Prioritising professionalism: Why Premier 15s and unions are leading the way
Women’s rugby is one of the fastest growing sports on the planet, in the past few years it has built a significant foothold within the wider sport while also creating its own audience who didn’t see themselves reflected in the crowds at your typical club or international game.
That growth has led to repeated calls to professionalise the women’s game and over the past month we’ve seen the RFU announce a change to the Premier 15s as well as announcements from the Scottish and Welsh unions.
The Allianz Premier 15s announcement was perhaps the biggest bombshell of these, a ten-year strategy that will see the league form its own operating company, move towards professionalism and open up the prospect of growing beyond 10 teams.
There is no change for the forthcoming season, and while the play on the field will no doubt be even more exciting than we’ve come to expect, there will be a lot of attention to what goes on behind the scenes and each team’s movement up and down the table.
At the end of the 2022/23 season, we will likely see some new teams join and current top tier teams leave the league. With Leicester Tigers, London Irish and Bath among those applying to get in, there are far more teams than current space in the league.
DMP Durham Sharks are a likely bet to lose their place having finished last on the Premier 15s table in the last two seasons with only one win to their name with Sale Sharks also consistently dwelling at the bottom, but I can’t see a world where both northern teams are dropped so one of them may be safe, while the current exodus of players (and coaches) at Wasps begs the question of whether they will be in a position to maintain their spot given their loss of top talent to other clubs.
In likelihood though we probably will see one team go and one team join (and Wasps moving to Coventry to join their male counterparts). Thankfully the Premier 15s strategy caters for this, suggesting that aspiring teams who don’t get in will be given support to get to the point they can bid again as the league seeks to grow over the coming decade.
Projections suggest revenue over this period will skyrocket to potentially £174 million with the RFU and clubs kicking in a further £48 million to cover the projected running costs. These costs include salaries for players, increased support teams at each club, including coaches, strength and conditioning and medical and lifestyle support.
𝗣𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗲𝗿𝟭𝟱𝘀 𝟯.𝟬
BREAKING 🗞 The RFU has announced a 10-year strategy to professionalise the #Premier15s 📈
Read the full release here: https://t.co/rIqZnksJiX pic.twitter.com/Jq8wL9amF8
— Premiership Women's Rugby (@ThePWR) June 30, 2022
There is also a push to significantly increase the off-field investment, moving all games to stadiums instead of the current mix of Gallagher Premiership stadia, university pitches and even local club grounds. This is all with the aim of securing a free-to-air television deal, built around higher quality broadcasts.
If, like me, you tend to be a positive person then this probably sounds great and I agree that there’s a lot to be excited about here, but there are questions too…
Where does all the money come from? Most clubs aren’t exactly flush, so this is a further drain on the resources of the likes of Saracens and Sale. Wasps are already in the news for being late to pay back bonds their fans raised for their move to Coventry, as such there must be questions over the validity of moving their women’s set up into the midlands too, and whether they can afford to maintain and improve it.
Loughborough Lightning and Gloucester-Hartpury are both affiliated to universities who can’t really be expected to kick in further millions of pounds so their partner clubs (Gloucester and Northampton respectively) will inevitably become more involved and could erode the identity of the women’s teams somewhat.
We also need to question: when is the right time to expand the league? For anyone who follows Championship 1 (the highest tier of rugby below Premier 15s), you’ll be aware there is plenty of talent around the league that is capable of stepping up, indeed many players have played some Premier 15s and will play more in the future. Indeed, last season you had some great talent turning out in the league below.
Exeter Chiefs’ Charlie Willett played for Cullumpton RFC in Championship 2 south west, while the winners of that league – London Irish Emeralds – had former Wasp Georgia Wood as captain and Amy Montague, previously part of the Harlequins set up, join mid-season to bolster their scrum. So there’s plenty of players who have the potential to make the step up and given recent announcements and clubs stating their intentions to join the league, they may soon be needed.
In other news which bolsters the women’s game, the Welsh RFU announced on July 6th that they would add a further 17 full time contracts to their already contracted players, bringing them up to 32 full time players. This followed on from the Scottish RFU announcement in mid-June that they had offered 30 players contracts and would also be setting up two semi-pro teams.
