Always a Wasp

IT would be nice to see similar statements from Elliott and Nathan who also owe much of their England careers to the support and development they got duribg their tine at Wasps

Worcester have had it for a while too

1. Cut subs from 8 to 7
2. All penalty kicks and conversion attempts to be drop kicks to be taken within 30 seconds similar to sevens. No stopping the clock and no time for a chat with the ref followed by a drink followed by 60 seconds of staring into the sky. Kick it while you're still out of breath. That will also reward penalties and tries close in under the posts while making teams think twice about penalties on the half-way line or way out on the touch line.
3. All scrums and lineouts to be taken within 30 seconds otherwise a free kick sanction. Generally the defenders get there in 10 seconds so the attacking team will have to hurry up and get there as well or they will be handing over possession.
4. For rucks call "use-it" as soon as the ref can see the ball - doesn't matter if scrum half isn't there and doesn't matter if you haven't constructed a massive caterpillar ... Just use it
5. No water breaks unless the weather is so hot it's dangerous. If the ref needs a drink stop the game and everyone drinks otherwise if you want a drink go to the side and drink it while play continues without you.
6. No stopping for injuries. Play on unless a serious injury / the medical team on pitch are at risk of interfering with play. If the game is stopped for medical treatment then after the treatment is finished the player must leave the field for a minimum of 60 seconds. So either he must be subbed immediately (full replacement or HIA or blood bin) or he must stand on the sidelines while his team-mates play 1 man down for 60 seconds. Thus is intended to stop props who go down "injured" for a scrum when all they really want is for everyone to have a rest. If they are tired that's tough. If they are injured then that scrum will be uncontested and they have to leave the pitch for minimum 60 seconds.

I predict that will bring the average time the ball is in play up by 10 mins per game and the average weight of players down by at least 10kg.

Last time Sarries were found to have cheated interpreted the rules differently rather than being punished they were given what they wanted - new rules and a bigger cap that not every club could afford. My bet is that history will repeat itself and following an investigation and some behind the scenes legal threats and bullying discussions the rules will be clarified to state that what Sarries are doing is allowed and Sarries will again have an option that not all clubs can afford to copy.

When is JR2 decision due?  It might make things a bit clearer to the general public if JR2 was thrown out before CCFC have to report to EFL. SISU/Otium/Odious will then have to decide if they want to appeal again. Then the headlines might read something like "CCFC have a choice - appeal or deal"

Does anyone know if the salary cap looks at multi-year contracts or is it all year-on-year?
What I mean is can a club agree to front-end or back-end load payments so some years are more than others ... and then move the marquee player each year to cover over the higher payments?

Shields is EQP but you dont need a UK passport to be EQP.Is it possible that he has a NZ passport not UK and therefore is simultaneously foreign and a true-brit?