>> Probyn: Why can’t RFU attract an English coach?
“The possible return of Stuart Lancaster would show a maturity of thinking by the RFU when they seek to replace Eddie Jones”
Am I the only one mystified as to what the Premiership are selling to CVC as an investment opportunity? First, the Premiership is currently losing money hand over fist and doesn’t look likely to change in the near future, meaning the only way for a profitable return on their investment is from an increase in RFU payments for EQP and player release fees.
The Premiership is the pinnacle of the league system that has around 1,700 clubs playing in it. As I wrote last week, theoretically anyone of those clubs could become a member of the Premiership.
The shareholding of the original clubs does not preclude other teams from gaining promotion as has been proven in the past by the likes of Exeter. It is unlikely that there would be a clause suggesting that a relegated club must transfer their share to a promoted club, so it would appear that the inevitable will happen.
As much as I hate to say it, it looks like an immediate result of a CVC’s purchase would be a ring-fenced Premiership with the possibility of all the consequences I outlined last week, as I am sure the company would require some control of the business that they are investing £200m into.
CVC are unlikely to be like the current club owners who may have an emotional attachment to a club or the game and would have done due diligence to see where any possible rewards from their investment would have to come from.
The RFU cannot stop PRL from selling a stake in their company but they should at least make back-up plans to protect their own finances, which could entail a change in the way they currently finance the game and select representative players.
In my opinion, a takeover of a part of the league structure by a private company should immediately see that league have RFU funding removed (subject to existing contracts) and for the RFU to look to select players for their international teams from other leagues.
There can be no doubt that this would cause problems for the England national team in the short term while a new system is put in place, but in the long term it could provide security of access to players for the Union without having to pay an ever increasing amount to private investors who would inevitably take money out of the game.
There is something strange about the reluctance of so many of our home grown head coaches to want to take a job, that in the past would have been seen as the pinnacle of their coaching career.
There are many reasons why so many are adverse to taking charge of our national team, not least that some who have said they are not interested, probably would not have been considered in the first place.
Of those who seem a natural shoo in for the job, it could be the short term view that the RFU appear to take when appointing a head coach which may be putting them off.
Taking the England role could be seen as a poison chalice (because of the weight of expectation) given that England is not only the biggest Union in the world of rugby but also the richest, so there is a feeling we should always win.
Also, no doubt the media profile of an England head coach is very intrusive with a need for instant success, leading to a number of head coaches forced to leave before being able to complete what they have started: Mike Weston (‘87 quarter-final) , Geoff Cooke (‘91 final), Jack Rowell (‘95 fourth), Brian Ashton (‘07 final), Martin Johnson (’11 quarterfinal) and Stuart Lancaster (‘15 pool) are the coaches who have taken England to a World Cup.
The seventh member of that club, Clive Woodward, was the only one allowed to stay in position for more than one shot at the Cup (‘99 quarter-final and ‘03 final).
World Cup rugby is a very different game to other international rugby and it is fair to say that there is a learning process that all involved, players and coaches, have to go through to have a chance of winning.
Woodward was lucky enough to be given a second chance and went on to win, which begs the question – how many Cups could England have won if the RFU had shown the same resolve more often?
The possible return of Stuart Lancaster would show a maturity of thinking by the RFU when they seek to replace Eddie Jones after Japan.
Although Lancaster’s team failed to get out of the pool in 2015, it was basically the same players that took England on the 18-match winning streak as soon as Eddie Jones took over and before he had a chance to make any real changes.
Lancaster was unlucky during his tenure with a number of injuries and the Sam Burgess debacle although it would appear from some players comments, that Burgess had a point when he said, “what cost us an early exit was individual egos and selfish players not following our leader, which essentially cost the coach and other great men their jobs”.
The question for Lancaster is: would he put England above Ireland if askednow he’s so settled at Leinster? Given what he’s been through, I’m not sure.