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31
Wasps Rugby Discussion / An Interesting watch if you have so spare time
« on: January 17, 2024, 05:38:21 PM »32
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Wow
« on: January 16, 2024, 12:49:56 PM »
Wales' Rees-Zammit to leave rugby for NFL move - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/67995451
33
Wasps Rugby Discussion / They saved the Premiership: Behind CVCs five years in rugby - Parts 1 & 2
« on: January 15, 2024, 05:10:58 PM »
?They saved the Premiership?: Behind CVC?s five years in rugby
Special report, part one: Private equity firm reveals, for the first time, why it got involved in rugby and what it has done so far
Daniel Schofield, Deputy Rugby Union Correspondent 15 January 2024 ? 2:12pm
With stakes in Premiership Rugby, the United Rugby Championship and the Six Nations, CVC Capital Partners is one of the biggest, yet least known, power brokers in rugby.
Last month marked five years since the private equity firm announced it had taken a 27 per cent holding in Premiership Rugby for around ?200 million. Since that time, they have kept public communications to an absolute minimum, allowing themselves to become a blank canvas on to which hopes and fears are projected. Until now.
In his first interview about its rugby investments, Nick Clarry, CVC?s head of sport, media and entertainment, explains its rationale for getting involved in rugby and its vision for taking the sport forward. Telegraph Sport has also spoken to several leading executives, including both sceptics and supporters, about CVC?s impact on the sport and what comes next. In the first of a two-part special report, Telegraph Sport reveals:
Why CVC was attracted by rugby?s values as well as seeing opportunity in its fragmentation across different leagues and bodies
Premiership Rugby chair Martyn Phillips admits ?I am not sure we would still be here? without CVC?s investment
How it navigated the challenges of the last five years with Saracens? relegation, the Covid pandemic and three clubs going to wall
Former RFU chief executive Francis Baron?s warning that it sold the family silver to CVC by giving up commercial rights to the Six Nations
CVC spots opportunity in ?underappreciated? rugby
After CVC agreed to sell its controlling interest in Formula One to Liberty Media in 2016, it was on the lookout for a new project in sport. Clarry quickly alighted upon rugby union. ?We think rugby is one of the great sports in terms of teamwork and values,? Clarry said. ?It is an incredible spectacle on the field in terms of physicality ? but also tactics as Rassie [Erasmus] showed us in the last World Cup. What I also love about rugby is the anticipation of an event in the game, that feeling that builds and builds. We think rugby is one of the great games of sport and really underappreciated and undervalued.?
The product, in CVC?s view, was being let down by a combination of poor management and too little commercial focus. It was also incredibly divided. In Formula One, the sport is run by one company and one CEO. In northern hemisphere rugby alone, there are a conflation of organisations from Premiership Rugby, the United Rugby Championship, Ligue Nationale de Rugby, European Professional Rugby, Six Nations, World Rugby, Lions, Barbarians plus the individual unions. Much of their energy has historically been spent on fighting each other or protecting their own fiefdoms.
That fragmentation has meant that rugby as a sport has acted as far less than the sum of its parts from its public profile to its leverage in negotiations with broadcasters. What it needed was for someone to pull everyone in the same direction. Hence, the purchase of the stake in Premiership Rugby was only the first step in CVC?s strategy. A similar holding was taken in the United Rugby Championship in 2020 and most significantly CVC acquired a one-seventh share in the Six Nations for an estimated ?365 million in 2021.
CVC?s entry into rugby was not without controversy. In F1, Bob Fernley, the deputy team principal of Force India, accused CVC of ?raping the sport? and plenty were suspicious of its intentions within rugby. ?CVC are a very, very successful, very large and very hard-nosed financial organisation,? Baron, the former RFU chief executive, said. ?They don?t invest in anything because they love a sport, they invest because they want to deliver an above average return for their shareholders and funders. You have to have that in the back of your mind the whole time.?
According to Baron?s analysis, the RFU will receive five instalments of ?19 million for its share of the Six Nations sale while its last set of financial accounts showed it lost ?16 million in annual television and sponsorship revenues. The RFU, in Baron?s view, effectively sold the family silver.
?All the bottom line exposure remains with the RFU and clubs?
?Initially CVC are worse off, but they brought those rights in perpetuity so by year six or seven they are heavily in the black and then they have the right to sell on those rights to another third party to make a big capital gain,? Baron said. ?CVC are taking no risk on the cost side. They are buying into revenue streams and all the bottom line exposure remains with the RFU and the Premiership clubs.?
The RFU strongly disputes this analysis and says that the CVC investment will be put into a strategic growth fund ?to generate income and deliver future revenues for the game?. Still, the negative perception of private equity can be hard to shift. Even Phillips, a former CEO at the Welsh Rugby Union and B&Q, held that view before undergoing somewhat of a Damascene conversion
?When I was in corporate land, I thought private equity was the devil incarnate, asset strippers,? Phillips said. ?I worked 30 years in corporate and I just wish I had found private equity sooner. The reason I say that is if they decide to do something they resource it properly. Whereas in business, if it costs ?1 you will say: ?What do I get for 50p?? These guys say if we are going to do it, let?s resource it properly so we have the best chance to succeed. I like that mentality.
?The only way they can succeed is to grow. What I think people miss is that if we grow they get 27 per cent of the growth and the clubs get 73 per cent. We could not be more aligned because if we are not growing then we are all in trouble.?
?Rugby is relatively small globally?
Phillips also points out the ?asset-stripping? stereotype does not apply because in Premiership Rugby?s case ?there are no assets to strip?. The attraction of partnering with CVC was not just for their funds but their contacts ranging across multiple industries within its multi-billion pound empire.
?Whether we like it or not, rugby is relatively small,? Phillips said. ?For a little sport like rugby to compete globally in a market that is very challenging is a big ask. Therefore I would much rather be trying to compete in it with someone like CVC also in the tent with us. They are looking at what some of the best sporting properties in the world are doing and they are sat in those boardrooms. We get access to some of that thinking and future direction which is incredibly useful.?
As an example of their reach, six months ago CVC asked Phillips to become vice chair of World Volleyball, who are market leaders in OTT (over-the-top) broadcasting. ?I get to sit on the board and bring those learnings back to Premiership Rugby for free,? Phillips said.
If playing catch-up to volleyball makes rugby sound small scale then that is precisely the attraction to CVC. ?You don?t invest in something that?s already really good because there?s little headroom,? Phillips said. ?You have to invest in something that has the potential to be a whole lot better. Investors want to buy assets that are undervalued, not overvalued. They want to buy something that is either at the bottom or on the way up, we call it catching the wave. We are still attractive because we have potential.?
If the appeal of CVC?s funds to the financially stricken Premiership Rugby and the URC seems obvious then the Six Nations was already well established as rugby?s single most reliable cash dispenser. Why then did it accept CVC?s offer? The money is undeniably attractive but a senior Six Nations executive says that collaboration was just as important as cash.
