Ben Mercer’s thought-provoking new book offers an insight into the life of an itinerant rugby union player, a lifestyle likely to become a thing of the pastIf the penny is not already dropping for the majority of English rugby’s professional rugby players it soon will. When the sport does finally resume there will be tighter budgets, fewer alternative boltholes for those out of contract and, in the worst-case scenario, a rise in insolvent clubs. Aside from a lucky few, rugby’s age of austerity is about to kick off in earnest.The repercussions are starting to lap at the feet of Premiership players during the current lockdown and things will become significantly worse should the next Premiership TV deal involve less money...
The Saracens salary cap scandal has already deeply damaged the domestic league - but it now appears the worst is yet to come for the club, its players, and the game as a wholeWhat a mess. Not only for Saracens, currently neck-deep in a reputational slurry pit of their own making, but for everyone involved. And, talking to those at the heart of the onrushing scandal, there remains plenty more to come. Ordeur, ordeur! Saracens playing in the Championship next season is barely the half of it.Consider, for example, the collateral damage that has already been done to English league rugby. Now triple it. If Saracens really have been operating over the salary cap this season by as much as...
The scrum is going the way of the dodo and CVC is altering the food chain as the game continues to evolveWhen Wayne Pivac announced six weeks ago that Sam Warburton would be joining his Wales management team as breakdown coach, he broke the mould. On reflection, the question should be why it took so long. Scrum coaches have been around for years, even as the set piece has declined in significance: in the 2003 World Cup, the average prop could expect to be involved in 17 scrums, a number that in last year’s tournament shrivelled to fewer than six. Related: 'Time for a fresh start': Nigel Wray retires as Saracens chairman Related: Japan blossom and Baa-Baas take Brazil in...
The salary cap and CVC cash have turned the league on its head, putting an emphasis on who gets most out of playersWhen Bristol took on London Irish at Ashton Gate on Sunday, it was the first time the two clubs had met in the Premiership for 10 years. One or other had been in the Championship in that time, mainly the Bears, and the presence of the two most recently promoted clubs in the top half of the Premiership is an indication of how the salary cap is working.The top four clubs have all had stints in the Championship in the past 12 years while the bottom four have always been in the Premiership: Saracens are bottom because they...
Eight-match schedule signals end of the midweek dirt-tracker and the Premiership’s refusal to help is hugely depressingEvery four years the British & Irish Lions unveil a tantalising tour schedule and invite thousands of supporters to sign up for the trip of a lifetime, in this instance to South Africa in 2021. A three-Test series on Springbok soil remains one of sport’s truly great adventures but seldom has there been a stronger sense of the golden goose being potentially suffocated by the constraints of self-interest and the global calendar.Amid all the anticipation of a gripping three-Test series against the reigning world champions which could break all previous box office records, it is important to examine the small print. Not only have...