General Rugby Discussion 3

There's a view that the Government covid disrupted business payments have actually delayed some clubs going broke, but haven't seen figures to back it up.

Wasps in trouble now and administrators appointed

Yeah, it looks a pretty desperate situation.

A huge amount of English clubs seem to have enormous tax bills hanging over them, alongside a lot of more conventional debt.

Beyond the fact Wasps are in technical default over the 35m bond they entered into to buy their ground in Coventry, they also supposedly have to settle a two million pound tax bill within the next 20 days.

The climate to refi the bond gets more and more challenging as the days tick by; debt capital markets are largely shut at the moments and yields on even rated debt instruments have spiked north of 10%. It's hard to know definitely but would be difficult to imagine that Wasps could generate a business case to show how they could take on that level of debt and service it.

I do agree, but the "sugar daddies" in the English league are frequently guilty of chasing short term success, spending a lot of cash on player wages (especially expensive SH imports) and not really thinking in the long term interests of the club (with some obvious exceptions).

The IRFU do take a considerably more long term approach, and even by comparing the player recruitment piece, have much more stringent rules around imports.

Another issue that I do think has impacted a lot of the English clubs in the past 20 years is how flighty some of them have been. Mostly an issue with the London clubs who simply couldn't afford to stay in London, but the migration out to the broader Thames valley, coupled with the extensive external recruitment, has led to scenarios where some of these clubs have no real connection to the places where they play or the fans. This is also very distinct from the Irish teams, who are very rooted in the provinces and have a clear identity.

Wasps have shot themselves in the foot as well with the Coventry City FC rental agreement; because they're desperate for income they've flogged the stadium as an asset. They played 65 7s matches on it for the Commonwealth Games, resulting in the pitch being deemed unplayable by the EFL when Coventry needed it, and forcing Coventry to postpone one game, and move others. Rightly, Coventry are up in arms over this, and probably withholding some payments under the contract, further exacerbating Wasps' mess.

Reporting on Times radio that this is likely to be Worcester’s final game this weekend. Forensic accountants have landed into the club and the owners have not been heard from since a text to the RFU last weekend. They’ve permission to host tomorrows match but absent confirmation of funding by Monday evening the club will be wound up.

It’s tough for Worcester fans, but some consolidation, maybe followed by franchising, is probably the only hope for the game in England

Evan Roos is still an utter scrote. He's a really talented player, but has to realise he's playing in an era of the all seeing TMO, so when he keeps trying to shove his forearm over player's throats, he's going to get caught. I know South Africans love having the 'enforcer' type in their ranks, but there's a fine line between that and just thuggery.

It was very difficult to watch, knowing that I’d shouted him on through so many years.

Then I saw this morning the video of the Dolphins QB going into the fencing response after hitting the floor, hard but not overly so, a couple of weeks ago. Seeing that in real life made it all very real.

Jeremy Davidson sacked as Brive head coach after an underwhelming start to the season.