?At a time when the future looks quite uncertain and remains uncertain in how major sport is funded going forward it makes sense to have a relationship with responsible private equity to take advantage of all the opportunities that brings forward, not least the cash injection, but it is about much more,? the source said. ?It?s the ability to think differently about your future.
?We want to build a sense of togetherness in terms of what we are trying to achieve, which is a growth profile for the game. The output to that will be unlocking the true value of what we have, which we have not been doing for the last few years. We just have not been doing it. It is undeniable to suggest that we have. We have been operating as individual silos too often in rugby, which has led to massive difficulties where the rights market is soft and the economy is going through difficult years. We have to work together.?
CVC?s remit, across all three leagues, was focused purely on the commercial, according to Clarry: ?We had a clear plan which was around pulling the commercial side of the sport out from the sporting side - leaving the clubs, the unions and World Rugby in charge of the sport, with no influence from us; and then really focusing on and doubling down on an ambitious commercial vision for the game, with world-class management, and the day to day grind of commercial execution.?
Unforeseen circumstances hinder plans
However after CVC?s stake in the Premiership was formalised in March 2019, initial plans soon went awry. Little more than eight months later, the investigation into Saracens? manipulation of the salary cap was published and a few weeks after that the first cases of Covid were reported. Premiership Rugby, in particular, has been in a state of perma-crisis ever since with three clubs in Worcester Warriors, Wasps and London Irish falling out of the league.
There were missteps along the way. CVC?s initial management team of CEO Darren Childs and chair Andy Higginson were not suited to the firefighting and infighting common within the Premiership. With Childs? background in television, many clubs were expecting a broadcasting bonanza, however the last rights package with BT Sport, now TNT, renewed at the same value.
More problematic was how few strings were attached to how the Premiership clubs spent their windfall. This directly influenced CVC?s subsequent moves into La Liga and Ligue 1 in Spain and France, according to Francois Godard, a media analyst at Enders Media.
?The mistake they made was not to control their spending,? Godard said. ?They invested in these leagues but they did not have any commitments in contract terms on what the clubs could do with the liquidity. As a result, the clubs spend a lot on players as opposed to investing in their stadium, branding, infrastructure, digital services. As a result, the football clubs in France and Spain are committed to spending around 70 per cent of their liquidity on infrastructure.?
Some of those missteps have been rectified. The new management team of Phillips, CEO Simon Massie-Taylor and Nigel Melville, who acts as the interface between the clubs and league, are respected inside and outside the Premiership. While the broadcast income has been flat, they have massively expanded the reach of the league through free-to-air television deals with ITV as well as setting up a Premiership on-demand service. The Premiership attracted record numbers on both TNT and ITV last year while sponsorship has also increased.
As Phillips argues, Covid wiped out at least two years of progress and for Clarry this is the first stretch of calm for the Premiership after nearly five years of stormy waters. ?It has been harder work than we expected because of the financial difficulties of Covid, the situation with Worcester and Wasps, and also the fragmented nature of the game,? Clarry said. ?But the Premiership Rugby sponsorship business is up, the data business is up, and the media business is now on the way up, since our investment five years ago. We have also gone from a fraction of the games being on air to all of the games being shown across TNT Sports, ITV and Premiership Rugby TV ? which is a huge win for the fans. Sports are momentum businesses, and rugby has now turned the corner, with the prospect of much better results for everyone in the game.
This brings us to the question of whether either CVC or Premiership Rugby regrets their pact. Clarry?s answer is emphatically no. Phillips concurs: ?What I look at it is if we had our time over again would we do the same thing again? My answer would be yes, definitely. I think CVC have probably found that quite challenging but I just think rugby is really, really difficult to get change done? Exeter chairman Tony Rowe is among a handful of voices who have always opposed CVC?s involvement, questioning whether they have delivered upon their promises.
Yet Phillips, who was still with the WRU when Covid struck, believes there might not be a Premiership now without CVC?s investment. ?If you look at what is in the public domain, if that ?200 million was not in the Premiership economy when Covid came along, I don?t think we would have a club-by-club problem, I am not sure we would still be here,? Phillips said. ?If you look at how tough it is right now, even having that level of injection, then either it would not be here or it would have been seriously, seriously wounded.?
Special report, part one: Private equity firm reveals, for the first time, why it got involved in rugby and what it has done so far
Daniel Schofield, Deputy Rugby Union Correspondent 15 January 2024 ? 2:12pm
With stakes in Premiership Rugby, the United Rugby Championship and the Six Nations, CVC Capital Partners is one of the biggest, yet least known, power brokers in rugby.
Last month marked five years since the private equity firm announced it had taken a 27 per cent holding in Premiership Rugby for around ?200 million. Since that time, they have kept public communications to an absolute minimum, allowing themselves to become a blank canvas on to which hopes and fears are projected. Until now.
In his first interview about its rugby investments, Nick Clarry, CVC?s head of sport, media and entertainment, explains its rationale for getting involved in rugby and its vision for taking the sport forward. Telegraph Sport has also spoken to several leading executives, including both sceptics and supporters, about CVC?s impact on the sport and what comes next. In the first of a two-part special report, Telegraph Sport reveals:
Why CVC was attracted by rugby?s values as well as seeing opportunity in its fragmentation across different leagues and bodies
Premiership Rugby chair Martyn Phillips admits ?I am not sure we would still be here? without CVC?s investment
How it navigated the challenges of the last five years with Saracens? relegation, the Covid pandemic and three clubs going to wall
Former RFU chief executive Francis Baron?s warning that it sold the family silver to CVC by giving up commercial rights to the Six Nations
CVC spots opportunity in ?underappreciated? rugby
After CVC agreed to sell its controlling interest in Formula One to Liberty Media in 2016, it was on the lookout for a new project in sport. Clarry quickly alighted upon rugby union. ?We think rugby is one of the great sports in terms of teamwork and values,? Clarry said. ?It is an incredible spectacle on the field in terms of physicality ? but also tactics as Rassie [Erasmus] showed us in the last World Cup. What I also love about rugby is the anticipation of an event in the game, that feeling that builds and builds. We think rugby is one of the great games of sport and really underappreciated and undervalued.?
The product, in CVC?s view, was being let down by a combination of poor management and too little commercial focus. It was also incredibly divided. In Formula One, the sport is run by one company and one CEO. In northern hemisphere rugby alone, there are a conflation of organisations from Premiership Rugby, the United Rugby Championship, Ligue Nationale de Rugby, European Professional Rugby, Six Nations, World Rugby, Lions, Barbarians plus the individual unions. Much of their energy has historically been spent on fighting each other or protecting their own fiefdoms.
