'We've got ourselves on a pathway that feels a little wrong to me'
Exeter boss Rob Baxter has outlined his ongoing unease with the pathway that Premiership Rugby have embarked on, looking to increase the size of the top-flight to 14 clubs only to have that expansion stalled last week by the RFU decision not to allow Ealing or Doncaster to be promoted at the end of this season. The twelve-team format had been in existence since the Premiership was first inaugurated way back in 1997/98 and it allowed for one team to be relegated and replaced by another team coming up from the Championship.
This structure was how Exeter under Baxter won their way into the top-flight for the first time in 2010 with a playoff win over Bristol and they have since gone on to become a powerhouse of the English club game, winning a first Premiership title in 2017 and achieving a remarkable league/European Cup double in 2020.
However, promotion from the second tier has been made harder in recent years as clubs must now meet certain criteria and lack of facilities was where the hopes of the Trailfinders and the Knights were dashed last week.
It means there will now be no promotion to the Premiership next season to make it an expanded 14-team as was planned, while the second-tier has also been rocked by speculation that Cornish Pirates will have its level of investment reduced next season.
It all sounds like quite a mess and long-serving Exeter coach Baxter is concerned that the pathway the Premiership has gone down might not be in the best interests of the game. His preference would be to restore the twelve-team league with one team going up and down each season and he replied at length this week when quizzed by RugbyPass about the impasse that will see the unwieldy 13-team format continue on into next season.
“I can’t say anything else. I have said this to Tony (Rowe, the Exeter CEO/chairman) and Tony knows my opinion on it – he knows I am continually going to say there should be promotion and relegation. Personally, I am still a little disappointed in the Premiership. I understand the covid pressures, of course I do, and I understand the business pressures and what people have invested in clubs,” explained Baxter, who has been in charge at Exeter since March 2009.
“This is not me ignoring the challenges the Premiership have had but at the same time we had an opportunity to get promoted and we took it. People also do have to remember the clubs that have taken promotion have had to commit a lot to doing it as well.
“It is too simple to just say any club that finishes top of the Championship should just get an automatic promotion because that is also a little unfair on the amount of investment that teams have made, but I am not 100 per cent sure the balance is quite right – if you know what I mean.
“The procedure of how much you have to invest, how much you have to gamble so to speak in the Championship to give yourself the opportunity to be promoted, I am not quite sure if the balance is quite right because it does feel you do go to some places in the Premiership and don’t play in front of huge crowds and you don’t play at always fantastic facilities, you don’t great changing rooms and you don’t away have that kind of stuff.
“I can’t talk for anyone else in the Premiership – and I don’t want to – but for me, I thought twelve clubs in the Premiership we had a good system of promotion and relegation, it was a good way to run things. I thought it had the right balance of the number of games combined with internationals, combined with the cup competitions. I thought it felt like a pretty good season.
“This season it has felt like a bit of a crammed season if I am honest with you and if we go to 14 clubs in the future that will be even more congested. International rugby isn’t going to go away, if anything you can probably see international rugby expanding. We have got ourselves on a pathway that does just feels a little wrong to me but as I said, I’m not a money man who has got millions of pounds invested in a rugby club so perhaps my opinion is not quite worth what those guys are.”
What the 13-team league has meant for the 2021/22 season is the introduction of bye-weeks where each club doesn’t play a game in two of the 26 rounds of matches. Exeter’s first bye happened in round eleven in December and they will also sit out round 24 in May. It has also resulted in the table looking lop-sided. For instance, heading into this weekend’s round 19 matches, seven clubs have played 18 matches while the other six have played 17.
“It’s funny and it certainly isn’t ideal,” continued Baxter about the bye-weeks format. “It also creates discrepancies in its fairness to teams. If you are a team with a lot of international players and your two rest weeks are outside the international windows compared to a team who is in a similar position and gets one rest week in the autumn internationals and one in the Six Nations as had happened, it is tough.
