Gallagher Premiership 2022-2023 Season

As bad as the turmoil in english rugby is for the club game in Europe the crumbling foundations of their domestic league will have a significant knock on to the national team for some time. They need to rip off the plaster and do so quickly for the sake of the national team, they need to change structures and take ownership of the game.

We are very successful here at this point in Irish rugby because our success is built on the solid foundations of a wide and well funded funnel where schools feed academies which feed the provinces and ultimately the national team, with most people reading from the one playbook, the money and pathways are well managed and players for the most part strike the right balance between play and rest. We have back to back successful underage campaigns that will bring through players.

The english teams are losing those structures and its already telling with the national team. The have had very little talent come through and now some of the talent is going abroad to get paid so the national teams control and time is curtailed significantly.

It might take a disastrous world cup to wake them up, but a characteristic of the english is an inability to accept humility.

I cant see how the RFU can play their way out of this on the pitch or off it and frankly im not upset by their bleak prospects. They are only a few seasons away from being what welsh rugby is currently, and the welsh might not have hit rock bottom yet either.

Professional rugby in England won't survive in it's present format. The owners are not like the soccer team owners, billionaires and can't absorb the losses financially. The product is not great and perhaps the RFU itself should be redrawn. Currently the blazers haven't a clue as to what to do.

I feel bad for the players, employees and the supporters, I'm chuffed for the pundits and their stiff upper 💋, toffee nosed fcukers. Particularly Jones! He's a meat missile.

Wales probably have a region too many. There's not enough quality to supply 4 sides.

It's bad for the game itself! Australia is not on firm ground either? I reckon the IRFU are the standard bearers for good management.

England have lost so much, now there's less academy prospects, less games and less punters and the sponsors want a rebate. They won't do nothing at the world cup, imo.

Maybe the answer is to merge some teams? Get the union to pony up on central contracts? It's a shame. Shambolic.

It probably has softened but its still unlikely when RFU dont have a stake in any of the clubs.

And who replaces them. you cant just put out throw everyone out. theyre **** or whatever and offer any alternatives. Business professionals like who. business professionals from what fields?

I don't know? But, something smells like scutter at the RFU Do you agree? Or is it worth continuing this insane road of incompetence.

Like I said 'interesting'

There's 2 areas that have to be addressed. The league needs to be a closed shop. Relegation is too financially destructive, for teams to be able to plan and build a sustainable budget.

Player wages have to be slashed. It's ****, because they deserve to maximize their earnings, given the brutal toll on their bodies. The French market has driven the unsustainable wage inflation. In some respects the HC has played into this, with teams blowing up the market to compete. It has to be curbed.

Put in stricter rules around finances though its hard to know exactly how things are now unless you deep dive into annual financial reports and who can do that.

The salary cap has to be reduced and monitoring of that has to be far stricter.

That's fair enough. Though the damage done already is a tough pill to swallow. Retaining top end players would be difficult. It's not easy to fix! I hope they do fix it for the good of the game.

A blended club structure needs to be looked at where private investors are involved but the RFU owns a minimum stake in each club, has a seat on the boards and generally has oversight over club operations. There has clearly been a lot of dealing going on under the table at clubs and with RFU either unaware or turning a blind eye.

Central contracts could be a way of allowing the RFU to buy into the clubs, i.e. instead of handing over money, they take over part of the clubs expenses. A level of fan ownership should be considered as a way of engaging the fanbase.