Nelson outraged by unfair RFU ‘attack on Lancashire’
LANCASHIRE head coach Mark Nelson has accused the RFU of launching an attack on county rugby.
Nelson is angry following a sudden change in regulations that could see players who turn out for Premiership A-teams banned from this season’s County Championship.
In a missive issued to constituent bodies last Wednesday and seen by
The Rugby Paper, the RFU stated that players at levels three or below playing more than two Premiership Shield matches would no longer be eligible to represent their counties this season.
With the 2018-19 Premiership Shield four rounds old, a number of loan players are already in danger of being ‘cup-tied’ after playing for top-flight clubs.
Nelson, who also coaches North Premier side Rossendale, has called for some common sense.
He told TRP: “This is a massively unfair regulation change and I don’t understand the logic.
“I would actually take it as an attack on Lancashire, whose clubs have strong ties with Sale Sharks, and others who contribute players to Premiership clubs.
“Sale Sharks often rely on the goodwill of surrounding clubs like Sale FC, Sedgley Park and Fylde to enable them to fulfil Premiership Shield games and I’ve had guys at Rossendale who’ve played for Sale Jets and then represented Lancashire that season.
“If you’re saying to a player that if you play for Sale Jets three times to try and further your career you then can’t play for Lancashire and potentially get to play at Twickenham or go on an England Counties tour, where’s the incentive? It’s anti-player, anti-Lancashire and it stinks.
“It’s the same with Cheshire, where Caldy have strong links to Sale as well, but if you’re Yorkshire, who have no Premiership club, it doesn’t affect you at all. Suddenly, out of nowhere, an arbitrary ruling comes from the RFU which is utterly nonsensical.”
Nelson’s fury is shared by the Cornwall RFU, who fear county rugby is being undermined after dates for the 2019 County Championship were finally issued last week, eight weeks late.
A controversial RFU proposal to scrap county representative teams at U15 and U16 level was last week put on temporary hold and Chris Lea, chairman of representative rugby for the CRFU, fears too much emphasis is being placed on the professional game.
Lea told TRP: “The RFU are in turmoil as far as grassroots rugby is concerned. They’ve been looking at taking out U15 and U16 county rugby because they felt the Developing Player Pathway through the Premiership clubs was the best way forward, but the feeling is they’re just looking for a way out of county rugby and want to scrap the lot.
“We’re proud of the fact we give players opportunities from our age group programmes through to our senior sides and guys like Billy Searle (Wasps), Christian Judge (Saracens), Robin Wedlake and Sam Matavesi (both Cornish Pirates) are proof.
“However Colts rugby in Cornwall is down to six teams now and the message from the RFU is that county rugby doesn’t matter.
“But if you’re not picked for a DPP are you still going to play the game? There has to be more than the professional game.”