That fragmentation has meant that rugby as a sport has acted as far less than the sum of its parts from its public profile to its leverage in negotiations with broadcasters. What it needed was for someone to pull everyone in the same direction. Hence, the purchase of the stake in Premiership Rugby was only the first step in CVC?s strategy. A similar holding was taken in the United Rugby Championship in 2020 and most significantly CVC acquired a one-seventh share in the Six Nations for an estimated ?365 million in 2021.
CVC?s entry into rugby was not without controversy. In F1, Bob Fernley, the deputy team principal of Force India, accused CVC of ?raping the sport? and plenty were suspicious of its intentions within rugby. ?CVC are a very, very successful, very large and very hard-nosed financial organisation,? Baron, the former RFU chief executive, said. ?They don?t invest in anything because they love a sport, they invest because they want to deliver an above average return for their shareholders and funders. You have to have that in the back of your mind the whole time.?
According to Baron?s analysis, the RFU will receive five instalments of ?19 million for its share of the Six Nations sale while its last set of financial accounts showed it lost ?16 million in annual television and sponsorship revenues. The RFU, in Baron?s view, effectively sold the family silver.
?All the bottom line exposure remains with the RFU and clubs?
?Initially CVC are worse off, but they brought those rights in perpetuity so by year six or seven they are heavily in the black and then they have the right to sell on those rights to another third party to make a big capital gain,? Baron said. ?CVC are taking no risk on the cost side. They are buying into revenue streams and all the bottom line exposure remains with the RFU and the Premiership clubs.?
The RFU strongly disputes this analysis and says that the CVC investment will be put into a strategic growth fund ?to generate income and deliver future revenues for the game?. Still, the negative perception of private equity can be hard to shift. Even Phillips, a former CEO at the Welsh Rugby Union and B&Q, held that view before undergoing somewhat of a Damascene conversion
?When I was in corporate land, I thought private equity was the devil incarnate, asset strippers,? Phillips said. ?I worked 30 years in corporate and I just wish I had found private equity sooner. The reason I say that is if they decide to do something they resource it properly. Whereas in business, if it costs ?1 you will say: ?What do I get for 50p?? These guys say if we are going to do it, let?s resource it properly so we have the best chance to succeed. I like that mentality.
?The only way they can succeed is to grow. What I think people miss is that if we grow they get 27 per cent of the growth and the clubs get 73 per cent. We could not be more aligned because if we are not growing then we are all in trouble.?
?Rugby is relatively small globally?
Phillips also points out the ?asset-stripping? stereotype does not apply because in Premiership Rugby?s case ?there are no assets to strip?. The attraction of partnering with CVC was not just for their funds but their contacts ranging across multiple industries within its multi-billion pound empire.
?Whether we like it or not, rugby is relatively small,? Phillips said. ?For a little sport like rugby to compete globally in a market that is very challenging is a big ask. Therefore I would much rather be trying to compete in it with someone like CVC also in the tent with us. They are looking at what some of the best sporting properties in the world are doing and they are sat in those boardrooms. We get access to some of that thinking and future direction which is incredibly useful.?
As an example of their reach, six months ago CVC asked Phillips to become vice chair of World Volleyball, who are market leaders in OTT (over-the-top) broadcasting. ?I get to sit on the board and bring those learnings back to Premiership Rugby for free,? Phillips said.
If playing catch-up to volleyball makes rugby sound small scale then that is precisely the attraction to CVC. ?You don?t invest in something that?s already really good because there?s little headroom,? Phillips said. ?You have to invest in something that has the potential to be a whole lot better. Investors want to buy assets that are undervalued, not overvalued. They want to buy something that is either at the bottom or on the way up, we call it catching the wave. We are still attractive because we have potential.?
If the appeal of CVC?s funds to the financially stricken Premiership Rugby and the URC seems obvious then the Six Nations was already well established as rugby?s single most reliable cash dispenser. Why then did it accept CVC?s offer? The money is undeniably attractive but a senior Six Nations executive says that collaboration was just as important as cash.
?At a time when the future looks quite uncertain and remains uncertain in how major sport is funded going forward it makes sense to have a relationship with responsible private equity to take advantage of all the opportunities that brings forward, not least the cash injection, but it is about much more,? the source said. ?It?s the ability to think differently about your future.
?We want to build a sense of togetherness in terms of what we are trying to achieve, which is a growth profile for the game. The output to that will be unlocking the true value of what we have, which we have not been doing for the last few years. We just have not been doing it. It is undeniable to suggest that we have. We have been operating as individual silos too often in rugby, which has led to massive difficulties where the rights market is soft and the economy is going through difficult years. We have to work together.?
CVC?s remit, across all three leagues, was focused purely on the commercial, according to Clarry: ?We had a clear plan which was around pulling the commercial side of the sport out from the sporting side - leaving the clubs, the unions and World Rugby in charge of the sport, with no influence from us; and then really focusing on and doubling down on an ambitious commercial vision for the game, with world-class management, and the day to day grind of commercial execution.?
Unforeseen circumstances hinder plans
However after CVC?s stake in the Premiership was formalised in March 2019, initial plans soon went awry. Little more than eight months later, the investigation into Saracens? manipulation of the salary cap was published and a few weeks after that the first cases of Covid were reported. Premiership Rugby, in particular, has been in a state of perma-crisis ever since with three clubs in Worcester Warriors, Wasps and London Irish falling out of the league.
There were missteps along the way. CVC?s initial management team of CEO Darren Childs and chair Andy Higginson were not suited to the firefighting and infighting common within the Premiership. With Childs? background in television, many clubs were expecting a broadcasting bonanza, however the last rights package with BT Sport, now TNT, renewed at the same value.
More problematic was how few strings were attached to how the Premiership clubs spent their windfall. This directly influenced CVC?s subsequent moves into La Liga and Ligue 1 in Spain and France, according to Francois Godard, a media analyst at Enders Media.
?The mistake they made was not to control their spending,? Godard said. ?They invested in these leagues but they did not have any commitments in contract terms on what the clubs could do with the liquidity. As a result, the clubs spend a lot on players as opposed to investing in their stadium, branding, infrastructure, digital services. As a result, the football clubs in France and Spain are committed to spending around 70 per cent of their liquidity on infrastructure.?
Some of those missteps have been rectified. The new management team of Phillips, CEO Simon Massie-Taylor and Nigel Melville, who acts as the interface between the clubs and league, are respected inside and outside the Premiership. While the broadcast income has been flat, they have massively expanded the reach of the league through free-to-air television deals with ITV as well as setting up a Premiership on-demand service. The Premiership attracted record numbers on both TNT and ITV last year while sponsorship has also increased.
As Phillips argues, Covid wiped out at least two years of progress and for Clarry this is the first stretch of calm for the Premiership after nearly five years of stormy waters. ?It has been harder work than we expected because of the financial difficulties of Covid, the situation with Worcester and Wasps, and also the fragmented nature of the game,? Clarry said. ?But the Premiership Rugby sponsorship business is up, the data business is up, and the media business is now on the way up, since our investment five years ago. We have also gone from a fraction of the games being on air to all of the games being shown across TNT Sports, ITV and Premiership Rugby TV ? which is a huge win for the fans. Sports are momentum businesses, and rugby has now turned the corner, with the prospect of much better results for everyone in the game.
