Scotland and Wales are still calling for their clubs to be allowed to join the English programme. That is flattering for the English, but is an admission of failure on the part of their Celtic equivalents.
How are their leagues going to grow if the best players are syphoned off to play abroad? What are the prospects for the national team if that is their union’s attitude?
How would the identity of one or more Welsh/Scottish clubs be determined? Given current standards, they would need to be an amalgam of the best players available. One of the strengths of the Prem 15s is its club structure. Introducing sides differently organised (an ‘amalgamated Scottish XV’, a ‘West Wales XV’) would be harmful.
It represents just one more desperate problem for the RFU to solve. It has to decide the make-up of the clubs in the next three-year cycle. Still ten clubs? I won’t repeat my argument that ten is the ideal number, filling the season with sufficient gaps for international calls and much needed rest.
Last time round the axe fell on Firwood Waterloo and Richmond, a bitter blow for both distinguished clubs. So the RFU is not averse to taking extreme measures. This time DMP Durham Sharks are the likeliest fall guys. At the start of this year the RFU stepped in to help the club out, though they kept their methods unpublished. All we know is that their rescue programme had no effect on results. DMPDS’s single win last season was reduced by one this year.
If they are ejected, that is a blow for one of the Prem 15s’ declared objectives: to offer as wide a geographical spread as possible.
Of the likely (English!) replacements Bath and London Irish have stated their interest in applying. Bath would add a fifth west country club to the mix, just a dozen miles from rivals Bristol. LI would restore four clubs to the London area, and many non-Londoners were pleased to see the number reduced to three with Richmond’s demise.
Exeter Chiefs’ progress has made it plain that no new club can hope to succeed in the Prem 15s without a huge influx of top players. Where they are to come from is anyone’s guess. The only major rugby-playing nations not yet contributing in large numbers are Australia, France, Italy and New Zealand, and it’s hard to imagine many of them switching allegiances in 2023.
Instead, the RFU is highly likely to tighten regulations concerning minimum number of England-qualified players for each club. That would affect not only Chiefs, but also Bristol Bears, Gloucester-Hartpury and Worcester Warriors – all heavily dependent on Welsh talent – and Loughborough Lightning, who have recently taken on any number of Scottish players. The other new club in the current cycle, Sale Sharks, also signed up many Celtic players to fill its ranks.
What, more problems?
That leaves the RFU with a few more ticklish problems such as:
What is the ideal number of players per club? It was reduced from 60 to 40.
How much more professionalism to introduce? Very little?
Any adjustments to the Allianz Cup, established this year? Chiefs walked off with it by deploying the strongest squad possible. Was that in line with the original concept? Most of the rounds passed under the radar, which is a pity.
Any adjustments to the role of dual-qualified players? It’s difficult to discover any details about this category, as hardly any clubs display up-to-date lists of their players.
How to apportion live stream broadcasts? A few clubs put on their own productions, which is excellent. (though with them we tended to learn about only the home team in any depth) But of the rest, was the RFU intent on showing the highest quality games wherever possible?
Why now?
Why has the RFU revealed these preliminary thoughts now?
Because it is four days before the biggest day in the Prem 15s season. The RFU knows the unfortunate impression it will make when (in all probability) twelve of Exeter’s starting 15 will prove to be foreign imports. Their priorities were made clear when Rob Cain was forced to add five names to his USA squad flying to New Zealand this week to take part in the Pacific-Four series. No question of national pride coming before club commitments
