Risk-free English toil as Finn reveals French driven by fear SAFETY CATCH
FINN RUSSELL says promotion and relegation is a major factor in French rugby boasting three of the four Champions Cup semi-finalists.
The English Premiership has not had relegation for the past two seasons – nor a single representative in the last four of Europe’s blue riband competition.
It is hard to measure accurately the effect of a closed shop on competition other than that Bath, in particular, and also Worcester have taken some frightful hidings that do nothing for the standing of the league.
Russell helped Racing 92 see off Sale in Sunday’s Champions Cup quarter-final, with the fly-half scoring a superb solo try in a 41-22 victory over the Premiership side.
That result ended England’s interest in the competition, with Leicester having lost 23-14 to Leinster a day earlier.
Russell has little doubt that jeopardy in the domestic division, caused by having relegation, sharpens everyone up in the Top 14 and has benefited the French game as a whole. The Scotland international said: “In the Top 14 there’s physicality, flair, strategy – everything you want and there are never any easy games.
“Whether teams are high up or low down, every game is a must-win. Having relegation means teams are scrapping, doing everything they can to stay in the Top 14.”
The aim of suspending relegation for a minimum three years in England’s top flight is to allow clubs time to create a more sustainable future by developing home-grown players without the threat of financial catastrophe that potentially comes with demotion.
Yet after Bath were hammered 64-0 by arch rivals Gloucester last month former England fly-half Andy Goode said: “Relegation needs to come back to make the league a better spectacle.
“There is no interest at all in the bottom third of the league because of the absence of relegation.”
Automatic relegation is not due to return until 2024-25 at the earliest and Goode said: “I worry about how much damage will have been done to the league as a product by then.”
Contrast that with the view of Russell, who said: “I don’t really keep an eye on how the league is going in England, I just know that over here we’ve lost to Biarritz and Perpignan, who are at the bottom of the league.
“It’s my fourth season and the French league has got stronger and stronger.”
❑ CHRISTIAN WADE flew home from American football yesterday – putting England’s top rugby clubs on alert. The former Wasps and England wing, 30, spent two years with the Buffalo Bills.