This brings us to the question of whether either CVC or Premiership Rugby regrets their pact. Clarry?s answer is emphatically no. Phillips concurs: ?What I look at it is if we had our time over again would we do the same thing again? My answer would be yes, definitely. I think CVC have probably found that quite challenging but I just think rugby is really, really difficult to get change done? Exeter chairman Tony Rowe is among a handful of voices who have always opposed CVC?s involvement, questioning whether they have delivered upon their promises.
Yet Phillips, who was still with the WRU when Covid struck, believes there might not be a Premiership now without CVC?s investment. ?If you look at what is in the public domain, if that ?200 million was not in the Premiership economy when Covid came along, I don?t think we would have a club-by-club problem, I am not sure we would still be here,? Phillips said. ?If you look at how tough it is right now, even having that level of injection, then either it would not be here or it would have been seriously, seriously wounded.?
34
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Wasps submit proposals - Apparently
« on: January 15, 2024, 03:09:37 PM »35
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Bill Sweeney Speaks = Anyone Listening?
« on: January 15, 2024, 02:21:07 PM »
RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney asks Championship clubs to help 'find resolution'
Last updated on
6 hours ago6 hours ago.From the section English Rugby
Bill Sweeney, chief executive of the Rugby Football Union
BBC Radio Cornwall spoke to Bill Sweeney at Saturday's Championship game between Cambridge and Cornish Pirates
Championship clubs must "come together" with the Rugby Football Union to "find a resolution" over its future, says RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney.
Clubs have said the RFU "threatened them with effective relegation" over objections to a new second tier.
In November all 11 clubs rejected the RFU's planned 'Premiership 2' model.
"I'm not sure it's a total blanket of opposition. Across most of the initiatives we're actually really close," Sweeney said.
He told BBC Radio Cornwall: "With misinformation and maybe slight misunderstanding out there, what we have got to do is come together over the next few weeks and see where the differences are and find a resolution which is in the interests of all of us."
Coventry chief executive Nick Johnston last week responded to the proposals by claiming the RFU is "playing God with people's wellbeing".
Sweeney refuted the suggestion the RFU wants a franchise system, adding: "We have never called it that - that's like the NFL or McDonald's... the clubs would have to pay us for the privilege of operating in the game.
"It's more, what standards do you want to have in the second tier that we can turn into a really investible model?"
Second-tier sides have been in talks with the RFU over the future of the club game since the demise of Wasps, Worcester, London Irish and Jersey Reds.
Sweeney claimed all parties want a better "geographical spread" of teams, with more clubs in the north of England, but also questioned "why wouldn't you want" to have the likes of Wasps, Worcester and London Irish back in the fold - something which Championship clubs oppose, saying they should play their way back through the pyramid.
"They are great rugby brand names, it's a terrible situation with them going bust post Covid," Sweeney told BBC Radio Cornwall.
"If they were to come back with strong business models, good financial investment in a good geographical location - why wouldn't you want to have them in the second tier?
"If that enables you to get more sponsorship excitement, possibly get a broadcast deal, it brings value.
"It's not a mechanism to try and get those three clubs back in, but if it means a more sustainable and better second tier then why not?"
'There would be increased funding'
Sweeney also said "Kent is a good catchment area", amid Wasps' plans to try to re-establish themselves there, adding: "We want a solution that works for everybody."
He also targeted a narrowing of the competitive gulf between the Premiership and Championship, confirming that promotion and relegation would not be ringfenced: "We'd like to see more Exeters happen. We haven't seen many clubs come through the Championship into the Premiership and stay there.
"We'd like to see clubs at the top of the Championship compete with those at bottom of the Premiership. You want that rotation."
He said he understands how Championship fans and club owners might still feel the RFU "doesn't care about them" after funding was slashed in the wake of Covid, but added: "We want and need a really strong and sustainable second tier to have a more competitive England national team. What we're doing is to improve upon the existing system."
The gap will not be narrowed simply by an injection of RFU cash, however.
"We've told them the level of funding for the next two seasons. There would be increased funding," he said.
"We want to see a strong second tier, [but] there is a limit to how much we can put in - we're trying to find a way to get external investment, potentially get a broadcast deal and hopefully get a more self-sustaining second tier."
Last updated on
6 hours ago6 hours ago.From the section English Rugby
Bill Sweeney, chief executive of the Rugby Football Union
BBC Radio Cornwall spoke to Bill Sweeney at Saturday's Championship game between Cambridge and Cornish Pirates
Championship clubs must "come together" with the Rugby Football Union to "find a resolution" over its future, says RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney.
Clubs have said the RFU "threatened them with effective relegation" over objections to a new second tier.
In November all 11 clubs rejected the RFU's planned 'Premiership 2' model.
"I'm not sure it's a total blanket of opposition. Across most of the initiatives we're actually really close," Sweeney said.
He told BBC Radio Cornwall: "With misinformation and maybe slight misunderstanding out there, what we have got to do is come together over the next few weeks and see where the differences are and find a resolution which is in the interests of all of us."
Coventry chief executive Nick Johnston last week responded to the proposals by claiming the RFU is "playing God with people's wellbeing".
Sweeney refuted the suggestion the RFU wants a franchise system, adding: "We have never called it that - that's like the NFL or McDonald's... the clubs would have to pay us for the privilege of operating in the game.
"It's more, what standards do you want to have in the second tier that we can turn into a really investible model?"
Second-tier sides have been in talks with the RFU over the future of the club game since the demise of Wasps, Worcester, London Irish and Jersey Reds.
Sweeney claimed all parties want a better "geographical spread" of teams, with more clubs in the north of England, but also questioned "why wouldn't you want" to have the likes of Wasps, Worcester and London Irish back in the fold - something which Championship clubs oppose, saying they should play their way back through the pyramid.
"They are great rugby brand names, it's a terrible situation with them going bust post Covid," Sweeney told BBC Radio Cornwall.
"If they were to come back with strong business models, good financial investment in a good geographical location - why wouldn't you want to have them in the second tier?
"If that enables you to get more sponsorship excitement, possibly get a broadcast deal, it brings value.
"It's not a mechanism to try and get those three clubs back in, but if it means a more sustainable and better second tier then why not?"
'There would be increased funding'
Sweeney also said "Kent is a good catchment area", amid Wasps' plans to try to re-establish themselves there, adding: "We want a solution that works for everybody."
He also targeted a narrowing of the competitive gulf between the Premiership and Championship, confirming that promotion and relegation would not be ringfenced: "We'd like to see more Exeters happen. We haven't seen many clubs come through the Championship into the Premiership and stay there.
