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Wasps Rugby Discussion / Two Wasps in England 45 man U-20 squad
« on: November 27, 2019, 12:26:37 PM »3
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Rugby can’t move on until Nigel Wray answers questions over Saracens
« on: November 26, 2019, 10:28:34 AM »
From today's Times
Rugby can’t move on until Nigel Wray answers questions over Saracens
owen slot, chief rugby correspondent
Chief Rugby Correspondent
Yesterday in The Times, Tony Rowe, the Exeter Chiefs chairman, kind of declared war on Saracens. He said that he would be consulting his lawyers. He wants to know, he said, if he has a legal case against them. This is how bad it has got. Mistrust and hostility in the Gallagher Premiership has reached a rabid high.
Does Rowe have a case? In the past two Premiership finals, his Chiefs were beaten by a Saracens team who, we now know, were in breach of the salary cap. How much of a loss to income and value have Exeter experienced by being denied the opportunity to become double champions — that is Rowe’s point and thus his question to his lawyers is: is that actionable?
I started off by trying to estimate the rough loss of income. I asked people close to these things (not at Exeter). As a rough guideline, your merchandise sales go up £150,000 in the year you are champions; your season-ticket sales will go up too and deliver an uplift of about £200,000 to £400,000. Sponsorship is a harder guessing game, but some of these deals have win bonuses. Clearly winning two titles would attract further sponsors, and of course the uplift would vary from club to club. A reasoned and conservative assessment is that a single Premiership title would be worth at least £600,000. And Exeter lost two of them.
Yet if Exeter were successful with a legal case, then what is next? Gloucester, last season, finished third and were thus rewarded with a play-off game away to Saracens. What if Saracens had been weaker last season and Gloucester had got the home tie? That would have been worth £100,000 to them.
What if Newcastle Falcons had beaten Saracens with two bonus-point victories? They would have survived relegation and what would that have been worth?
So if Exeter establish a legal precedent, where does it end? It would probably not have come to this if Saracens had shown more contrition and if Exeter and other clubs were convinced that Saracens were not transgressing again.
Instead, we come to round five of the Premiership this weekend with the competition suffering from a massive credibility crisis. This is unlikely to be resolved unless these four questions can be answered.
Can we believe that Saracens are under the cap this season?
Saracens insist they are. They said this last season and we now know that they weren’t. They were not only found guilty of salary cap breaches in the past three seasons, but in the 2013-14 season too. We don’t actually know when they were last under the cap. So why should they be believed?
Look at the numbers. Last season they were at least £600,000 over the cap. They have since recruited three internationals: Elliot Daly (big salary), Jack Singleton (less so) and Rhys Carré (definitely not). Five internationals have left the club: Schalk Burger, Marcelo Bosch, David Strettle, Dominic Day and Christian Tolofua. That has definitely reduced the spend. Everyone would love to know if it has reduced it enough.
What about the controversial co-investments? These are the business agreements that Nigel Wray, the owner, has made with certain leading players and we are led to believe that no such investments have been made for this season. That clearly reduces the numbers but is that good enough?
If, for instance, Wray has underpaid Player X by £250,000 a year over three years on his salary, but front-loaded his contract with a £750,000 co-investment in year one, should the co-investment only come into the audit for the year it was made? This is what concerns Saracens’ rival clubs. Is that not cheating the spirit of the salary cap agreement?
One club administrator went further. He said: “What we don’t know is worse than what we do know.” This is a reference to many aspects of player payment, but particularly housing arrangements.
If you listen to The Rugby Pod podcast, on which they have twice earnestly debated the salary cap scandal, they poke fun at Jim Hamilton, a former Saracen, over the ownership of property in north London. The suggestion is that he was given a free house. This kind of joke has been around for years.
I spoke to another ex-Saracen last week and he was telling me — “Rather than rent, Nigel gives you a home. That makes you happier” — then put the phone down.
For Saracens to win back credibility, it would be handy to put this joke to bed. The best solution may be the one we are reporting on the back page today: Premier Rugby Limited (PRL) is asking Saracens to open their books for an extraordinary mid-season audit. If Saracens refuse, PRL rugby will try to force their hand.
Did Saracens really breach the cap unintentionally?
Wray insists that he did. In his first statement on the issue, he referred to the judgment by the legal panel that “acknowledged” Saracens “did not deliberately attempt to breach the salary cap.” From a 103-page judgment, this feels like rather selective quoting. Only in later statements does Wray add that Saracens were found to be “reckless”.
