Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
END RELEGATION TO HELP ENGLAND
As Paice prepares for his final Irish home game, he has message for Premiership bosses: Demotion is not good for Red Rose LONDON IRISH
IT is not the send-off England hooker David Paice had in mind after 15 years of unbroken service to London Irish.
Confirmation of the Exiles’ relegation from English rugby’s top flight on his final home appearance.
Barring a miracle of biblical proportions Irish will drop out of the Premiership tomorrow for the second time in three years. Trailing Worcester by nine points with two games left, they face two-time European champions Saracens at the Madejski.
Their fate will be sealed even before captain Paice laces his boots for a club record 289th time if Warriors beat Harlequins today.
It is a sad way to go for Paice, almost a decade to the day since he played for Irish in the European Cup semi-finals.
The 34-year-old bows out with eight England caps and 20 yellow cards – making him the most sin-binned player in Premiership history.
But also with a conviction
English rugby needs to bin promotion and relegation for the good of both the
top flight and the national team. “People will say, ‘Well he would say that’,” Paice acknowledged. “But if you want my honest answer, I don’t think it’s good for English rugby.
“It provides high-pressure rugby and moments of despair and glory. But if you want the competition to be the best it can be and for England to be the best they can be, I’d look at cancelling it.
“Teams are under such pressure for results they bring in ready-made foreigners rather than blood younger players. That has to have an effect on England as there are fewer players with Premiership experience to choose from.” From a London Irish perspective, of course, this is not the time for the Premiership to pull up the drawbridge. They are one of 13 clubs with shares in the Premiership, but relegation would drop them below newlypromoted Bristol in that pecking order.
Ring-fencing would therefore slam the door in their face.
Publicly Premier
Rugby Ltd and the
Rugby Football Union deny this is about to happen. It was not even on the agenda when the Professional Game Board last met. But with the Premiership elite collectively losing almost £30million a year the whispers will not go away.
One proposal is to have a play-off between last and first next season then a five-year moratorium on movement between the top two tiers.
So Irish cannot afford to feel sorry for themselves. With soon-to-be rivals Ealing spending lavishly on recruitment, the race for the last lifeboat is on.