"We'd like to see clubs at the top of the Championship compete with those at bottom of the Premiership. You want that rotation."
He said he understands how Championship fans and club owners might still feel the RFU "doesn't care about them" after funding was slashed in the wake of Covid, but added: "We want and need a really strong and sustainable second tier to have a more competitive England national team. What we're doing is to improve upon the existing system."
The gap will not be narrowed simply by an injection of RFU cash, however.
"We've told them the level of funding for the next two seasons. There would be increased funding," he said.
"We want to see a strong second tier, [but] there is a limit to how much we can put in - we're trying to find a way to get external investment, potentially get a broadcast deal and hopefully get a more self-sustaining second tier."
37
Wasps Rugby Discussion / England players drop RPA and turn to new agency to negotiate contracts and deals
« on: January 04, 2024, 09:12:48 AM »England players drop RPA and turn to new agency to negotiate contracts and deals
It is understood that players had grown tired of representation they had received from their trade union
Charles Richardson, Rugby Reporter and Gavin Mairs, Chief Rugby Union Correspondent 3 January 2024 ? 10:36pm
The England men?s team have axed the Rugby Players? Association as negotiators of contracts and commercial deals with the Rugby Football Union, ending a 20-year relationship between the two.
Telegraph Sport understands that a new agency headed up by Gaia Bursell, who led the partnership between the England men?s team and the RPA for five years until March 2023, will take charge of the international players? commercial interests from the end of this season. Both Bursell and the RPA presented to the players late last year, with the team choosing to terminate their long-standing partnership and bring Bursell on board.
It is understood that the England players had grown tired of the representation they had received from the RPA which is, in essence, their trade union. The players will maintain their RPA memberships, however, and will continue to be represented by the organisation while on club duty and for matters outside of the international game.
?The RPA are disappointed to announce that Team England LLP have chosen to end the RPA?s status as exclusive commercial representatives at the end of the current EPS agreement in June 2024,? the organisation said in a statement.
?The RPA have proudly represented the England Men?s squad since 2004, consistently positioning them as the best rewarded in global rugby union.
?We will continue to support, promote, and protect all elite players in the English game via RPA representation, including those selected to play for the England Men?s side. A current EPS men?s representative has placed on record that the squad give the RPA their full backing in supporting players across the English game.?
The RPA has negotiated on behalf of ?Team England LLP? since 2004, organising Elite Player Squad contracts which encompassed image-rights payments, bonuses and ?23,000-a-match fees. It is understood that the partnership was worth around ?240,000 a year to the RPA.
As well as taking over the RPA?s remit, Bursell?s agency will also be involved in formalising the RFU?s new ?hybrid? contracts, which Henry Arundell turned down in December in order to remain at Racing 92.
38
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Falcons - Year of Unrest
« on: December 18, 2023, 04:32:57 PM »Coaches let go via phone and players in tears: Newcastle Falcons' year of turmoil
Special report: Year of unrest over the treatment of staff has culminated in Alex Codling's team cut adrift at the foot of the Premiership
Charles Richardson, Rugby Reporter 18 December 2023 ? 3:21pm
At the start of 2023, Newcastle, under head coach Dave Walder, were building momentum. The Falcons had just won four of their last six Premiership matches with stability and cohesion growing. Around the corner, however, tumult was awaiting.
By the end of the season, Newcastle lost two of their three starting front-rowers ? George McGuigan and Trevor Davison ? as well as Walder. By the start of the ongoing campaign, the squad had experienced significant turnover. Under new head coach Alex Codling, the Falcons currently sit bottom of the league without a win to their name.
The winds of change had arrived at the Falcons. The gusts were necessary, Newcastle said, in order to survive. This was a season, of course, in which three Premiership clubs ? Worcester, Wasps and London Irish ? all went to the wall. Financial sustainability and the cutting of cloth in accordance to budget had become not just aims for the club, but vital.
Such swingeing measures would inevitably cause upset. Professional rugby is a cut-throat business where vast sums of money and contracts are involved, after all.
Eventually, however, the avenue of financial necessity intersects with treating those at the club with the respect they deserve, rather than as pieces of meat.
Telegraph Sport has spoken to several sources ? some of whom do not wish to be identified ? who accused the club of significant failings in this regard. One such is Carl Fearns, the abrasive back-rower who left Newcastle at the end of the previous campaign and who, after a stint in Carcassonne, announced his retirement from the sport last week.
Fearns, 34, felt the need to speak out owing to the explosive post-match interview Codling gave after the trouncing at Leicester earlier this month. The Falcons? head coach, in his inaugural season in the North East, questioned the direction of the club in a very public manner after a run of tough results with a relatively underpowered squad.
Fearns spent two seasons at Kingston Park, recruited by former director of rugby Dean Richards. Fearns explains that he was given a verbal contract offer from the club?s head of recruitment, former hooker Matt Thompson, over a coffee at the Twin Farms pub, close to the Falcons? stadium. He says he was then kept in suspense over the course of two months with no clarity over his future ? and no contract offer. Fearns says that he did not mind having to leave. He understood the budgetary changes that were taking place at the club but the indecision and mind-changing left him worrying about his livelihood and providing for his family. This account has been corroborated by another anonymous player at the club, and Telegraph Sport has seen the communication between Fearns and Thompson.
?Around Jan 6, I had a face-to-face meeting with Matt Thompson, over a coffee, and he told me he wanted to keep me at the club,? Fearns tells Telegraph Sport. ?He said I was an experienced player and that next season it would be a younger squad, and that he wanted my experience around. He said he wanted to keep me and that he?d send a contract through next week. That?s how it ended.
?A week or two went by and I asked him if he had a contract for me. He said: ?No, sorry, nothing at the moment.? It continued, the next week after that I asked again. ?Not at the moment, not yet, sorry,? he said again.
?At the end of January, I messaged asking if the position had changed. I had a family, I needed to plan, I could be finishing my career, I needed to find a job, I had a mortgage. He didn?t reply until I messaged again in March.
?I?m not a stupid bloke. I?m an old pro. I knew what the craic was. After a third week of him saying ?not yet?, I knew exactly what was going on.
?I think the man is a coward. You have to treat people the right way. I was pretty decent about it in the messages. I understood if the club was in a financial position whereby the situation surrounding me might have changed. It might have been a bad thing for me to hear but I just needed to know whether it was yes or no.
?In March, I told him what I thought and he replied saying thanks for the message and that the club was looking for a new coach. That?s all I got, really. I never got a straight answer.
?I sensed something was wrong. If I was a young player, it could have been a case of me leaving at the 12th hour with no job, a family.?
Telegraph Sport has since met with both Thompson and Semore Kurdi, Newcastle?s owner, where the duo admitted failings in the communication around Fearns? lack of contractual renewal, explaining that the club was in a transitional period, with sustainability and a long-term project ? based around a core of youthful talent ? the goal, but that the treatment received by their former back-rower should not have occurred.
