After 23 weeks in limbo, rugby is emerging blinking into the summer sunlight and the next two months of the Premiership are crucial to the sport’s future
People used to argue that class is permanent and form only temporary. Not in these unprecedented stop-go days of English rugby. As the Premiership season re-emerges blinking into the bright summer sunlight, woe betide any ambitious clubs who respond slowly to this weekend’s starting pistol after 23 weeks in limbo.
Because the traditional domestic marathon is suddenly a gut-busting sprint, complete with unfamiliar midweek games, as the league looks to make up for lost time and, more pertinently, precious television income. Nine rounds, plus the play-offs, with everything settled by late October. An element of speed dating is set to replace steady courtship, which will suit some more than others.
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