If the trend of player migration continues, the Top 14 clubs cannot help but dominate European rugby for the time being
It was supposed to be the weekend the English re-established some pre-eminence in European rugby. Six clubs in the quarter-finals of the two competitions, five of them at home, and four of those clear favourites to win their ties. Law of averages says the English would be good for, what, three semi-finalists? Four?
But, no, the purgatory in Europe continues. Five out of six bomb out, and if there was any debate about which is the strongest domestic league in Europe these days, it is surely settled. For now, at least, it is the French.
Nor does the pain stop with the English. They join the Scottish and Welsh in European ignominy, bereft and disenfranchised in this the week you-know-who passed away. Normally, in the wake of such a pounding, we might expect a public declaration or two from some of the English against the anti-competitive nature of the salary cap, but there has been not a whimper this time. The baroness must be spinning, and she hasn't even reached her grave yet.
Not that all has been quiet on the salary-cap front of late. Leon Barwell, the chairman of Northampton, railed a month ago about the unpunished abuse of the cap by two Premiership rivals he chose not to name (and then promptly announced Northampton's signing of George North for a wage no one in Wales could match, having already bagged Kahn Fotuali'i for something similar). And representatives from Leicester and Saracens, in particular, have long voiced their frustrations at the restriction the cap places on their trading rights. (There will be a minute's silence for Margaret Thatcher at Saracens this weekend, by the way.)
But this is where sport needs to deploy a spot of doublethink, and rugby union, in its still-emergent status as a professional concern, must do so meticulously. As ruthlessly Thatcherite as matters remain on the field, off it the unions must collaborate on an equal footing. Clubs, regions and provinces should stand and wait for each other. There's no use being the best if there's no one to play against.
It remains one of the more beautiful ironies that it is in the US, the land of the free market, that this model is most perfectly appreciated and realised in the shape of the draft system. But they benefit there from the introversion of their major sports. It is far harder, not to say impossible, to regulate so effectively the kind of global sports that are played everywhere else, hence the threat of heavy-hitters like the French and, increasingly, the Japanese.
All that can be done is to manage your own. Thankfully, most seem to appreciate the need for the salary cap. The benefits of enforced husbandry are clear, and even the shortcomings may not be rectified by a simple doffing of said cap.
In Wales the cry is for the union to become more involved in assisting the regions, either by taking their prime assets out of the restricted salary pool (the Union's vision) or by just lobbing them extra dosh (the regions' wish).
It's rugby's equivalent of quantitative easing, and it comes with its own dangers. More money will not necessarily lead to stronger squads, just greedier, more handsomely paid ones.
In Ireland, Union assistance has worked well, but now even they are starting to lose players to wealthier leagues overseas. How depressing to hear this week that Stephen Ferris might be leaving Ulster not for a payday in the mighty French league, but for one in Japan. In other words, never to be seen again. (Have you ever tried to look up a player's progress in the J-League? You need Japanese, for a start.)
A certain degree of patience is required. Let the French spend their way to apocalypse, if they want to. They've already lost a couple of clubs to mismanagement recently. It may be, though, that we have to write off the short term as "the French years". For, if the recent trend of migration continues, they cannot but help dominate across Europe.
The Amlin already seems to be in their pocket, having supplied four out of four semi-finalists last season and three this. And even if neither Clermont nor Toulon win the Heineken in May – and one of them surely will – they will come back next year stronger, more experienced and, in Toulon's case, with Bryan Habana, Rocky Elsom, Danie Rossouw et al added to their ranks.
More heartening news this week was Midi Olympique's revelation that the average salary of rugby players in the Top 14 will remain static next season for the first time, accompanied by claims that it will start to decline as economic realities bite. Hopefully that will involve a more sensible recruiting policy and not just a squeezing of the lower-profile French players. Either way, there will be a levelling out of spending power soon. Surely.
In the meantime, we must stand together, comrades, our caps pulled in tightly. When it comes to the administration of our sport, we should be communists all.
*Cooper in surprise omission*
Warren Gatland still has just under three weeks before announcing his Lions' squad to tour Australia. Robbie Deans, his opposite number, has already shown his hand after naming a 30-man camp for this weekend with the most eye-catching aspect being the name that was missing: Quade Cooper.
Cooper was left out of Deans' prospective squad for the three-Test home series in June, with seven weeks to go before the official 25-man Wallabies Test squad is named.
"It's no big issue really because we have a big season ahead of us," Cooper told Australian Associated Press. "People are going to look at players differently. It's not the first or the last time you're going to miss out on a side."
