LONG READ ‘PREM has a fabulous chance to tap into upbeat mood music from Red Roses’ triumph’

Feel-good vibes – far more potent than any PREM name-check makeover, far more meaningful to the thousands you hope to attract through the gates. The Premiership has a fabulous chance to tap into the upbeat mood music emanating from the Red Roses’ World Cup triumph, from the warm glow left behind by the entire tournament in fact, that simple feeling that makes sport worth watching and life seem that little bit easier.

England blew the opportunity in 2003. So, too, in different circumstances in 2015 when expectations were high and the reality was crushing. Stuart Lancaster’s team didn’t raise a gallop and magnificent as the victorious All Blacks team were, the tournament came and went without much of a by-your-leave in these parts.

This time it has to be different. And not just for the women’s game, critical as the development of that sector is, particularly round the rest of the world. The signs there are promising but hard cash to bring other countries up to England’s level is never easily sourced. The real success of the last few weeks will lie beyond the well-merited champagne showers that engulfed Zoe Aldcroft’s squad.

The baton left by the women has to be picked up over these next few weeks and months by the Premiership clubs as well as the international team, who are only a month away from the annual November gathering of the clans across Europe. It seems crazy that the Rugby Championship has yet to run its course, with the thrilling prospect to savour of the Pumas looking to deny the free-wheeling Springboks (and how good it is to attach that adjective to them) at Twickenham on Saturday.

Our eyes will, of course, be drawn to that contest, a thunderous finale to what has been the best Rugby Championship in many years. But it’s time for the PREM to flex its muscle and to show that it can make an impression on the sporting landscape each and every weekend. There were some decent opening salvoes fired but there has to be more to come. The whimper has to become a bang.

It was the way that the women projected themselves that really made an impact. Too often the elite men’s game comes across as too up itself, too distanced from those who support it at every level.

What the women’s World Cup showed us was that it is possible to be high-performing, without getting beyond yourself. The players were comfortable in their own skin and not afraid to present that face to the public. They won the hearts and minds battle from day one – open, accessible, fun and friendly, never losing sight of the fact that this experience was there to be lived and to be shared. That’s what made it work. That’s what got so many people engaged, in the arena and also out and about. There was a real sense of connection.

This is about more than mere press conference access, so often a forced and tortuous encounter, bland, contrived and boring. It was the way that the women projected themselves that really made an impact. Too often the elite men’s game comes across (at administrative level in particular) as too up itself, too distanced from those who support it at every level.

Of course this has to be a holistic thing. The action on the field is the prime point of contact. Fair enough. But we must do everything to ensure that the refreshing openness and joy that was projected by the women’s World Cup does not get quickly swept aside like an autumnal flurry of leaves. Let the players tell their own stories, let them be up front and centre each and every week, expressing themselves in front of TV cameras and pen-poised notebooks as emphatically as they do on the field.

There is a big four weeks ahead in the PREM. Titles are not won in October but they can be lost. Fall too far behind in these early skirmishes and the sight-line up towards the play-off positions begins to stretch away over the horizon. There are also national coaches to impress. Steve Borthwick may feel that he’s in a solid enough position with a strong showing in the 2025 Six Nations followed by an impressive series in Argentina. The Pumas may not have been at full throttle as they readied themselves  for the Rugby Championship but England were also under-clubbed with their Lions contingent in Australia.

The signing of Lee Blackett as attack coach is the most significant selection Borthwick has made since he took over from Eddie Jones.

Yet Borthwick knows there is a sense of eternal renewal on the international front, a need to keep evolving. South Africa are vivid proof of that. No longer the one-dimensional hulks of old – hench, high-achieving hulks to be fair – the Springboks have set the trend and the tempo for the rest of the world in the two-year build to RWC 2027. What the rebel R360 circus would give to have the likes of Damian Willemse and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu on board. Borthwick has already moved to get on-message with what is happening. The signing of Lee Blackett as attack coach is the most significant selection he has made since he took over from Eddie Jones.

At a stroke England have a chance to be at the races. Blackett helped Bath achieve wondrous things last season. There is no point having him on the RFU payroll if he is not allowed to do likewise with England. The Blackett eye will be keenly focused on events in the PREM over the next month.

The signs are encouraging, notably with Ollie Lawrence’s return from injury. Blackett will need no persuading to push the claims of his former charge at Bath. Lawrence is a pivotal part of the England attacking set-up as he showed thrillingly in his first outing for Bath last weekend against Harlequins with 18 carries in a 66-minute appearance. Lawrence is back and firing which is good news for him, for his club and for England. His presence will help push the claims of Bath team-mate Henry Arundell, although it was also heartening to see Immanuel Feyi-Waboso back on a rugby field for Exeter.

There were other eye-catching performances with George Ford orchestrating things for Sale to great effect in their opening night, four-try victory over Gloucester. Here’s a thing. Isn’t it about time England came out and stated that Ford is front and centre of every conversation to be had about who should wear the no.10 shirt for England? The man has barely ever had a duff game for England, which is more than can be said about any other contender including Owen Farrell. Ford is the incumbent. If he plays with the same sharp-eyed dependability he showed on Thursday night for Sale, then he should start against Australia on 1 November.

There will be a mix n’ match feel to PREM matches as the Lions players ease their way back but the prospect of Henry Pollock further pressing his claims in Northampton Saints colours or the bevvy of front-row options, be it a Jamie Blamire at Leicester Tigers or Asher Opoku-Fordjour at the Sharks doing their thing, will ensure that the PREM is front and centre of rugby interest over the next four weeks.