Three changes the Premiership needs to make for clubs to compete and why
In the wake of Wasps’ 18-16 loss to Bath, a result which sees them sitting winless at the bottom of Pool 1 with a visit from Leinster still to come, the club’s Director of Rugby Dai Young was outspoken on the salary cap.
Young made the point that whilst Leinster are able to replace internationals with internationals when players are injured, Gallagher Premiership clubs struggle to do likewise, due to having to stay under the £7m salary cap the competition enforces.
He went on to make the point that Leinster can field a second team in the Guinness PRO14 and still record wins, whilst English clubs cannot afford to do likewise, due to the threat of relegation.
It’s certainly a fair comment this season, where the relegation battle has been unusually wide open, with as many as eight or nine teams at one point or another having been considered to be in it. That said, it is not an excuse that can be paraded out in too many previous seasons, where relegation has often been a two or three-horse race, with those two or three sides usually in the Challenge Cup rather than the Heineken Champions Cup anyway.
Perhaps the most significant reason that Leinster are able to replace internationals with internationals is because they keep developing internationals. They signed Scott Fardy and he has been an impressive performer for them, but the bulk of their Irish internationals have been nurtured and developed by the province themselves. One of the most basic concepts of recruitment and player retention in rugby is that it is generally cheaper to extend a contract of a player you have developed yourself than it is to lure a player of similar quality away from another side. That ability to retain players at a ‘hometown discount’ is lessened the lower down the table you go, but certainly rings true for clubs doing reasonably well and with a clear plan for progression in place.
The story of Wasps’ recent seasons has been one of consistent, heavy recruitment each campaign, large turnovers in playing personnel and a noticeable lack of players emerging from the club’s once-productive academy. This method obviously puts a premium on the salary expectations of the players at the club and there have been talented players produced at Wasps in recent seasons, but with an apparent disconnect between the senior side and the junior pathway, very few have made the step up.
Given that Wasps’ debt grew to £55.8m for the fiscal year ending June 2018, with pre-tax losses of £9.7m, which is, worryingly, over double the loss the club posted the year before. Income actually dropped for the club, too, with their revenues falling by £200,000.
With the CVC investment set to soon arrive in the Premiership, which will deliver sizeable injections of cash for each of the 13 member clubs, this is a dangerous time to talk about increasing the salary cap.
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If an increased salary cap is Pandora’s Box, then the CVC investment is the key, and once that box is unlocked, there is no closing it again.
Salary expectations have risen sharply over the last five or so years, driven predominately by the market for players in France, England and Japan, and whilst those expectations will be kept largely in check by a steady salary cap, despite the investment, an increase to that cap is going to take an already borderline unsustainable sport into some very dangerous territory.
Whilst Wasps do not necessarily endear themselves to sympathy given the way they have constructed a squad over the last number of years, there is a constant battle being fought with French clubs, who enjoy a less restrictive salary cap – although no marquee players – and other nations who benefit from central contracting, and you can understand the frustration of some Premiership directors of rugby.
There are perhaps then a number of ways of creatively providing clubs with more flexibility within the salary cap, without directly raising it and inviting the squad-wide monetary demands that will inevitably come.
A soft and a hard cap
As stands, there is just one salary cap in the Premiership and that is the hard £7m cap that clubs cannot break, save for a small taxed overrun, lest they face repercussions from the competition. Another way of going about it would be to turn that hard cap into a soft cap, with a new hard cap set at £7.5m.
Teams would then be allowed to go beyond the soft cap of £7m, but only in order to re-sign players who have been at the club since they were 18 and came through the club’s junior academy. It would allow a club to maintain a larger squad whilst also putting a priority on player development of the club’s own talent, as that additional £500k – or whatever the figure would be set at – would only be available to homegrown products.
If the club is above the soft cap of £7m, they cannot recruit externally until they drop back down below it. Using that additional cap space beyond the soft cap would be a risk and it would require good squad management, a productive academy to provide fresh waves of affordable talent and a pathway that allows those players to be produced and developed. For clubs who think they are ready to make an assault on European rugby’s grandest prize, this would help ensure they have the requisite squad depth to do so.
