End relegation for sake of the game says Hill
RICHMOND rugby director Steve Hill insists promotion and relegation between the Premiership and Championship must end for the “good of England rugby”.
Hill, whose side spent three years in the Championship before being relegated last season, believes too few Tier Two sides are equipped to bridge the growing chasm with the top-flight and fears the influx of foreign players and coaches will ruin the national team.
He points to sides like Harlequins, Leicester, Sale and London Irish, all of whom have recruited heavily from overseas this summer, and questions whether the RFU are receiving value for the £28m they pump into the Premiership annually as part of the curthe rent eight-year deal. Hill told The Rugby
Paper: “Having been in the Championship, my personal view is that for the good of English rugby we must get rid of promotion and relegation.
“Your first job as a director of rugby in the Premiership is to not get relegated and next season, we’re going to see 44 South African players in our top domestic league because DoRs see that as insurance against relegation and then on top of that they want success.
“The whole relegation battle limits the development of young English players and coaches and if you look at a club like Harlequins, who for years have generated players from their academy, their recruitment this summer has largely been from overseas.
“It’s the same at other clubs, even some in the Championship, and you think, ‘hang on, where are routes for academy players?’. How do we develop these guys?”
Hill added: “Effectively, there are now 13 teams – maybe 14 if you include Ealing – who could be Premiership clubs, but outside that nobody is remotely ready.
“Nobody outside Ealing talks about wanting to get promoted – not in the shortterm at least – because they know it would be the kiss of death, so why do we persist with a system of promotion and relegation which is wasteful and hugely counter-productive?
“People will say, ‘what about Exeter?’, but Exeter took 20 years to get where they are. Cornish Pirates might have some ambitions, but have they got the stadium or the people to support it? No. And where are they going to find 25 top players to go there?”
Hill’s assertions over Premiership recruitment bear scrutiny. Of Harlequins’ 15 signings, only four are English, while recruitment at Leicester (two of their 14 are English), London Irish, (one of 11) and Sale (three of nine) is also heavily weighted to foreign players.
“Clubs would rather bring in a 26-year-old South African because he’s experienced than risk a 20-year old English guy,” says Hill. “English players are being blocked and it’s the same coach like Martin Haag currently out of the game?
“Who’s the next England coach going to be? We don’t know, so perhaps the RFU should be demanding a bit more for their money.”
Those clubs might point to foreign players heading through the exit doors as well. But Hill is unrepentant, adding: “I believe that for the good of English rugby the money the RFU give to the Premiership should be directed at developing English players, coaches and backroom staff, not the pension pots of overseas people, so relegation must go.
“If they do that, then you can look at the Premiership and say, ‘right, you’ve got what you want now start delivering much more for your EQP money’. After that, look at the Championship and decide whether it should be professional or g semi-pro, be the top of the community pyramid with some clubs maybe acting as feeders to the Premiership.
But there aren’t enough good English players for there to be 24 full-time teams.”