“That puts you in a tough position. It puts you two games light in preparing without certain players. Even that in itself you can tell is not an ideal scenario but it is what it is – we have gone this way now and once you gave gone down the path you have to follow it and you reap the repercussions of it.
“For me, a good structured, ladder-type progression of promotion, relegation is important. Personally, I couldn’t argue for it to be any other way because of the opportunity that we had.”
Comments on RugbyPass
True Jordie could earn a lot more in Japan. But by choosing Leinster he’ll be playing with 1 of the best clubs in the world and can win a champions cup and URC…..
6 Go to commentsThanks for that Marshy, noticed you didn't say who is gonna win it. We know who ain't gonna win it - your Crusaders outfit. They've gone from having arguably the best Super Rugby first five ever, to having a clutch of rookies. Hurricanes all the way!
1 Go to commentsGeez you really have to question the NRLs ability to produce players of quality. Its pathetic. Dont the 25mil in Aus produce enough quality womens players. Sad.
1 Go to commentsBulls fan here, and agree 100% with the conclusion (and little else) of this article. SA sides should absolutely f-off from the champs cup until we get fair scheduling, equal support for travel arrangements and home semis. You know, like all the european teams get.
21 Go to commentsI’m yet to see why Grace would be an ABs contender. He’s pedestrian and lacks the dominance required of a top flight 8.
10 Go to commentsGee my Highlanders were terrible. They have gone backwards since the start of the season. The trouble began when we left Millar behind to prep as the 10 against the Brumbies and he was disconnected from the team that came back from Aussie. We rested Patchell for that game and we blew an avalanche of ball in good attacking positions in the 1st half. Against the Rebels we seem to of gone into a pod system with forwards hanging off from the breakdown leaving Fakatava to secure our ball!
78 Go to commentsPot Kettle, the English and French teams have done it for years.
21 Go to commentsHas virtually played every minute of previous games. Back row of Li Lo Willie , Grace and Blackadder would be the 1. Crusaders issue is a very average 1st 5 who cannot run. Kicking in general play is also below par They need to put Yong Kemara in. He must have so.e talent for them to bring him down from Waikato. Hoehepa would struggle to play in so.e club sided
10 Go to commentsI hope this a good thing making all these changes!
2 Go to commentsThe Hurricanes are good, especially with a decent coach now. However, let’s be real, the Crusaders and Chiefs are clearly a good degree weaker without the players they’ve lost overseas now. The Canes lost one player. It’s also why the aussie teams ‘seem’ to be stronger.
9 Go to commentsOr you could develop your own players instead of constantly taking from the SH competition and weakening it in the process? With all the player and financial resources these unions have compared to SH countries you’d think they could manage that, or is weakening the SH comps and their national sides an added bonus? Probably.
3 Go to commentsNot so fast Aaron, we might need you in black yet lol. God knows he’d be a lot less nerve-racking than hot and (very) cold players like Perofeta. It’s really a shame Reuben Love isn’t playing 10, we’ve got enough 15 options.
4 Go to commentsAnd those from the NH still seem to be puzzled (and delighted) why NZ’s depth isn’t what it once was. Over 600 NZ players overseas, that’s insane. This sort of deal is why Super Rugby coaches have admitted they struggle now to find enough quality to fill out their squads.
6 Go to commentsArticle intéressant ! La question devrait régulièrement se poser pour les jeunes français originaires de Nouvelle-Calédonie, Wallis-et-Futuna et de Polynésie entre la Nouvelle-Zélande et la Métropole… Difficile pour la fédération française de rugby de se positionner : soit le choix est fait de dénicher les jeunes talents et de les faire venir très tôt en Métropole, au risque de les déraciner, soit on prend le risque de se les faire “piller” par les All Blacks qui, telle une araignée, essaye de récupérer tous les talents des îles du Pacifique… À la France de se défendre en développant l’aura du XV de France et des clubs français dans ses collectivités d’Outre-mer !
