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'We were already going to be facing Saracens with our hands tied behind our backs - now they have tied our legs as well'
Yorkshire Carnegie boss Phil Davies believes the Rugby Football Union’s controversial decision to drastically slash funding for the second-tier Championship could damage the heart and soul of the game in England.
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The fears of the 2019 Namibian World Cup coach are echoed by former Wales out-half Paul Turner, the head coach at Ampthill who were promoted to the Championship this season. He claims the loss of funds was “a bolt out of the blue that will have a devastating impact on every area of our club”.
Ampthill will face relegated Saracens next season, whose fall from grace will be softened by a parachute payment from Premiership Rugby worth millions. That makes the loss of Championship funding even harder for Turner to bear. “We were already going to be facing Saracens with our hands tied behind our backs – now they have tied our legs as well,” he said.
The RFU’s decision has been branded by one club chairman as “deplorable”. The dozen Championship clubs had been able to split £8million in funding from the RFU this season, but they will now only have £4.3m to share out next season. Premiership Rugby (PRL) have also cut their financial support from £1.7m to £850,000 and will stop any cash injection for the 2021/22 season.
Championship clubs are now urgently examining what measures will be needed due to the drop in funds, but hundreds of job losses on and off the pitch are a likely result.
(Continue reading below…)
Dai Young relieved of first-team duties at Wasps
Davies’ recent experiences with Namibia means he knows all about the battle for cash to help develop pay players. He said: “I assume that at the moment the Championship is viewed as the second-tier of professional rugby in England but I don’t know if that is going to be the case moving forward.
“Will people now see it is as the top end of the community game? What Ampthill have done is amazing and is similar to the move up the leagues we did years ago at Leeds.
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“Doncaster have created fantastic facilities while Nottingham is a club of great history and it’s important to recognise this because it is the heart and soul of the game. I’m here in Yorkshire, England’s biggest rugby playing county, and progress is being made.
Huge blow for second-tier rugby in England
https://t.co/V2kHLwHmRx— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 12, 2020
“It is key to have competitive league structures so that players can gain experience in that kind of arena and while A team rugby can be as near in style as anything in the Premiership, it doesn’t match up to a really competitive league structure.
“In Wales, the Premiership is a great place to identify the next generation of players, referees and coaches and engage supporters. You have to create a pathway for the next Owen Farrell and George Ford and decide if you want the community game to thrive or the elite game. There are many things to take into account – not just money and high performance.”
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Ampthill have close links with Saracens, Leicester and Northampton with players being loaned to the Championship club to gain valuable experience. England internationals Ben Earl and Nick Isiekwe have worn the Ampthill colours in recent seasons and the club will have five Premiership loan players in their squad to face London Scottish this weekend.
A stark warning from the MD of @FalconsRugby who hopes the Salarygate scandal might be the catalyst for change Premiership clubs needs – writes @heagneylhttps://t.co/yBObPFSF7a
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 26, 2020
“This month is when a lot of guys from the Premiership are looking for matches,” added Turner. “We are giving them the rugby time they cannot get at their clubs. The timing of all of this is poor. Why couldn’t they have given us twelve months’ notice? Are we bottom of the professional leagues or top of the community leagues?”
There are real concerns that the A team league for the Premiership clubs will now become the focal point for RFU support rather than the Championship which will also see its sponsorship deal with Greene King finish at the end of the season.
According to former Harlequins CEO Mark Evans, prioritising the A league is the wrong emphasis. He tweeted: “Wasteful financially and ineffective in development terms. Reserve grade football simply does not work and leads to bloated squads, huge number of cancellations and lack of opportunities for individual players.”
WATCH: The Rugby Pod reflects on the second weekend of action in the Guinness Six Nations
Comments on RugbyPass
A long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
2 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
2 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
28 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
2 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
2 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
24 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
3 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
28 Go to comments