The RFU and Allianz have announced the longest ever season of the Prem 15s. It runs from 4 September till 4 June.
Is the new schedule too long? The pre-season seemed to begin a couple of days after the 2021 final. September to June leaves precisely two months out of the rugby calendar. With the men’s game so worried about player-welfare, the women’s version seems to be treading the same path. And the vast majority of players are amateurs.
In total there are thirteen gaps, ten labelled ‘reserve’ and three ‘no rugby’ – they are the two weekends of Christmas and the New Year and the gap between the semis and the final.
The Allianz Cup
The biggest innovation is the Allianz Cup, designed primarily to ensure every member of the ten clubs has a chance to tie up her boots for action. It will slot in during during international breaks and the empty weekends that have been added for a second year as a precaution.
It is another welcome indication of Allianz’s proactive role in elite rugby.
Last year’s removal of the Development sides reduced the total number of players involved from 600 to 400. That is why the dual-registration process was introduced. It has now been refined to include fifteen players per club who must be England-qualified and come from lower-league clubs. the total absence of rugby below the top level last season was a severe and unpredictable jolt to the forward march of women’s rugby.
This adjustment is a vital step towards bridging the gap between elite and broader levels.
The overall look
The RFU tries to keep one fact unremarked: it has not yet found a major broadcaster willing to provide a platform. Instead it comments: ‘Streaming details for the league will be confirmed in due course’. We have to be grateful for that, but the quality of the live streams last season varied considerably.
Commentaries were by and large fine, but the number of cameras on call varied, some found themselves unable to cover every corner of grounds; some offered too low an angle for comfortable viewing, and so on. Allianz would wish the product they sponsor to reach a consistent level. Perhaps the RFU will be able to ensure that for 2021-22.
The BBC has committed itself to covering future 6 Nations matches, but presumably the AP15s were a step too far.
The ten gaps in the schedule seem very generous, but by the end of the season everyone may be grateful for their presence. Players picked for England could in theory be engaged almost non-stop. The management and the RFU will certainly instruct the clubs to ration its contracted players’ employment in AP 15s matches, but club selectors may not find that an easy restriction. A top player might be needed for a top clash which happens to coincide with a request for a stand-down. This is where a slice of luck would come in handy. Certainly it will help to prove the underlying strength of the club, and that should be the yardstick for success.
The fifth season of the AP 15s looks like being a 100 metre sprint stretched out over a marathon course. Let the crowds roll in.