Removal of agent fees, image rights and similar from the cap
Currently, all agent fees and image rights are included in the salary cap. They are not astronomic fees but even working on a conservative basis – a 5% agent fee on a full cap of £7m – that amounts to £350,000, which would be enough to add three or four good quality players to a team that has a genuine chance of competing in Europe or for the Premiership title. Another way of looking at it is that it would pay the salaries of just over 11 senior academy players at a Premiership club, and that is based purely on a smaller agent fee for a player re-signing with a club, rather than the steeper percentage for new signings, which could well bring the figure up to around the £500,000 mark.
Coupled with image rights, these fees can begin to add up and take up a significant amount of space within the cap. If they were to be removed and made separate to the cap, it would not be a step towards making the sport more financially sustainable, but it would allow directors of rugby a little more breathing room in assembling, recruiting and retaining their squads. Crucially, it should not have a major effect on increasing salary expectations across the board in the same way a blanket increase to the cap would.
Embrace central contracting
An unpopular one in England, certainly, but if you want to emulate the Irish provinces and their success at European level, then perhaps a level of control needs to be conceded to the RFU. The provinces aren’t just financially supported by the IRFU, their players are well-managed to ensure they are at their peak for international and major domestic and European matches. If the top 40 players in England were contracted by the RFU, you lose control of when you can play them, but there is no doubt they will face less minutes across the season and be in better condition for critical matches.
It’s not a move that is likely to happen anytime soon, but if, as Young suggests, clubs need to stack their squads with internationals to compete, this is the only way that is financially sustainable as stands. If you’re going to have to go out and recruit those internationals, as would be the case with Wasps in this example, where only two of their 16 current internationals came through their own junior academy, then the costs are going to be even higher than those at Leinster, where the vast majority came through the club’s own pathway.
Ultimately, Saracens have shown what can be achieved by a productive academy, well-established player pathway and a progressive attitude towards player welfare and squad rotation, winning multiple domestic and European titles in recent years. Exeter Chiefs have replicated that domestically, albeit without the success in Europe to date.
There is no quick fix. Wasps or any other Premiership club can’t go out and sign a few more internationals and expect to compete. The journeys that Saracens and Exeter have been on have taken a long time, but ultimately have borne fruit.
English rugby doesn’t have a salary cap problem, but if there is a clamour for change, at least let it be measured and thoughtful, rather than bullish in nature, with long-term effects more damaging than the short-term highs.
Watch: The Rugby Pod discuss players wanting to be paid more.
Comments on RugbyPass
Irish Rugby CEO be texting Andy Farrell “Andy, i found our next Kiwi Irishman”
4 Go to commentsI certainly don’t miss drinking beers at 8am in the morning watching rugby games being played in NZ.
1 Go to commentsThis looks like a damage limitation exercise for Wales, keeping back some of their more effective players for the last 20/25 minutes to try and counter England’s fresh legs so the Red Roses don’t rack up a big score.
1 Go to commentsVery unlikely the Bulls will beat Leinster in Dublin. It would be different in Pretoria.
1 Go to commentsI think it is a dangerous path to go down to ban a player for the same period that a player they injured takes to recover. Players would be afraid to tackle anyone. I once tackled my best friend at school in a practice match and sprained his ankle. I paid for it by having to play fly-half instead of full-back for the rest of that season’s fixtures.
5 Go to commentsJust such a genuine good bloke…and probably the best all round player in his generation. Good guys do come first sometimes and he handled the W.Cup loss with great attitude.
2 Go to commentsWord in France is that he’s on the radar of a few Top14 clubs.
4 Go to commentsGet blocking Travis, this guy has styles and he’s gonna make a swift impact…!
1 Go to commentsWhat remorse? She claimed that her dangerous tackle wasn’t worthy of a red! She should be compensating the injured player for loss of earnings at the minimum. Her ban should include the recovery time of the injured player as well as the paltry 3 match ban.
5 Go to commentsArdie is a legend. Finished and klaar. Two things: “Yeah, yeah, I have had a few conversations with Razor just around feedback on my game and what I am doing well, what I need to improve on or work-ons. It’s kind of been minimal, mate, but it’s all that I need over here in terms of how to be better, how to get better and what I am doing well.” I hope he’s downplaying it - and that it’s not that “minimal”. The amount of communication and behind the scenes preparation the Bok coaches put into players - Rassie and co would be all over Ardie and being clear on what is expected of him. This stands out for me as something teams should really be looking at in terms of the boks success from a coaching point of view. And was surprised by the comment - “minimal”. In terms of the “debate” around Ireland and South Africa. Nice one Ardie. Indeed. There’s no debate.
