Reds won’t block Biljon if top-flight come calling
JERSEY chairman Mark Morgan says he would not stand in the way of rugby director Harvey Biljon taking a top job if the right opportunity came along.
Biljon, whose proven record of unearthing talent includes England prop Harry Williams and Scotland flanker Gary Graham, last week agreed a new fiveyear contract that Morgan hopes will coincide with the Reds building towards a Premiership future. Morgan, right, told The
Rugby Paper: “Harvey’s a perfect fit for our philosophy. With the current funding situation, we’re not in a position to push for the Premiership, so we want to be a strong developmental club where players can learn their trade.
“But the ambition is there and part of signing Harvey for so long is that if a top-flight opportunity does come up, we’ve got the right man in place for the job.”
However, Morgan added: “We’d be very hypocritical if we tout ourselves as a developmental club and then at the point a great offer comes up for Harvey, we used his contract to block it. “But it does mean that we would get decent compensation if somebody did want to take him. He loves the project here, though, he’s settled and he’s as good as any coach in the Championship.” To compete at the next level, Jersey require a new stadium and significantly increased funding. “The whole Championship deserves to be looked at and funded more appropriately,” Morgan said.
“Building a stadium is the easier part, the difficult part is ongoing funding. Until there’s more fairness around that within our two professional leagues, it would be virtually impossible for us to consider trying to take a Premiership place.
“When you’ve got three parties involved in professional rugby – the RFU, PRL and ourselves – surely we should all be meeting on a regular basis?
“Instead, it’s a bit like Brexit. There are so many disparate views and nobody is pulling it all together, so that has to be the starting point now.”