Hogan insists Newcastle will make the grade

NEWCASTLE managing director Mick Hogan insists his club will meet its English-qualified player (EQP) targets despite falling short over the first third of the Premiership and European season.

Falcons have fielded an average of just 13.89 English players per game – well below the 15-man target that qualifies them for a chunk of the RFU’s annual £28m payment to top-flight clubs. However, Hogan told The

Rugby Paper: “It’s an early season snapshot and we’re confident we’ll hit the 15player mark we must achieve over both halves of the season.

“If you look at our props, we’ve had three established players in Davey Wilson, Scott Wilson and Sam Lockwood out for most of the season. Davey and Scott are back and Sam’s expected back soon, so that will improve our overall figure very quickly.”

Hogan believes the current system could be tweaked to recognise injuries in one position, adding: “If a club has a high number of injuries involving EQP players in one position, we should be granted some dispensation as it does distort the figures.

“It means you can’t fulfil the rotation you planned at the start of the season, or have to bring in overseas players on loan, which means you can easily lose a couple of percentage points on your EQP, but we’re confident we will get there.”

Elsewhere, Worcester Warriors, Sale Sharks and Saracens come up marginally short of the RFU’s target, while Harlequins, Wasps, Northampton, Gloucester and Exeter are the standout performers, with over 70 per cent of their match day squads being EQP.

The overall figure remains healthy at 68.4 per cent, which, despite an influx of foreign talent, has marginally increased from the 68.2 per cent in 2015-16.