1
Will Bath's £100,000-plus signing of Redpath spark a contract buy-out trend in recruitment?
Although Cameron Redpath isn’t a household name in rugby just yet, his move to Bath earlier this week has created plenty of ripples in the professional game.
ADVERTISEMENT
Not only was it a mid-season move – which is rare in itself – but with Redpath having signed a five-year deal with Sale Sharks fresh out of Sedbergh school in 2018, there was still three-and-a-half years of his deal that Bath had to negotiate a buy-out of.
The inside centre has been highly-touted for a number of years now and after starring for the England U18s side, he was selected to tour South Africa with the seniors the summer he left Sedbergh. His hopes of an early debut were scuppered, however, by an injury that ultimately led to him having to have an ACL reconstruction.
Contract buy-out isn’t unheard of as Mako Vunipola made a similar move from Bristol Bears to Saracens in 2011, although his contract in the south-west was significantly shorter than Redpath’s at Sale which resulted in a much smaller compensation figure.
RugbyPass understands the figure for Redpath’s release to be significantly above £100k. It’s a sizeable sum for Bath to part with and a relatively high figure for rugby union. It shows the faith that the club have in Redpath as a Bath player.
(Continue reading below…)
Springboks’ future at the heart of the latest CVC investment
With clubs beginning to tie down young players on longer term deals, such as Sale did with Redpath, the opportunities for rival clubs to snap up exciting prospects at the end of their contracts will lessen.
Instead of youngsters signing one- or two-year deals and having limited time to prove their worth, a talented player in the second or third year of his five-year deal will be able to negotiate a new contract with his current club months or even years before rival sides are allowed to talk to him.
ADVERTISEMENT
As such, aggressive clubs who have the salary cap space could more regularly start targeting youngsters at other clubs, particularly those who are struggling to break into their respective senior XVs. In addition to that, the current Premiership salary cap regulations state that transfer fees and/or compensation payments to other clubs do not count towards the salary cap.
English pit-stop through to the end of this seasonhttps://t.co/syygPKdYOO
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 25, 2020
At the least, these two factors should put other clubs on notice that teams will become less afraid of taking these kind of risks, particularly if they have an owner or ownership group who are willing to bankroll the moves and are looking for a competitive edge in a salary cap league.
For agents, there’s a win-win scenario here whereby not only do they move a younger player to a new club with the hope that more playing time awaits, they will also likely see that player sign a contract on improved terms from their previous deal.
ADVERTISEMENT
Agents fees are often at a higher percentage when a player is moving to a new club as opposed to when they are extending their contract at their current one, and though that won’t be decisive for most agents in their decision to encourage their clients to move, it’s a perk that won’t be ignored either.
Bath have captured the highly exciting 20-year-old Cameron Redpath from Sale Sharks pic.twitter.com/diEHgBmXWb
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 24, 2020
If the Redpath acquisition proves to be as successful as Saracens’ signing of Vunipola, the chances of this sort of move happening more often in the future are only going to increase, and it will at least encourage clubs to invest accordingly in their talent identification departments.
Clubs can be guilty of becoming locked in on one particular pathway, or perhaps a handful of favoured schools within their academy region, so any development in the game that brings a fresh approach to the process of recruitment and encourages clubs to think outside of the box, is a refreshing one.
WATCH: Officials in the firing line after England’s win over Ireland
Comments on RugbyPass
Lets compare apples with apples. Lyon sent weak team the week before, but nobody raised an eyebrow. Give the South African teams a few years to build their depth, then you will be moaning that the teams are too strong.
41 Go to commentsDid footballs agents also perform the scout role at some time? I’m surprised more high profile players haven’t taken up the occupation, great way to remain in the game and use all that experience without really requiring a lot of specific expertise?
1 Go to commentsSuper rugby is struggling but that has little to do with sabbaticals. 1. Too many teams from Aust and NZ - should be 3 and 4 respectively, add in 2 from Japan, 1 possibly 2 from Argentina. 2. Inconsistent and poor refereeing, admittedly not restricted to Super rugby. Only one team was reffed at the breakdown in Reds v H’Landers match. Scrum penalty awarded in Canes v Drua when No 8 had the ball in the open with little defence nearby - ideal opportunity to play advantage. Coming back to Reds match - same scrum situation but ref played advantage - Landers made 10 yards and were penalised at the breakdown when the ref should have returned to scrum penalty. 3. Marketing is weak and losing ground to AFL and NRL. Playing 2 days compared with 4. 4. Scheduling is unattractive to family attendance. Have any franchises heard of Sundays 2pm?