?We were sad to hear last week that Carl will be retiring from playing professional rugby, but he can look back on a great career,? Newcastle told Telegraph Sport in a statement.
?With the benefit of hindsight, we acknowledge that the communication around his contractual situation could have been handled more clearly, but we thank Carl for his service and wish him all the best for his life after rugby.?
Line-out coach Scott MacLeod?s departure from the club, Fearns explains, is another example of poor treatment. With the arrival of Codling, whose specialism is the line-out, MacLeod was informed by Thompson over the phone at the end of last season that his services would not be required at the club for the following campaign. An hour later, unaware that the former line-out coach?s contract had not been renewed, Codling called MacLeod to ask what he would bring to the coaching team next season. Newcastle did not wish to respond to Fearns? account of MacLeod?s departure, although it is understood the club has apologised privately.
?I do have sympathy for Alex because, like I said, I know what?s going on around the club,? Fearns adds. ?But if he had done his due diligence before he arrived, he might have understood what was going on at the club. But, Thommo, as he did to me, maybe he promised him things that he was never going to get? Maybe that happened? All he had to do was do some due diligence ? it was clear the way the club was going, getting rid of all the experienced forwards in the group.
?If they want to cut their cloth accordingly, that?s well within their rights, but you have to treat the players as human beings ? and treat them well.
?We had one of the best line-outs for years under Scott MacLeod and he?s a great coach. Getting rid of him made no sense.?
The departures of McGuigan and Davison were high profile; not just because the duo were either England squad members or in the conversation regarding international call-ups, but because they came in the middle of the season, with immediate effect, within three months of each other ? and both players left to Premiership rivals. One source who did not wish to be identified told Telegraph Sport that Davison was left in tears at the side of the training pitch.
?The way that George left the club...We came in on a Monday and George just stood up in a team meeting and said: ?Lads, I?m going to Gloucester.? Some of the coaches weren?t even aware,? Fearns says. ?When things like that happen, the whole squad ? which, with less funds, relied on being a close unit ? started questioning why we were doing it, if people were being treated like that?
?Trevor was going to Northampton, then he wasn?t. I think he was told the deal was off, then he came in one day and Thommo told him he was going to Saints tomorrow. It seemed as if the moves had been imposed upon both George and Trevor.
?By the end, I felt for Dave and all the staff who were standing up in front of us and giving us messages about being the ?true north? and being tight as a group, but on a weekly basis something else would happen which would cut their legs from under them. I would have left if I were Dave.?
Newcastle did not wish to comment on the departures of either McGuigan or Davison when approached. Both players also declined to speak to Telegraph Sport. It is understood, however, that factors outside the club?s control and exterior contract negotiations were part of the reason for the immediacy of both players? exits.
39
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Rugby Europe Matches - Worth a Watch
« on: December 12, 2023, 01:53:30 PM »
Men's REC Finals to be held in Paris!
Rugby Europe is delighted to announce that this year?s Rugby Europe Championship 2024 Finals will be held at the home of Stade Fran?ais, Stade Jean Bouin in Paris.
In what promises to be a real European festival of international rugby, all eight national teams will travel to the French capital to determine their final ranking in the competition and, of course, decide the champion of this year?s competition.
All four matches will be held on Sunday 17 March 2024, culminating in the Championship Final at 9pm with the ranking and bronze finals taking place from noon.
It will allow those players that participated in Rugby World Cup 2023 to return to France and tap into the many new fans they acquired during the global event through September and October.
The pool matches that have been confirmed are:
3/2/24 - Netherlands v Spain, Amsterdam, National Rugby Center, 1:15pm CET
3/2/24 - Belgium v Portugal, venue TBC, 8pm CET
4/2/24 - Germany v Georgia, Dessau, Paul Greifzu Stadium, 3pm CET
4/2/24 - Poland v Romania, Gdynia, Narodowy Stadion 8:15pm CET
10/2/24 - Georgia v Netherlands, Tbilisi, Avchala Stadium, 11am CET
10/2/24 - Portugal v Poland, Lisbon, CAR Jamor, 8pm CET
11/2/24 - Spain v Germany, Madrid, The Estadio Nacional Complutense 12:45pm CET
17/2/24 - Georgia v Spain, Tbilisi, Avchala Stadium, 1pm CET
17/2/24 - Romania v Portugal, Bucharest, Arcul de Triumf, 3:30pm CET
17/2/24 - Belgium v Poland, venue TBC, 6pm CET
18/02/24 - Netherlands v Germany, Amsterdam, National Rugby Center, 1:30pm CET
The semifinals will then take place on the weekend of 2nd/3rd of March before the teams make their way to Paris.
The competition is in the middle of a two-year cycle and the current pools remain identical to 2023, but with the home and away fixtures reversed.
The event in Paris is in collaboration with La F?d?ration fran?aise de rugby (FFR), La Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR), La Ligue ?le-de-France de Rugby (LIFR) and La D?l?gation interminist?rielle aux grands ?v?nements sportifs (DIGES).
Tickets will go on sale on Tuesday 19 December and will be available from 10?. Book your tickets on www.stade.fr
Rugby Europe is delighted to announce that this year?s Rugby Europe Championship 2024 Finals will be held at the home of Stade Fran?ais, Stade Jean Bouin in Paris.
In what promises to be a real European festival of international rugby, all eight national teams will travel to the French capital to determine their final ranking in the competition and, of course, decide the champion of this year?s competition.
All four matches will be held on Sunday 17 March 2024, culminating in the Championship Final at 9pm with the ranking and bronze finals taking place from noon.
It will allow those players that participated in Rugby World Cup 2023 to return to France and tap into the many new fans they acquired during the global event through September and October.
The pool matches that have been confirmed are:
3/2/24 - Netherlands v Spain, Amsterdam, National Rugby Center, 1:15pm CET
3/2/24 - Belgium v Portugal, venue TBC, 8pm CET
4/2/24 - Germany v Georgia, Dessau, Paul Greifzu Stadium, 3pm CET
4/2/24 - Poland v Romania, Gdynia, Narodowy Stadion 8:15pm CET
10/2/24 - Georgia v Netherlands, Tbilisi, Avchala Stadium, 11am CET
10/2/24 - Portugal v Poland, Lisbon, CAR Jamor, 8pm CET
11/2/24 - Spain v Germany, Madrid, The Estadio Nacional Complutense 12:45pm CET
17/2/24 - Georgia v Spain, Tbilisi, Avchala Stadium, 1pm CET
17/2/24 - Romania v Portugal, Bucharest, Arcul de Triumf, 3:30pm CET
17/2/24 - Belgium v Poland, venue TBC, 6pm CET
18/02/24 - Netherlands v Germany, Amsterdam, National Rugby Center, 1:30pm CET
The semifinals will then take place on the weekend of 2nd/3rd of March before the teams make their way to Paris.
