Ring-fencing is no cure-all says Bath director Hooper
RING-FENCING the Premiership would not provide a silver bullet for slashing the number of overseas journeymen and improving English player development, according to Bath’s performance and player pathway director Stuart Hooper.
Former England fullback and Leicester scout Dusty Hare is a critic of the current promotion and relegation system, recently telling TRP it encourages short-term survival thinking thereby reducing first team opportunities for home-grown talent. However, Hooper told
The Rugby Paper: “Ringfencing is a huge subject and with regards to player development, I don’t think it’s true to say that if you ring-fence it would automatically create more chances for coaches to blood young players.
“I’m not saying ringfencing is a bad thing, but it’s not a magic wand that fixes everything and more could be done to encourage clubs to develop players.
“For example, there are currently things being looked at around the A-League and Anglo-Welsh Cup – their composition and number of games. There are lots of moving parts that need exploring to ensure clubs and national teams develop well.
“Dual-registration with lower league clubs comes into that discussion as well and, while I’m not against ring-fencing, it’s a pretty emotional topic and we need to be careful that whatever route we go down is right for the longer-term.”
Meanwhile, Hooper accepts the heavy fan criticism Bath received following their recent Champions Cup exit was justified.
He said: “Europe is huge and we paid the price for not getting anything from the Scarlets home game, which was poor.
“But credit to the players, they’ve responded to that and we’re desperate to do well in the remaining competitions. We’ve got the Premiership and Anglo-Welsh Cup to aim at and with guys back from injury, we’re in a good place.”
Hooper expects fit again lock Charlie Ewels to force his way back into England contention, the former Bath skipper adding: “England have got a lot of good second rows but equally they understand what Charlie offers in terms of athleticism.
“I imagine they’ll look at him this week and make a decision, but if we have him available for the Premiership it will be a huge bonus.”