3 Go to commentsWrong bay. He needs to come to the REAL BAY which is Bay Of Plenty and have a crack at making the Chiefs.
3 Go to commentsIs Barrett going play full back??? They already have all the centers…
16 Go to commentsForgive my ignorance, I might not fully understand so would appreciate clarification: Didn’t the Bulls have to fly with three different carriers, paid for by the South African Rugby Union, whilst Edinburgh got a chartered flight sponsored by EPCR? Also, as far as I understand it South African teams don’t yet share in the revenue from the competition and are not allowed to host Semi-finals or Finals at home. Surely if everyone wants South Africans to “take the competition seriously” then they must make South Africans feel welcome, allow them to share in the revenue, and give them the same levels of access as the teams from the other countries. Just a reminder that South Africa has a large and passionate Rugby audience. Just by virtue of our teams being a part of these competitions means that more of us are likely to watch the knockout games, even if our teams haven’t qualified. It would be silly to alienate such a large audience by making them feel unwelcome.
21 Go to commentsFirst of all. This guy is very much behind the curve. All the bleating, whingeing, whining and moaning took place days ago already. Not adding anything to the topic other than more bleating, whingeing, whining and moaning. 🍼 Second of all, not one mention of the fact that South African teams can’t get home semi finals or finals. The tournament was undermined and devalued by the administrators. 🤡 Thirdly, football teams often have to juggle selections in mid week games, premier games, champions league games etc. and will from time to time prioritize certain titles over others. 🐒 And lastly FEK Neil, and anyone else for that matter, for insisting on telling teams how to manage themselves. If they make what is largely a business decision that suits them and doesn’t suit you - tough shite. 💩 It’s not rocket science as to why the Bulls did what they did. If this guy is too slow to figure it out (and is deliberately not mentioning one of the key reasons why) then he isn’t a journalist. He should join the rest of us pundit plebs in comments section. 🥴
21 Go to commentsSo the first door to knock on Rob is Parliament followed by HMRC. The Irish Revenue deliver a 40% tax relief rebate on the HIGHEST EARNING TEN YEARS of every pro Irish rugby players contract earnings at retirement. That goes a long way to both retaining their best talent and freeing up wages for marquee players. Who knows, if that had been in place in the UK, you might not have been able to poach Hoggy and Jonny Gray from Glasgow…!!!
3 Go to comments1. True, if that “free” ticket means access to all but the prized exhibit - EVIP only. SA cannot host semis, even if they’ve earned it (see Sharks vs ASM Clermont Auvergne at… Twickenham Stoop). 2. Why no selective outrage over Lyon doing the exact same thing a week earlier? Out of all the countries France send the most “B teams”, why nobody talking about “disrespect” and “prioritising domestic leagues” and “kicking them out”? 3. Why no mention of the Sharks fielding all of their Springboks for the second rate Challenge cup QF? No commitment? 4. Why no mention of all the SA teams qualifying for respective euro knock out comps in the two seasons they’ve been in it? How many euro teams have qualified for KO’s in their history? Can’t compete? 5. Why no mention of SA teams beating French and English giants La Rochelle and Saracens? How many euro teams have done that in their history? Add no quality? The fact is that SA teams are only in their second season in europe, with no status and a fraction of the resources. Since joining the URC, SA has seen a repatriation of a number of players, and this will only grow once SA start sharing in the profits of competing in these comps, meaning bigger squads with greater depth and quality, meaning they don’t have to prioritise comps as they have to now - they don’t have imports from Pacifica and South America and everywhere else in between like “European” teams have - also less “Saffas” in Prem and T14, that’s what we want right? 'If the South Africans are in, they need to be all in' True, and we have to ensure we give them the same status and resources as we give everyone else to do just that. A small compromise on scheduling will go a long way in avoiding these situations, but guess what, France and England wont compromise on scheduling because they ironically… prioritise their domestic comps, go figure!
21 Go to comments