Very different mindsets are found in club and international rugby and readjusting is often hardThe hardest thing about going from a Six Nations campaign back to your club is mindset. When you are in camp with England, every member of the squad is trying to become a better player, to make incremental improvements every day. For a number of reasons that is not the case at a club and that can be really frustrating as a returning international.At any given Premiership club, at this stage of the season contract negotiations have been finalised. You have some players retiring, some still looking for clubs, some who are angry or disillusioned because they are not being retained and inevitably there are those...
Talk of circumventing the salary cap is nothing new and what top-flight rugby union needs is opennessThis is a timely week for the salary cap controversy to erupt because it brings back memories of what happened when England last played Italy at Twickenham. Italy exploited loopholes in the law book – to great uproar from, among others, Eddie Jones – and is finding ways around the salary cap, as Saracens are alleged to have done through business tie-ups, really that different? It is not illegal, but is it immoral? World Rugby amended the relevant law after Italy’s no-ruck tactic to end the argument on that point whereas all these grey areas around the salary cap remain.I was aware of clubs...
Tarting up the game with a rubbish makeover would be a disaster – only an NFL-style system that works for the many not the few would be acceptableIt did not take long. Barely has the lucrative deal with CVC Capital Partners to inject new capital into English club rugby union been signed before renewed efforts to move the goalposts have commenced. Fresh attempts are already being made to suspend relegation from the Premiership this season, the first step towards a very different ball game to the one that exists.Did anyone seriously imagine CVC would sit on its hands and idly wait for its investment to be repaid? It wants a healthy return and wants it asap. Bang on cue, Formula...
Cipriani’s bargaining position gets stronger, Vunipola shakes off the rust and the Dominator makes his England caseBristol’s head coach, Pat Lam, has asked Twickenham to scrutinise the law governing the lineout, arguing that Exeter are regularly awarded tries that should be penalties to their opponents. The Chiefs won the West Country derby with two tries that followed lineouts. Lam’s gripe with the first one was that the throw was not straight but his main complaint was with the second which turned into a driving maul. Lam wants the governing body to enforce the lineout regulation which states that players who do not participate in a lineout have to remain behind the offside line until play crosses the 15-metre line (from...
How long can Worcester allow Ben Te’o to twiddle his thumbs in the stand, could a rare defeat now galvanise Saracens and Sale would surely love Robert du Preez to stay onWorcester’s marquee player, Ben Te’o, got no closer to the pitch than the stand despite the importance of the match against rivals in the bottom half of the table. The England centre has played only 29 minutes in a Warriors’ jersey this season because of injury and the autumn internationals, and was given the previous two Challenge Cup weekends off. The club’s director of rugby, Alan Solomons, said that a lack of training time was the reason for Te’o’s omission and that he would be considered for selection at...