Cooper was fined A$60,000 (about £41,000) and banned for three games last October for bringing the game into disrepute by criticising Deans when he described the environment around the Walllabies as toxic.
The Queensland Reds No10 has denied, however, that his omission means there is an ongoing problem in his relationship with Deans. "It's like just any other player-coach relationship," Cooper added. "I've got to do what I can as a player and he has to do what he thinks best as the coach."
James O'Connor is the favourite to play fly-half for Australia against the Lions.
*Sevens above! What do you make of this new kit?*
Stade Français eat your heart out. England's sevens teams will wear two eye-watering kits at this summer's World Cup and the 2013-14 World Series.
There is some tough competition for it to be branded as the worst England kit ever – the various purple options down the years for the XV haven't been particularly palatable. But the new kits even tamper with the emblem itself.
The white 'home' kit features a pixellated image of the classic red rose emblem. The change shirt is based on the same triangulated image but it has been zoomed in to the power of 10.
The official announcement from the designer Canterbury said "the colours of the rose blend together to demonstrate the fluidity and speed involved in the game".
England will wear the controversial kits for the first time at the London Sevens at Twickenham on 11 and 12 May.
*Boost for women's game*
There was positive news this week for the future of the women's XV a side game in Europe when the Six Nations council confirmed on Wednesday it did not want to support a proposal to split the women's Six Nations into two tiers.
A proposal had been made by the women's Six Nations committee to split the tournament so that the Welsh and Scottish teams played in a lower tier with Italy, but the council decided to stick with the six-team status quo.
As Alison Donnelly explains in her blog scrumqueens.com, "directions made to the CEOs of both unions [Roger Lewis at the WRU and Mark Dobson at the SRU] from those involved in the women's game at grassroots level plus a raft of politicians as well as coverage in both Wales, Scotland and Ireland ... raised the red flag for the proposals while a strong Twitter campaign using #backthegirls also generated lots of support from international players and fans around the world."
*Still want more*
Sign up for the Breakdown here.
Jonny Wilkinson on why he's unlikely to be a Lion.
Wasps finally able to look to the future.
• Paul Rees is away
Michael Aylwin
guardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Reported by guardian.co.uk 8 hours ago.
It was supposed to be the weekend the English re-established some pre-eminence in European rugby. Six clubs in the quarter-finals of the two competitions, five of them at home, and four of those clear favourites to win their ties. Law of averages says the English would be good for, what, three semi-finalists? Four?
But, no, the purgatory in Europe continues. Five out of six bomb out, and if there was any debate about which is the strongest domestic league in Europe these days, it is surely settled. For now, at least, it is the French.
Nor does the pain stop with the English. They join the Scottish and Welsh in European ignominy, bereft and disenfranchised in this the week you-know-who passed away. Normally, in the wake of such a pounding, we might expect a public declaration or two from some of the English against the anti-competitive nature of the salary cap, but there has been not a whimper this time. The baroness must be spinning, and she hasn't even reached her grave yet.
Not that all has been quiet on the salary-cap front of late. Leon Barwell, the chairman of Northampton, railed a month ago about the unpunished abuse of the cap by two Premiership rivals he chose not to name (and then promptly announced Northampton's signing of George North for a wage no one in Wales could match, having already bagged Kahn Fotuali'i for something similar). And representatives from Leicester and Saracens, in particular, have long voiced their frustrations at the restriction the cap places on their trading rights. (There will be a minute's silence for Margaret Thatcher at Saracens this weekend, by the way.)
But this is where sport needs to deploy a spot of doublethink, and rugby union, in its still-emergent status as a professional concern, must do so meticulously. As ruthlessly Thatcherite as matters remain on the field, off it the unions must collaborate on an equal footing. Clubs, regions and provinces should stand and wait for each other. There's no use being the best if there's no one to play against.
It remains one of the more beautiful ironies that it is in the US, the land of the free market, that this model is most perfectly appreciated and realised in the shape of the draft system. But they benefit there from the introversion of their major sports. It is far harder, not to say impossible, to regulate so effectively the kind of global sports that are played everywhere else, hence the threat of heavy-hitters like the French and, increasingly, the Japanese.
All that can be done is to manage your own. Thankfully, most seem to appreciate the need for the salary cap. The benefits of enforced husbandry are clear, and even the shortcomings may not be rectified by a simple doffing of said cap.