📢 Huge boost for #WalesWomen ahead of @RugbyWorldCup
– 17 new full-time contracts bringing number of WRU contracted players to 31
– @IoanCunningham commits as head coach to 2025 Rugby World Cup
– New coaching and sports science staff added #HerStory
— Welsh Rugby Union 🏴 (@WelshRugbyUnion) July 6, 2022
There’s no news yet on where those teams will play or indeed who they will play against, but it does make us wonder, will these contracts, along with the inevitable Irish ones that follow – the IRFU are not in a rush as they didn’t qualify for the World Cup so expect them to announce in the autumn – lead to these unions wanting their players closer to home?
Scotland’s squad almost all play in the Premier 15s and Welsh players are key parts of the Bristol and Gloucester-Hartpury squads while Wasps have long had a pack built around Irish power (though a few of those players have moved on and we believe at least one more is set to announce they are leaving).
For me this seems an ideal time to consider some sort of Celtic League. If the three unions can agree on how to run it, there could be some superb match ups between Irish provinces, Scottish clubs and maybe Welsh regions? It also opens up a more realistic option for a European Cup in the future as currently Premier 15s clubs and French teams would undoubtedly dominate.
It’s probably fair to say that by the time this article is published we’ll see even more change coming… As I was writing this month’s column the announcement of a combined Team GB’ 7s squad came, another exciting bit of news that builds out the player pathways.
It’s hard to know what the women’s game will look like in 12 months, but I can’t help feeling that it’s only going to keep going from strength to strength if the Premier 15s and unions keep driving professionalism forwards and by the time World Cup 2025 takes place in England, I would expect the 82,000 seats of Twickenham to be sold out for the final!
Comments on RugbyPass
Results probably skewed by the fact that a few clubs have foreign fly halves in their 30s, but most teams have young English scrum halves. Results also likely to be skewed by the fact that many teams rely on centres and fullbacks to provide depth at 10, whereas they will need to stock a large number of specialist backup 9s.
1 Go to commentsI really get the sense that when all is said and done, the path of least resistance will end up being a merger of Wasps & Worcester that essentially kills the Worcester Warriors brand and sees Wasps permanently playing at Sixways. I’m not saying that’s what should happen or what I want to happen. I just think it’s the easiest rout to take and therefore, will be what happens. Wasps will definitely return to play first, and I suppose it all depends on if they can find support at Sixways. If people turn up and support Wasps in that community, at that ground, I bet they drop the Sevenoaks plan and just remain at Sixways. Under the radar but not totally unrelated, it looks as though London Irish are going to be brought back from the dead by a German consortium and look set to return, likely to the remade Championship. It’s set to have 12 clubs next season with 14 in 2025/26, what do you want to bet those extra 2 are Wasps and London Irish?
1 Go to commentsThe shoulder is a “joint” with multiple bones. You don’t “fracture” a shoulder, you fracture any one or more of the bones that make up a shoulder.
2 Go to commentsOh dear, bones too suspect to continue?
2 Go to commentsBold headline considering the Canes and Blues are 1 and 2 and the Brumbies were soundly beaten by the Chiefs and Blues. Biggest surprise is Rebels 4 Crusaders 12 - no one saw that coming. If Aus are improving that’s great 👍
1 Go to commentsAnna, You are right, we need to have patience whilst the others catch up to England and France. Also it is the PWR that has been the game changer for England. the RFU put money into that initially at the expense of the Red Roses. I was sceptical at first but it has paid off in spades.
1 Go to commentsI think Matt Proctor became a 1 test AB in the same fixture. Cameron is quality and has been great this season, can’t believe’s he only 27. Realistically how would he not be selected for ABs squad this year. Only Dmac is ahead of him as a specialist 10. With Jordan out, it will come down to where and when Beauden Barrett slots back in, and where they want to play Ruben Love. Cameron seems an absolute lock in for the wider squad though. Added benefit of TJ-Cameron-Jordie combination at 9, 10, 11 too.
1 Go to commentsFarcical, to what end would someone want to pay to keep this thing going.
1 Go to commentsHavili, our best 12 by a mile, will be in the squad, if he stays fit. JB is the most overrated AB in the last 50 years.
61 Go to commentsWe had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
8 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
56 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
8 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
61 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to comments