Clubs handicapped by helping England

SOMEHOW, in its first stab at a restructured season, the Premiership has arranged to play six rounds of English rugby’s elite professional league at a time when most of the clubs involved are without their boxoffice international players.

It means that while Gloucester have just done the ‘double’ by beating Saracens at Kingsholm (30-24) seven days after doing the same to Exeter (24-17), they have beaten the league leaders when both clubs have been heavily impacted by international callups.

For the record Saracens were without the services of Owen Farrell, Billy Vunipola, Jamie George, George Kruis, and Liam Williams, while Exeter were missing Jack Nowell, Henry Slade, Ben Moon, Harry Williams and Luke CowanDickie.

Gloucester, on the other hand, had no players on international duty.

It also means that this weekend relegation candidates Newcastle (12th in the table) are without the services of England back rower Mark Wilson and his Scotland counterpart Gary Graham, when they need them so badly. Leicester (9th) are missing Jonny May, Manu Tuilagi, Ben Youngs, George Ford and Ellis Genge, and Sale (8th) are without Tom Curry.

Meanwhile their bottom half of the table rivals Bristol (10th) are at full strength without any England or other Six Nations match-squad call-ups, while Worcester (11th) are only missing Wales wing Josh Adams.

The absent stars will be highlighted again when Newcastle, desperate for points, take on Worcester in their bottom of the table clash next Sunday while Wilson stays in camp to prepare for Italy at Twickenham.

The root of the problem is that the Premiership suits decided that the only way to organise their league was to play two rounds during the Autumn Internationals, while we are currently in the middle of another four rounds, which have been allocated during the Six Nations.

How can that lopsided system, with some clubs at full strength and others severely handicapped by international calls, be justified in a league which claims to be the most competitive in the world?

This botch has been going on for years, and is one of the main reasons for the Premiership’s successful campaign to extend the season to 11 months – and yet here we are again with a badly flawed format.

If a sport is truly professional then its competition structures and formats reflect that – and at the moment the lack of a coherent Premiership structure is making PRL, its organising body, look inept.

Importantly, it is also short-changing supporters of Premiership clubs – and undermining season-ticket offers –

“It is also shortchanging supporters of Premiership clubs - and undermining seasonticket offers”

when the present format demands that they play almost a third of the season without their international stars. At the moment the international window agreed through the World Rugby ‘structured season’ means that there are just over three months (13 weekends) during the Northern Hemisphere season – mostly in November, February and March – when clubs do not have their Test players. Surely they can come up with a better competition structure over that period than the current mess of pop-up ‘handicap’ Premiership weekends mixed in with their half-baked new Premiership Cup formula. While some of these Cup fixtures have attracted reasonable attendances it has more to do with them being included in season tickets than being must-see matches. It is also usually the only live game in town – because few supporters have access to international tickets, and fewer still are prepared to shell out exorbitant amounts for a day at Twickenham. An overload of matches between Premiership clubs, some playing ‘A’ teams and some at virtual fullstrength, playing each other in a Cup competition that lacks competitive edge and momentum, is not the best use of three months-worth of fixtures. There has to be greater flair and vision shown by PRL when it comes to finding the right competition structures, because at the moment it is too narrow and could stunt the growth of the game rather than promote it. Rather than cutting the Championship clubs adrift, and trying to ring-fence, the Premiership should be looking at a partnership. The best way to show that intent would be in a true English Cup competition pitching Championship clubs against Premiership ‘A’ sides. Another avenue to explore is a revived British Cup, with Premiership and Welsh, Scots, and Irish PRO14 ‘A’ sides and Championship clubs. There have been no signs of that breadth of vision, and until there is, here is another proposal. If PRL is determined to press on with its existing format, how about introducing a differential points system for Premiership matches played on a handicap basis during the international window? Say, two points instead of four for a win, and one instead of two for a draw (bonus points remain as they are).