The only face-to-face discussion I have had on the salary cap with Wray was in an interview in 2015 when he said: “At the end of the day, people don’t obey bad law.”
I also asked if there was to be an investigation that showed Saracens had broken the salary cap, would you feel embarrassed or would it just be annoying to have been found to have breached what you call a bad law? “No,” he said, “I wouldn’t feel embarrassed because this system is unworkable and it must be changed.”
Then, this year, I spoke to the South Africans who formerly owned 50 per cent of the club. They had been concerned about whether Saracens were breaching the cap and had made it clear that if the club were neither under the cap nor within the spirit of it, then they would leave. They said that when they asked questions, the explanations were that the cap rules were open to interpretation. Their concern with the cap was a major part of their reason to sell.
If Saracens could actually show the rest of the league that their breach was really made in error, they have to show us some evidence. Wray’s word does clearly not suffice.
Why not publish the legal judgment?
This has become a big focus of the debate. The report has not even been circulated to the other 12 shareholding clubs — the 11 from the top flight and Newcastle Falcons of the Championship. If a chairman or chief executive from another club wishes to read the (redacted) report, he has to go to the offices of PRL in Twickenham. His time with the report is supervised. No notes or photos are permitted.
If Saracens want to be believed, then this report should be published. If this Premiership season is to retain any credibility, the report should be made public. For now we — the players, the fans, the game — are stuck not knowing what to believe.
The PRL agreement is to maintain confidentiality. In this case, this confidentiality is stripping its competition of its integrity. There are solutions. If all 13 clubs vote to release the report, it would be hard to stop it. Of course, this needs Saracens’ vote.
Saracens have at least said that they would give it. If that is the case, they could share the full details of their payment structure independently. That would be taking the initiative rather than being obliged by Premier Rugby to open their books again.
Why no apology?
It is the lack of contrition that has caused so much widespread anger. If Saracens really twisted the outcome of a joint competition three seasons in succession and without meaning to, then why not apologise?
If Saracens were to recognise the cost to others — the loss of revenue at Exeter, the cost to every club, the cost to the competition’s credibility, the loss of opportunity for other players and other fans to have a fair shot at the kind of glory and fulfilment and days in the sun that Saracens have enjoyed — then they would go a considerable way to drawing a line under the past, to rebooting the Premiership and giving the game a chance to believe again.
Rugby can’t move on until Nigel Wray answers questions over Saracens
owen slot, chief rugby correspondent
Chief Rugby Correspondent
Yesterday in The Times, Tony Rowe, the Exeter Chiefs chairman, kind of declared war on Saracens. He said that he would be consulting his lawyers. He wants to know, he said, if he has a legal case against them. This is how bad it has got. Mistrust and hostility in the Gallagher Premiership has reached a rabid high.
Does Rowe have a case? In the past two Premiership finals, his Chiefs were beaten by a Saracens team who, we now know, were in breach of the salary cap. How much of a loss to income and value have Exeter experienced by being denied the opportunity to become double champions — that is Rowe’s point and thus his question to his lawyers is: is that actionable?
I started off by trying to estimate the rough loss of income. I asked people close to these things (not at Exeter). As a rough guideline, your merchandise sales go up £150,000 in the year you are champions; your season-ticket sales will go up too and deliver an uplift of about £200,000 to £400,000. Sponsorship is a harder guessing game, but some of these deals have win bonuses. Clearly winning two titles would attract further sponsors, and of course the uplift would vary from club to club. A reasoned and conservative assessment is that a single Premiership title would be worth at least £600,000. And Exeter lost two of them.
Yet if Exeter were successful with a legal case, then what is next? Gloucester, last season, finished third and were thus rewarded with a play-off game away to Saracens. What if Saracens had been weaker last season and Gloucester had got the home tie? That would have been worth £100,000 to them.
What if Newcastle Falcons had beaten Saracens with two bonus-point victories? They would have survived relegation and what would that have been worth?
So if Exeter establish a legal precedent, where does it end? It would probably not have come to this if Saracens had shown more contrition and if Exeter and other clubs were convinced that Saracens were not transgressing again.
Instead, we come to round five of the Premiership this weekend with the competition suffering from a massive credibility crisis. This is unlikely to be resolved unless these four questions can be answered.
Can we believe that Saracens are under the cap this season?