In Wales the cry is for the union to become more involved in assisting the regions, either by taking their prime assets out of the restricted salary pool (the Union's vision) or by just lobbing them extra dosh (the regions' wish).
It's rugby's equivalent of quantitative easing, and it comes with its own dangers. More money will not necessarily lead to stronger squads, just greedier, more handsomely paid ones.
In Ireland, Union assistance has worked well, but now even they are starting to lose players to wealthier leagues overseas. How depressing to hear this week that Stephen Ferris might be leaving Ulster not for a payday in the mighty French league, but for one in Japan. In other words, never to be seen again. (Have you ever tried to look up a player's progress in the J-League? You need Japanese, for a start.)
A certain degree of patience is required. Let the French spend their way to apocalypse, if they want to. They've already lost a couple of clubs to mismanagement recently. It may be, though, that we have to write off the short term as "the French years". For, if the recent trend of migration continues, they cannot but help dominate across Europe.
The Amlin already seems to be in their pocket, having supplied four out of four semi-finalists last season and three this. And even if neither Clermont nor Toulon win the Heineken in May – and one of them surely will – they will come back next year stronger, more experienced and, in Toulon's case, with Bryan Habana, Rocky Elsom, Danie Rossouw et al added to their ranks.
More heartening news this week was Midi Olympique's revelation that the average salary of rugby players in the Top 14 will remain static next season for the first time, accompanied by claims that it will start to decline as economic realities bite. Hopefully that will involve a more sensible recruiting policy and not just a squeezing of the lower-profile French players. Either way, there will be a levelling out of spending power soon. Surely.
In the meantime, we must stand together, comrades, our caps pulled in tightly. When it comes to the administration of our sport, we should be communists all.
*Cooper in surprise omission*
Warren Gatland still has just under three weeks before announcing his Lions' squad to tour Australia. Robbie Deans, his opposite number, has already shown his hand after naming a 30-man camp for this weekend with the most eye-catching aspect being the name that was missing: Quade Cooper.
Cooper was left out of Deans' prospective squad for the three-Test home series in June, with seven weeks to go before the official 25-man Wallabies Test squad is named.
"It's no big issue really because we have a big season ahead of us," Cooper told Australian Associated Press. "People are going to look at players differently. It's not the first or the last time you're going to miss out on a side."
Cooper was fined A$60,000 (about £41,000) and banned for three games last October for bringing the game into disrepute by criticising Deans when he described the environment around the Walllabies as toxic.
The Queensland Reds No10 has denied, however, that his omission means there is an ongoing problem in his relationship with Deans. "It's like just any other player-coach relationship," Cooper added. "I've got to do what I can as a player and he has to do what he thinks best as the coach."
James O'Connor is the favourite to play fly-half for Australia against the Lions.
*Sevens above! What do you make of this new kit?*
Stade Français eat your heart out. England's sevens teams will wear two eye-watering kits at this summer's World Cup and the 2013-14 World Series.
There is some tough competition for it to be branded as the worst England kit ever – the various purple options down the years for the XV haven't been particularly palatable. But the new kits even tamper with the emblem itself.
The white 'home' kit features a pixellated image of the classic red rose emblem. The change shirt is based on the same triangulated image but it has been zoomed in to the power of 10.
The official announcement from the designer Canterbury said "the colours of the rose blend together to demonstrate the fluidity and speed involved in the game".
England will wear the controversial kits for the first time at the London Sevens at Twickenham on 11 and 12 May.
*Boost for women's game*
There was positive news this week for the future of the women's XV a side game in Europe when the Six Nations council confirmed on Wednesday it did not want to support a proposal to split the women's Six Nations into two tiers.
A proposal had been made by the women's Six Nations committee to split the tournament so that the Welsh and Scottish teams played in a lower tier with Italy, but the council decided to stick with the six-team status quo.
As Alison Donnelly explains in her blog scrumqueens.com, "directions made to the CEOs of both unions [Roger Lewis at the WRU and Mark Dobson at the SRU] from those involved in the women's game at grassroots level plus a raft of politicians as well as coverage in both Wales, Scotland and Ireland ... raised the red flag for the proposals while a strong Twitter campaign using #backthegirls also generated lots of support from international players and fans around the world."
*Still want more*
Sign up for the Breakdown here.
Jonny Wilkinson on why he's unlikely to be a Lion.
Wasps finally able to look to the future.
• Paul Rees is away
Michael Aylwin
guardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Reported by guardian.co.uk 8 hours ago.