PREMIERSHIP BOSSES ARE MAKING IT UP ON THE HOOF WILL BURST BUBBLE, SAYS EDDIE
There is no communication...who on earth is running the show?
These are strange and challenging times and we must cut a bit of slack to sports bodies trying to keep the show on the road, but this sale situation is perplexing and doesn’t put rugby in a good light.
Back when we came out of lockdown, it seemed that if a club suffered a significant outbreak, those testing positive would have to be isolated along with those they had come into contact with.
It was clear that a game would unfortunately have to be forfeited and the opposition awarded a 20-0 bonus-point victory.
This disruption happened in France, and one european Challenge Cup quarter-final was lost when Castres — who had just one player test positive — withdrew from their game in Leicester. Then sale recorded 19 positives, so we assumed that anybody who had come into contact with them must also self-isolate.
When sale coach steve Diamond was interviewed on sunday, it was claimed sale could be the victims of an administrative error in that they were given a clean bill after one set of weekly tests, only to be contacted belatedly the following day to say there had been a mistake and that one of their squad was in fact positive.
That is unfortunate and not, it would seem, down to sale. But once those 19 positives were confirmed, everything surely changed. That is a mass outbreak and of course nobody knows how many others they came into contact with have been affected.
There was no question of the game against Worcester taking place two days later, and that at once undermined the whole concept of super sunday, with all the clubs kicking off together so that none could take advantage of a late kick- off and know exactly what was required.
By hook or by crook, sale insist they can get a competitive XV on the pitch. And with quite a few key players ‘OK’ they have announced a decent line-up, even if they are relying on a bench packed with academy players.
What I am struggling to get my head round is how the health risks of such a game are suddenly diminished. sale had 19 positives — 16 players and three staff — in a tightknit squad less than a week ago. Anybody would be nervous going to play that team in Manchester which currently has the highest infection rate in the UK.
What really disappoints me is the lack of clear- cut communication from Premiership Rugby and the perception that yet again they are making it up on the hoof. Who is in charge and why don’t we hear his or her voice on an almost daily basis. Who is running the show?
There are echoes of the saracens salary cap issue. At the time it was quite clear that under the Premiership’s regulations they were not empowered to relegate sarries as such, just dock them a whopping 35 points along with a massive fine.
It seemed highly irregular that when Premiership Rugby suddenly realised that even a 35-point buffer wasn’t going to save Leicester, they made up a new regulation to impose a further points penalty on saracens. That is not how well-regulated sporting bodies should be acting.
There is the whiff of that again now. No coherent explanation was — or has been — offered as to why Premiership Rugby have gone back on their thinking of three months ago. No loud authoritative voice telling the game what the issues are and how Premiership Rugby intend to move forward. I can’t believe that such a contingency was envisaged a while back when they started to plot their way through the return to action.
The bitterest irony of all is that innocent by-standers Northampton — who played sale after sale were informed that they had a positive test after all, but before 19 were confirmed — had to forfeit their game against Gloucester because they were ‘ possibly’ contaminated.
even there the waters are muddied because Premiership Rugby seemed to be also arguing that Northampton, with big injury problems in the front row, couldn’t find loan players of sufficient quality to fulfil the fixture while the club insisted they could.
The sport needs to up its game when it comes to communicating. The Premiership and the clubs aren’t talking to each other properly — or they aren’t listening to each other. And the Premiership is not engaging properly with the public at large via the media. Don’t leave us in the dark. We know these are tough times. It’s not easy, but be open and up front.
Often, poor and imprecise communication to the media reflects poor communication internally. When you get it right internally, informing the media and public is easy. At this time, with so much on the line, Premiership rugby must be more precise than ever.
Not just to keep the game alive but to give confidence to players, staff and fans.
if his players would be allowed to venture out of their hotel in their downtime, Jones added: ‘We have to reduce the chances of communal infection which means that we don’t have any contact with the community. ‘By default, that means we will be staying in the Lensbury (team hotel). The main thing is that we understand the responsibility we have got. ‘We are the England national rugby team. We have been given the opportunity to play rugby in quite difficult situations. ‘We have broken the campaign down into blocks so the first block is until the end of Italy (Six Nations game in Rome on October 31) and then we will have a break and the players will need to be disciplined once they go home. Then we come in again for another couple of games, have a break again and then have the next couple of games. That is how we will deal with it.’ Jones revealed that an RFU sponsor has assisted with autumn preparations by creating a ‘state-of-the-art games lounge’ for the England squad at their hotel, as a means of combating cabin fever. ‘If I was 30 years younger I’d go in there, but I feel a bit old walking in,’ he joked. ‘The staff have done a fantastic job setting up the Lensbury.’ England are not the only ones gearing up for life in a sporting bubble. Wales are making their own arrangements to operate a strict regime. Speaking after naming his autumn squad yesterday, head coach Wayne Pivac said: ‘We think our environment will be very tight. We, as the leaders in the group, have to maintain discipline and make sure that the education is in place. ‘There will be Covid instructions throughout our time together. We will be very diligent in the way we operate and make sure we fulfil our fixtures.’ Asked what would happen if players breached the agreed protocols, Pivac added: ‘There have been examples of a couple of footballers. If that happened in our environment, they’d be released from the squad. It’s as simple as that. ‘There is too much at stake, too much riding on this. We certainly won’t tolerate any individuals putting the team or competition at risk.’