Farcical that players must quit their club for England
“RFU should insist that players in the Championship be made available for England ”
So the inevitable has happened. What we all thought, but hoped would not, has happened and once again the move from Championship to Premiership has proved a step too far and London Irish will have to start all over again in building the dream.
Next year we have the ‘Bears’ to look forward to as Bristol, one of the many clubs I’ve played for, return to the top end of the game. A position they held for years before their decline and one that I hope they can hold on to, despite the odds being stacked against them.
Fortunately, Bristol have a billionaire backer who so far seems willing to bankroll the club and dig deep in his ambition to make them another Exeter, although by buying talent rather than nurturing it. We won’t know if he has succeeded in his dream until the end of next season, by which time I expect London Irish to again be challenging for promotion back to the Premiership.
One factor in the yo-yo world of promotion and relegation is the loss of any ambitious, talented players who will need to leave their clubs to follow those ambitions if relegated because of the scandalous arrangement between the RFU and Premiership Ruby saying only those in the top tier can be chosen for England.
London Irish look likely to lose young winger Joe Cokanasiga, who looks a certainty for the South Africantour, to Bath on loan for a season. The Irish also stand to lose five of the talented England U20 players currently on their books, as they will need to be playing in the Premiership if they are to have any hope of playing for England.
What makes this a ridiculous farce is just at the time when Irish need to hold on to as many talented players as possible to help ensure a quick return to the Premiership, those players will be encouraged by agents, other clubs, and indirectly the RFU, to leave if they want to play international rugby.
These players have been nurtured by Irish and developed into the position where they can and are challenging for international honours, but must now leave the club and coaches who have made them the players they are, just because the Irish are relegated.
The younger players could be in the interesting position of being encouraged to sign for another Premiership club but with the possibility of being loaned out on a dual-contract to a Championship club to aid their development.
Surely in the case of the relegation of a Premiership team, it makes sense to not force change on their squads for at least two years to enable the potentially inevitable ‘bounce back’ without having to endure the additional costs of buying replacement players.
The replacements will probably be older foreign players who will do the job of winning Championship games but will be of no long-term benefit to the game in England.
The parachute payments are designed to soften the blow of losing the competition money for playing in the Premiership, while having to survive on the pittance given to the Championship and help the relegated club afford to retain their players.
In my opinion, it is just plain daft to pay clubs so they are able to keep paying their players but then create a set of circumstances that means the club would have to offer their players even more money to compensate for not being able to play international rugby in the hope they will stay.
Then we have the equally farcical situation of James Haskell who, despite advancing years has retained his form and would have hoped to have finished his career at the World C up.
He has been in the England squad for many years and is the only player to have lived and played in Japan so would be a very handy asset for Eddie Jones’ World Cup squad. However, because Wasps have decided to sign Brad Shields and dispense with Haskell who, probably because of his age, is currently unable to find another Premiership club to sign him and, as a result, can no longer be picked by England.
Surely this is a situation that doesn’t make any logical sense, forcing players to leave clubs in the hope of being signed by a rival despite perhaps having been at a club for years and being happy and settled in the area, just so they can continue their international career.
Playing for England is where the real money is. At around £250,000 a season plus bigger sponsorship money which could easily take their earnings above the £1,000,000 mark, England player salaries dwarf Premiership club salaries.
However, there is a possible alternative. As the Championship is the only other official professional league that receives funding from the RFU, I think it would make sense if the RFU insisted that players in the Championship should join their Premiership counterparts in being available for England selection.
A number of budding stars are consigned to the Championship on dual contracts, while older Premiership players, like Haskell, could play out their final days there.
Given access to England, this would help both leagues stabilise their squads by allowing the clubs that move between the two to retain their ‘star’ players and encourage clubs to nurture young home grown talents in the knowledge that they won’t be snatched away should relegation befall them.
This could be a simple move that would double Eddie Jones’ selection pool at no extra cost to the RFU, or Premiership clubs.