10 Go to commentsAbsolutely..all they need is a chance in yhe playoffs and I bet all the other teams will be nervous…THEY KNOW HOW TO WIN IM THE PLAYOFFS..
2 Go to commentsI really hope he comes back and helps out with some coaching.
1 Go to commentsI think we are all just hoping that the Olympic 7s doesn’t suffer the same sad fate as the last RWC with the officials ruining the spectacle.
1 Go to commentsPersonally, I’ve lost the will to even be bothered about the RFU, the structure, the participants. It’s all a sham. I now simply enjoy getting a group of friends together to go and watch a few games a year in different locations (including Europe, the championship, etc). I feel extremely sorry for the real fans of these clubs who are constantly ignored by the RFU and other administrators. I feel especially sorry for the fans of clubs in the Championship who have had considerable central funding stripped away and are then expected to just take whatever the RFU put to them. Its all a sham, especially if the failed clubs are allowed to return.
9 Go to commentsI’m guessing Carl Hayman would have preferred to have stayed in NZ with benefit of hindsight. Up north there is the expectation to play twice as many games with far less ‘player management’ protocols that Paul is now criticising. Less playing through concussions means longer, healthier, careers. Carter used as the eg here by Paul, his sabbatical allowed him to play until age 37. OK its not an exact science but there is far more expectations on players who sign for Top 14 or Engl Prem clubs to get value for the huge salaries. NZR get alot wrong but keeping their best players in NZ rugby is not one of them. SA clubs are virtually devoid of their top players now, no thanks. They cant threaten the big teams in the Champions Cup, the squads have little depth. Cant see Canes/Chiefs struggling. Super has been great this year, fantastic high skill matches. Drua a fantastic addition and Jaguares will add another quality team eventually. Aus teams performing strongly and no doubt will benefit with the incentive of a Lions tour and a home RWC. Let Jordie enjoy his time with Leinster, it will allow the opportunity for another player to emerge at Canes in his absence.
10 Go to commentsLove that man, his way to despise angry little men is so funny ! 😂
4 Go to comments“South African franchises would be powerhouses if we had all our overseas based players back in situ. We would have the same unbeatable aura the Toulouses, Leinsters or Saracens of this world have had over the last decade or so.” Proof that Jake white does not understand the economics of the game in SA. Players earning abroad are not going to simply come back and represent the bulls. But they might if they have a springbok contract.
22 Go to commentsA lot of fans just joined in for the fun of it! We all admire O'Gara and what he has done for La Rochelle
4 Go to commentsThe RFU will find a way to mess this up as usual. My bet is there will be no promotion into the the Premiership, only relegation into National League One. Hopefully they won’t parachute failed clubs into the league at the expense of clubs who have battled for promotion.
9 Go to commentsWell that’s the contracts for RG and Jordie bought and paid for. Now, what are the chances we can persuade Antoine to hop over with all the extra dosh we’ll have from living at the Aviva & Croke next season…??? 🤑🤑🤑
35 Go to commentsWow, that’s incredible. Great for rugby.
35 Go to commentsYou probably read that parling is going to coach the wallaby lineout but if not before now you have.
14 Go to commentsIf someone like Leo Cullen was in O’Gara’s place I don’t hear Boo-ing. It’s not just that La Rochelle has hurt Leinster and O’Gara is their Irish boss. It’s the needle that he brings and the pantomime activity before the game around pretending that Munster were supporting LaRochelle just because O’Gara is from Cork. That’s dividing Irish provinces just to get an advantage for his French Team. He can F*ck right off with that. BOOOOO! (but not while someone is lying injured)
4 Go to commentsDid the highlanders party too hard before the game? They were the pits.
1 Go to commentsWhat a player! Not long until he’s in the England side, surely?
5 Go to commentsHe seems to have the same aura as Marcus Smith - by which I mean he’s consistently judged as if he’s several years younger than he actually is. Mngomezulu has played 24 times for the Stormers. When Pollard was his age he had played 24 times for South Africa! He has more time to develop, but he has also had time to do some developing already, and he hasn’t demonstrated nearly as much talent in that time as one would expect. If he is a generational talent, then it must be a pretty poor generation.
6 Go to commentsThe greatest Springbok coach of all time is entirely on the money. Rassie and Jacques have given the south african public a great few years, but the success of the springbok selection policy will need to be judged in light of what comes next. The poor condition that the provincial system is currently in doesn’t bode well for the next few years of international rugby, and the insane 2026 schedule that the Boks have lined up could also really harm both provincial and international consistency.
22 Go to comments