The competition is in the middle of a two-year cycle and the current pools remain identical to 2023, but with the home and away fixtures reversed.
The event in Paris is in collaboration with La F?d?ration fran?aise de rugby (FFR), La Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR), La Ligue ?le-de-France de Rugby (LIFR) and La D?l?gation interminist?rielle aux grands ?v?nements sportifs (DIGES).
Tickets will go on sale on Tuesday 19 December and will be available from 10?. Book your tickets on www.stade.fr
40
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Premiership clubs to face squad limits under new regulations to cut costs
« on: December 12, 2023, 10:11:53 AM »Premiership clubs to face squad limits under new regulations to cut costs
Exclusive: Professional Game Partnership proposal would reduce senior squads to 35 players plus 12 more from the academy
Daniel Schofield, Deputy Rugby Union Correspondent 11 December 2023 ? 7:20pm
Maximum squad sizes will be imposed upon Premiership clubs as part of the new Professional Game Partnership with the Rugby Football Union, Telegraph Sport can reveal.
While discussions are continuing, the leading proposal will limit clubs to a maximum senior squad of 35 players with a further 12 players in a ?transition? group from their academy.
Capping the number of senior and academy players a club can carry was understood to be a key recommendation of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport advisers, Ralph Rimmer and Chris Pilling, who were appointed last summer by the government to create a more sustainable league after the loss of three Premiership clubs to administration last season.
The reduction from 13 to 10 teams means that there is no longer an overlap with the regular international windows so there is less need for teams to carry bloated squads to compensate for club v country clashes. The purpose of imposing an upper limit is designed to not only control costs but to encourage teams to put more faith in their academy players rather than relying on journeymen to fill holes. Young English players? lack of game time has been cited as a key concern by Bill Sweeney, the RFU chief executive, heading into the PGP negotiations with the Premiership which are unlikely to conclude this year.
While some clubs who have traditionally carried small squads such as Sale Sharks and Northampton Saints would be unaffected by such a change, teams such as Bath, who have a total of 73 senior and academy players, and Harlequins, who have 47 senior players, would need to make significant cuts in the coming seasons.
?You need to hit that sweet spot,? a source close to the negotiations said. ?You don?t want your squad to be too small where players are playing too much but you don?t want your squad to be too big where players never play. There are squads of 70 and there will be 10-15 players in that who play less than five games a season. That just does not help anyone.?
The transition group would have its own salary cap while clubs would carry a further ?rookie? class for Under-20 and Under-19 up to a maximum of 15 players.
The controversial development of Premiership 2 in the place of the Championship and streamlining numbers within academies together with the introduction of a draft system are also means to ensure younger players receive more game time. There is a recognition that certain clubs benefit disproportionately from the current academy catchment system which leads to them hoarding talented young players with only the narrowest path to regular first-team rugby which is the single most critical ingredient to their development.
?Clubs need to identify the prospects who are really likely to break through,? the source added. ?Also if you restrict those numbers then it allows other clubs to pick up some of those other talents who would otherwise be stockpiled. We would not want a load of young fly-halves to be queued up behind Marcus Smith at Harlequins because he will be there for the foreseeable future and they simply will not be playing.?
41
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Interesting Article on Kent Site.
« on: December 07, 2023, 05:54:09 PM »42
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Strange but Nice
« on: December 06, 2023, 05:35:05 PM »
Walking between Terminal 2 and 3 at Heathrow just now and ahead of me was someone with one of those Wasps rucksacks. Big Wasps at the top.
Four years ago this weekend we were travelling to Edinburgh to play them. Now I am getting a flight to Lyon to go and watch Clermont murder Edinburgh. Strange but nice!
Four years ago this weekend we were travelling to Edinburgh to play them. Now I am getting a flight to Lyon to go and watch Clermont murder Edinburgh. Strange but nice!
43
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Is this not a little ridiculous with limited funds
« on: December 02, 2023, 09:18:35 AM »
Owen Farrell set to be offered new RFU central contract despite declaring himself unavailable for E? https://mol.im/a/12814451 via https://dailym.ai/android
44
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Concusion Lawsuit
« on: December 01, 2023, 05:17:36 PM »
Phil Vickery, Mark Regan and Gavin Henson added to the lawsuit.
Was surprised to see new names to me of Sean Lamont and Colin Charvis.
Was surprised to see new names to me of Sean Lamont and Colin Charvis.
45
Wasps Rugby Discussion / New headguard brings hope of gamechanging safety breakthrough
« on: December 01, 2023, 01:32:27 PM »
New headguard brings hope of gamechanging safety breakthrough
Design from Leicestershire-based company just waiting for green light of approval from governing body World Rugby
Robert Kitson
Robert Kitson
Fri 1 Dec 2023 08.00 GMT
Last modified on Fri 1 Dec 2023 10.06 GMT
Rugby players of all ages have received the same stern warning for decades. Traditional headguards may protect against cuts and abrasions but they don?t prevent concussions. A scrum cap that can substantially help to mitigate the risk of brain injuries in contact situations on the field, both in training and matches, would be a gamechanger for a sport very much in need of some positive developments.
Many manufacturers have tried ? and failed ? to convince the sport?s governing body they have found the answer. Finally, though, there are high hopes of a genuine breakthrough. A Leicestershire-based company called Hedkayse, who initially specialised in cycling helmets, have designed a rugby headguard that, according to data ratified by Imperial College, London, reduces the force of direct head impacts by up to 85%.
The Rugby World Cup winner Steve Thompson revealed he had early onset dementia in 2020.
The player welfare lobby group, Progressive Rugby, are also keenly awaiting the green light of official endorsement from World Rugby, which could be forthcoming within the next week or so. Crucially, the special impact foam involved, Enkayse, retains its vital qualities in extreme heat or cold and is specifically optimised to protect at body temperature. From schools ? where there is an obvious need to look after developing brains ? to the elite club game, there are potentially grateful clients everywhere.
It has taken years of research to reach this point, along with a mixture of tragedy, perseverance, luck and humour. The managing director of Hedkayse, George Fox, was inspired to investigate improved headgear after the death, almost 20 years ago, of a friend in a bike accident in France. The product design engineer subsequently caught the eye of the company?s co-founders after they saw YouTube videos of him hitting himself with baseball bats to demonstrate the body armour he was making. As Fox puts it: ?They said: ?This guy?s clearly a loonie, would he be up for trying to make a cycle helmet??
The personable Fox, who has designed thigh pads for many leading cricketers, was up for the challenge. ?It took ages and 4,000 iterations before we got there. We found a PU foam specialist in Somerset and did the formulating and moulding there. Then I?d take it all back, cut the foam up, do measurements, look at the densities and do impact tests. Gradually, we found a magical version that just worked. You realised why no one had done it before because it was really hard.?
