As English Rugby begins its dissection of the Red Roses’ failure to secure a third world cup trophy, here’s a glance at the coming season of the Premier 15s league, its vital nursery.
There were smiles and congratulations as two brand-new appointments were announced at the end of October: Belinda Moore as the Chief Executive, and Genevieve Shore as the Chair of Women’s Premier 15 Limited (WP15 Ltd).
They face problems that I see as almost intractable. Although the league is accepted as the strongest in the world and widely admired, two news flashes in the past 24 hours help reveal the treacherous choices facing the new appointees.
First, Lénaig Corson, the former French international who signed for Wasps only in late August, has now switched to Harlequins without playing a single game for Wasps in the Prem 15s. She represents yet another crippling loss for the club, who have already said goodbye to the following international players: Bryony Cleall, Claudia MacDonald, Ellie Boatman (Sevens) and Maud Muir (all England); plus Claire Molloy, Cliodhna Moloney, Edel McMahon and Sam Monaghan (Ireland).
Wasps have entered the transfer market, looking mostly abroad, but it’s quite impossible to maintain past standards with those names missing. They add up to a quite staggering turnover.
And just think: Amy Cokayne, Ellie Kildunne and Sadia Kabeya were three more recent Wasps who shone in New Zealand.
Second, University of Worcester Warriors’ head coach, Jo Yapp, has thanked everyone who stepped in to keep her squad afloat as the men’s section was put into adminstration and ousted from the Gallagher Premiership.
There we have in two nutshells the realities of a ‘professional’ sport. But the vast majority of players remain amateur. The RFU’s stated wish to extend the professional nature of the league seems hard to understand. None of the twelve men’s elite clubs is making a profit.
The RFU seemed to bend over backwards to ensure that neither club was shown the door, unlike their brothers-in-arms.
And the other clubs who are familiar with the lower reaches of the table, DMP Sharks and Sale Sharks, have been leaking players in similar fashion.
Before the start of each new season (this will be the sixth), a senior figure trumpets that competition will be tighter than ever before. That is a one-eyed reading of the situation that becomes harder and harder to accept. Margins of victory may be growing narrower (take that as meaning fewer totals of 100 points for the victors), but the gap between the affluent and the struggling is widening before our eyes.
The new executives must ask themselves whether they are prepared to have the same clubs languishing at the bottom of the league year after year, while others continue building ever stronger squads to wow growing crowds and media audiences with their stars.
This makes end-of-season placements all too predictable. Will 2022-23 see a repeat of last season’s bottom three:
8. Worcester Warriors
9. Sale Sharks
10. DMP Sharks?
That should concern everybody, or are we interested only in who walks off with the top prize?
It’s not as if the clubs aiming to be admitted to the Prem 15s for the seventh season will find success any easier. The fate of Sale Sharks serves as a better warning to them than Exeter Chiefs, who have the backing to thrive.
Gloucester-Hartpury is the one club likely to make a real advance; they have promised great things in the past, but have never yet reached a final. Now, almost certainly with the benefit of extra funding coming from Gloucester RFC, they have signed on any number of match-winners. A pack containing newcomers Alex Matthews, Maud Muir, Sarah Beckett and Siwan Lillicrap, will take some beating.
Loughborough Lightning found last season more of a struggle than expected, but they were deprived of Emily Scarratt’s presence within twenty minutes of the start. They have a number of test players at their disposal, both Cath O’Donnell and Morwenna Talling (we hope) fully restored to fitness, alongside Sadia Kabeya and Helena Rowland. Sarah Hunter may yet play a full part, both as player and assistant coach. Their fans will hope so.
Quins will want to get back on their horse as fast as possible. They have lost important bodies over the past two years: Abbie Ward, Leanne Infante, Sarah Beckett and Jess Breach. They have made important signings like Bryony Cleall and Ellie Boatman, but fans’ fingers must remain firmly crossed.
Bristol will be one club expecting to out-perform Quins. They have added Lark Davies to their front row, a record points scorer twice over. And Claire Molloy returns to the club after her stay at Wasps.
Exeter will be eager to finish top dog. Enough said. But…
Saracens will win the trophy once again. The acquisition of Leanne Infante and Jess Breach makes predicting end-of-season results less necessary than ever.
Not for the first time I ask: is that the best route forward for English club rugby?
The season starts on 19 November:
Bristol v Wasps
Exeter v Gloucester-Hartpury
Sale v DMP Sharks
20 November:
Quins v Worcester
Saracens v Loughborough
The latest news is that the BBC will broadcast one match per round, though its initial listings show a distinct preference for the leading clubs. No question of fair shares here; and for the second year running matches will not be available on one of the main channels; viewers must find their way to BBC iPlayer or the BBC Sport app. Good hunting!