2 Go to commentsThere’s a bit of depth there but realistically Australian players have a long way to go to now catch up. The game is moving on fast and Australia are falling behind. Australian sides still don’t priories the breakdown like they should, it’s a non-negotiable if you want to compete on the international stage. That goes for forwards and backs. The Australian team could have a back row that could make a difference but the problem is they don’t have a tight five that can do the business. Tupou is limited in defence, overweight and unfit and the locks are a long way from international standard. Frost is soft and Salakai-Loto is too small so that means they need a Valentini at 8 who has to do the hard graft so limits the effectiveness of the backrow. Schmidt really needs to get a hard working, tough tight 5 if he wants to get this team firing.
3 Go to commentsSorry Morgan you must have been the “go to for a quote” ex player this week. Its rnd 6 and there is plenty of time to cement a starting 15 and finishing 8 so I have no such concerns.
2 Go to commentsGreat read. I wish you had done this article on the ROAR.
2 Go to commentsThe current AB coaching team is basically the Crusaders so it smacks of wanting their familiar leaders around. This is not a good look for the future of the ABs or the younger players in Super working their way up the player ladder. Razor is touted as innovative, forward looking but his early moves look like insecurity and insular, provincial thinking. He is the AB's coach not the Golden Oldies.
10 Go to commentsSimple reason for wanting him back. Robertson wants him as captain. Otherwise he wouldn’t be bothering chasing him. Not enough reason to come back just to mentor.
10 Go to commentsI had not considered this topic like this at all, brilliant read. I had been looking at his record at the Waratahs and thought it odd the Crusaders appointed him, then couple that with all that experience and talent departing and boom. They’ve got some great talent developing though, and in all honesty I don’t think anyone would be over confident taking them on in a playoff match, no matter how poor the first half of their season was. I think they can pull a game out of their ass when it counts.
2 Go to commentsNot a bad list but not Porecki and not Donaldson. Not because they are Tahs, or Ex Tahs, they are just not good enough. Edmed should be ahead. Far more potential. Wilson should be 8 and Valentini 6. Wilson needs to be told by his father and his coach, stop bloody running in to brick wall defence. You’re not playing under the genius Thorn any more. He’s a fantastic angle runner. The young new 8 from the Brumbies looks really good too. The Lonegrans are just too small for international rugby as is Paisami, as is Hamish Stewart at 12. Both great at Super Rugby level. Stewart could have been a great 10 if not for Brad Thorn. Uru should be there and so should Tupou. Tupou just needs good Australian coaching which he hasn’t been getting. I don’t think Schmidt will excite him.
3 Go to commentsIf he wants to come back then he should. He will be a major asset to the younger locks and could easily be played as an impact player off the bench coming on in the last 30. He is fit, strong and capable and has all the experience to make up for any loss in physical prowess. He could also be brought back with a view to coaching within the structures one day. Duane Vermeulen played until he was 37 or 38. He is now a roaming coach within the South African coaching structures. He was valuable in the last world cup and has been a major influence on Jasper Wiese and other young players which has helped and accelerated their development and growth. Whitelock could do the exact same thing for NZ
10 Go to commentsBrett Excellent words… finally someone (other than DC) has noted that Hanigan is very hard and very good at doing what Backrow should do… his performance via the Drua sauna was quite daunting for those on the other side… very high tackle count… carries with good end result… constant threat to make a good 20-25 meters with those long legs… providing his mass effectively to crunching the Drua pack… Finally he is returning to quality form… way to much injury time over the last 2 years… smart-strong-competent in his skills… caught every lineout throw aimed at him and delivered clean pass to whoever was down below… and he worked hard for the whole 80 minutes… Ned has to be in the top 5 for backrow honors… He knows what is required as he has been there before…
20 Go to commentsI think Sam Whitelock should not touch a return with a bargepole. He went out on a high, playing in the RWC Final. He would be coming back into a team that will be weaker than last years, and might even be struggling to win games, especially against the Boks. Stay in France, enjoy another year with Pau, playing alongside his brother.
10 Go to comments