The other happy accident was bumping into the former England rugby international Tim Stimpson. ?He wanted his kids to enjoy the sport but also has former playing colleagues who are struggling to remember their kids? names. So he asked if I would make a protective headguard for his kids. Then that turned into a wider conversation: why doesn?t this exist already and how can we engineer it to work better for kids and full grown angry blokes??
Another important step is due this month, as and when the Bristol Bears prop Max Lahiff wears it for the first time in a Premiership game. The 33-year-old is Bristol?s representative on the board of the Rugby Players Association (RPA) and has been testing the headguard in training for the past few months.
After some initial minor problems with keeping it fastened in scrums and mauls, he is a confirmed fan. ?It doesn?t feel much different to any other scrum cap. If it?s a colder day it does feel slightly more rigid compared to other headguards but once it warms up it?s very flexible and comfortable.?
The focus is also on injury prevention rather than making players more gung-ho. ?I feel this is a happy medium. You want something that doesn?t make you feel immortal but, at the same time, does its job.?
In Lahiff?s view, there is a further bonus. ?Ultimately, a lot of the appeal of rugby lies in its confrontational nature and the collisions. It?s a fine line between preserving the essence of that and not neutering it too much.?
Above all, though, the longer-term brain health benefits would be immense. ?When you?re a young man you?re full of piss and vinegar. These things don?t sit around in your consciousness. But I?ve had a few concussions and with high-profile players coming out with worrying signs of early onset dementia, it does start to loom more. It could be a massive, massive boon and some sort of shield to stem the tide.?
Not all his teammates have been rushing to embrace this cutting edge science. Lahiff was going to wear the prototype headguard against Saracens last week had ?someone not pinched it? in the buildup and has copped some lighthearted dressing-room stick from Ellis Genge ? ?You?re not wearing that, are you?? ? and others.
?They think I look like Magneto or Juggernaut from the X-Men,? Lahiff said. ?It is somewhat chunkier and more interesting-looking than the contemporary scrum-cap and lends a different aesthetic. You know what rugby players are like. Anything that?s a bit unusual gets scrutinised.?
There will certainly be significant interest when World Rugby?s verdict is confirmed, with globally authorised Hedkayse headguards set to be available immediately at a cost of between ?100 and ?120 if bought individually.
A potentially safer sport, with scientists, medics, administrators and players all nodding approvingly? Rugby is close to receiving its ultimate pre-Christmas bonus.
Design from Leicestershire-based company just waiting for green light of approval from governing body World Rugby
Robert Kitson
Robert Kitson
Fri 1 Dec 2023 08.00 GMT
Last modified on Fri 1 Dec 2023 10.06 GMT
Rugby players of all ages have received the same stern warning for decades. Traditional headguards may protect against cuts and abrasions but they don?t prevent concussions. A scrum cap that can substantially help to mitigate the risk of brain injuries in contact situations on the field, both in training and matches, would be a gamechanger for a sport very much in need of some positive developments.
Many manufacturers have tried ? and failed ? to convince the sport?s governing body they have found the answer. Finally, though, there are high hopes of a genuine breakthrough. A Leicestershire-based company called Hedkayse, who initially specialised in cycling helmets, have designed a rugby headguard that, according to data ratified by Imperial College, London, reduces the force of direct head impacts by up to 85%.
The Rugby World Cup winner Steve Thompson revealed he had early onset dementia in 2020.
The player welfare lobby group, Progressive Rugby, are also keenly awaiting the green light of official endorsement from World Rugby, which could be forthcoming within the next week or so. Crucially, the special impact foam involved, Enkayse, retains its vital qualities in extreme heat or cold and is specifically optimised to protect at body temperature. From schools ? where there is an obvious need to look after developing brains ? to the elite club game, there are potentially grateful clients everywhere.
It has taken years of research to reach this point, along with a mixture of tragedy, perseverance, luck and humour. The managing director of Hedkayse, George Fox, was inspired to investigate improved headgear after the death, almost 20 years ago, of a friend in a bike accident in France. The product design engineer subsequently caught the eye of the company?s co-founders after they saw YouTube videos of him hitting himself with baseball bats to demonstrate the body armour he was making. As Fox puts it: ?They said: ?This guy?s clearly a loonie, would he be up for trying to make a cycle helmet??
The personable Fox, who has designed thigh pads for many leading cricketers, was up for the challenge. ?It took ages and 4,000 iterations before we got there. We found a PU foam specialist in Somerset and did the formulating and moulding there. Then I?d take it all back, cut the foam up, do measurements, look at the densities and do impact tests. Gradually, we found a magical version that just worked. You realised why no one had done it before because it was really hard.?
The other happy accident was bumping into the former England rugby international Tim Stimpson. ?He wanted his kids to enjoy the sport but also has former playing colleagues who are struggling to remember their kids? names. So he asked if I would make a protective headguard for his kids. Then that turned into a wider conversation: why doesn?t this exist already and how can we engineer it to work better for kids and full grown angry blokes??
Another important step is due this month, as and when the Bristol Bears prop Max Lahiff wears it for the first time in a Premiership game. The 33-year-old is Bristol?s representative on the board of the Rugby Players Association (RPA) and has been testing the headguard in training for the past few months.
After some initial minor problems with keeping it fastened in scrums and mauls, he is a confirmed fan. ?It doesn?t feel much different to any other scrum cap. If it?s a colder day it does feel slightly more rigid compared to other headguards but once it warms up it?s very flexible and comfortable.?
The focus is also on injury prevention rather than making players more gung-ho. ?I feel this is a happy medium. You want something that doesn?t make you feel immortal but, at the same time, does its job.?
In Lahiff?s view, there is a further bonus. ?Ultimately, a lot of the appeal of rugby lies in its confrontational nature and the collisions. It?s a fine line between preserving the essence of that and not neutering it too much.?
Above all, though, the longer-term brain health benefits would be immense. ?When you?re a young man you?re full of piss and vinegar. These things don?t sit around in your consciousness. But I?ve had a few concussions and with high-profile players coming out with worrying signs of early onset dementia, it does start to loom more. It could be a massive, massive boon and some sort of shield to stem the tide.?
Not all his teammates have been rushing to embrace this cutting edge science. Lahiff was going to wear the prototype headguard against Saracens last week had ?someone not pinched it? in the buildup and has copped some lighthearted dressing-room stick from Ellis Genge ? ?You?re not wearing that, are you?? ? and others.
?They think I look like Magneto or Juggernaut from the X-Men,? Lahiff said. ?It is somewhat chunkier and more interesting-looking than the contemporary scrum-cap and lends a different aesthetic. You know what rugby players are like. Anything that?s a bit unusual gets scrutinised.?
There will certainly be significant interest when World Rugby?s verdict is confirmed, with globally authorised Hedkayse headguards set to be available immediately at a cost of between ?100 and ?120 if bought individually.
A potentially safer sport, with scientists, medics, administrators and players all nodding approvingly? Rugby is close to receiving its ultimate pre-Christmas bonus.