The Breakdown | Kidney and Boyd show coaches are worth weight in gold in Premiership

Dec 05, 2019

The salary cap and CVC cash have turned the league on its head, putting an emphasis on who gets most out of players

When 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 lost 35 points for breaching the league’s salary cap regulations, but Leicester, Wasps and Bath, former European Cup winners all, have mustered four victories in 15 matches in the tournament this season, although between them they supplied 12 players for England’s World Cup campaign.

Tags: Premiership Rugby union Sport