I disagree with Dusty, Premiership needs veterans to help kids thrive
Why is it always at this time of the season we get a plaintiff cry from someone to ring-fence the Premiership?
Each time there are excuses as to why it is necessary, from the doom and gloom ideals of a total meltdown to the current threat of the loss of talent, but why? Clubs all have a system of academies that supply them with a constant flow of young talent, while abandoning the vast majority that don’t quite make the grade.
The thing is, there is a need for young players to gain as much experience as they can before they can be expected to compete against the full-time professionals in the adult Premiership.
Those who come through the academy get to play only against players of their own age and experience and although they may look like the ‘bees knees’ at that level, they quickly find it is a different game when you play with the big boys.
I have often written how in the past young players would learn the techniques of the game while playing against older players at grass roots clubs before rising up the ranks to a senior team, but we all know that sadly is no longer possible.
Currently a talent like Marcus Smith relies heavily on the expertise of his director of rugby, John Kingston and club coaches, to guide him through the difficult process of developing at the right pace without risking potential injury or disappointment.
Dusty Hare’s journeymen, despite his criticism, are a vital component of the Premiership, probably more important to a club than the ‘star player’ and it is the journeymen who provide cover while the Marcus Smiths of the game learn their trade.
Clubs use these experienced players until the young stars prove they are up to speed and then they move them on. Players like Kris Chesney were never going to be a star but became a legend in the game turning out week after week for a number of clubs as a journeyman player.
Even if the Premiership was ring-fenced it would still need the journeymen, and young players would still have to wait for the chance to show they had matured enough to play for the first team.
As it is, with a competitive Premiership we more or less know within the first few weeks of the season which teams will be competing for honours, and which will be fighting for survival.
That said, the idea that you could just throw all the young players into games with and against seasoned professionals and expect it to work is ridiculous, as it would probably create chaos, which in turn would see a drop in standards and potentially increase the risks of injury.
Take relegation out of the equation and, although it would give clubs time to build a stronger team for the next season, it would almost certainly be a team built on bought-in journeymen or foreign players, not on untried and untested callow youth.
A ring fenced Premiership would increase the number of meaningless games (like the Anglo-Welsh Cup) in the season for a number of clubs as there would be no consequence of winning or losing other than possibly the money a club can earn by playing in the Champions Cup.
Why Dusty seems to accept the use of star players but not journeymen is a puzzle. It is the stars who drain clubs financial resources and reduce playing opportunity for young players as simple logic says if you are paying a player a lot of money you want him on the field as often as possible.
A ring–fence could perhaps work but only if the Premiership were prepared to forego all funding from Twickenham and move the academies to educational facilities, benefiting those players who don’t make the grade. Players could be allocated to various clubs by the RFU like the draft system in the NFL.
As a result clubs would have the same access to young players as now but there would be a fairer distribution of talent. This should boost the standards of all clubs and make for a better product, thus attracting more spectators and revenue for the Premiership.
After another humiliating loss last week, Northampton must be looking forward to going under the radar as the Premiership takes a back seat to the Six Nations. For any club going through the highs and lows as they are at the moment, a period without their stars will perhaps help them find the direction they have lacked this season and move them up the table.
Finally, James Haskell’s comment that he felt he had to hold his hands up after a dangerous tackle that saw him red carded against Quins, is probably as cynical as it gets.
Everyone knows that if you get a red card you will go before a tribunal who would have a video of the incident and the referee’s report, which would also have been available to your club.
It is a fact that all players know a guilty plea helps reduce any ban that you are likely to get, usually by around a couple of weeks.
If it is obvious you have committed a foul (whether an accident or not) it’s always best to plead guilty and get your brief to persuade the tribunal it was reckless rather than deliberate in the hope of a small ban.
Sadly for James, despite being an England player, which also usually reduces the ban, it just wasn’t enough.
“The journeymen provide cover while the Marcus Smiths of the game learn their trade”