Saracens insist they are. They said this last season and we now know that they weren’t. They were not only found guilty of salary cap breaches in the past three seasons, but in the 2013-14 season too. We don’t actually know when they were last under the cap. So why should they be believed?
Look at the numbers. Last season they were at least £600,000 over the cap. They have since recruited three internationals: Elliot Daly (big salary), Jack Singleton (less so) and Rhys Carré (definitely not). Five internationals have left the club: Schalk Burger, Marcelo Bosch, David Strettle, Dominic Day and Christian Tolofua. That has definitely reduced the spend. Everyone would love to know if it has reduced it enough.
What about the controversial co-investments? These are the business agreements that Nigel Wray, the owner, has made with certain leading players and we are led to believe that no such investments have been made for this season. That clearly reduces the numbers but is that good enough?
If, for instance, Wray has underpaid Player X by £250,000 a year over three years on his salary, but front-loaded his contract with a £750,000 co-investment in year one, should the co-investment only come into the audit for the year it was made? This is what concerns Saracens’ rival clubs. Is that not cheating the spirit of the salary cap agreement?
One club administrator went further. He said: “What we don’t know is worse than what we do know.” This is a reference to many aspects of player payment, but particularly housing arrangements.
If you listen to The Rugby Pod podcast, on which they have twice earnestly debated the salary cap scandal, they poke fun at Jim Hamilton, a former Saracen, over the ownership of property in north London. The suggestion is that he was given a free house. This kind of joke has been around for years.
I spoke to another ex-Saracen last week and he was telling me — “Rather than rent, Nigel gives you a home. That makes you happier” — then put the phone down.
For Saracens to win back credibility, it would be handy to put this joke to bed. The best solution may be the one we are reporting on the back page today: Premier Rugby Limited (PRL) is asking Saracens to open their books for an extraordinary mid-season audit. If Saracens refuse, PRL rugby will try to force their hand.
Did Saracens really breach the cap unintentionally?
Wray insists that he did. In his first statement on the issue, he referred to the judgment by the legal panel that “acknowledged” Saracens “did not deliberately attempt to breach the salary cap.” From a 103-page judgment, this feels like rather selective quoting. Only in later statements does Wray add that Saracens were found to be “reckless”.
The only face-to-face discussion I have had on the salary cap with Wray was in an interview in 2015 when he said: “At the end of the day, people don’t obey bad law.”
I also asked if there was to be an investigation that showed Saracens had broken the salary cap, would you feel embarrassed or would it just be annoying to have been found to have breached what you call a bad law? “No,” he said, “I wouldn’t feel embarrassed because this system is unworkable and it must be changed.”
Then, this year, I spoke to the South Africans who formerly owned 50 per cent of the club. They had been concerned about whether Saracens were breaching the cap and had made it clear that if the club were neither under the cap nor within the spirit of it, then they would leave. They said that when they asked questions, the explanations were that the cap rules were open to interpretation. Their concern with the cap was a major part of their reason to sell.
If Saracens could actually show the rest of the league that their breach was really made in error, they have to show us some evidence. Wray’s word does clearly not suffice.
Why not publish the legal judgment?
This has become a big focus of the debate. The report has not even been circulated to the other 12 shareholding clubs — the 11 from the top flight and Newcastle Falcons of the Championship. If a chairman or chief executive from another club wishes to read the (redacted) report, he has to go to the offices of PRL in Twickenham. His time with the report is supervised. No notes or photos are permitted.
If Saracens want to be believed, then this report should be published. If this Premiership season is to retain any credibility, the report should be made public. For now we — the players, the fans, the game — are stuck not knowing what to believe.
The PRL agreement is to maintain confidentiality. In this case, this confidentiality is stripping its competition of its integrity. There are solutions. If all 13 clubs vote to release the report, it would be hard to stop it. Of course, this needs Saracens’ vote.
Saracens have at least said that they would give it. If that is the case, they could share the full details of their payment structure independently. That would be taking the initiative rather than being obliged by Premier Rugby to open their books again.
Why no apology?
It is the lack of contrition that has caused so much widespread anger. If Saracens really twisted the outcome of a joint competition three seasons in succession and without meaning to, then why not apologise?
If Saracens were to recognise the cost to others — the loss of revenue at Exeter, the cost to every club, the cost to the competition’s credibility, the loss of opportunity for other players and other fans to have a fair shot at the kind of glory and fulfilment and days in the sun that Saracens have enjoyed — then they would go a considerable way to drawing a line under the past, to rebooting the Premiership and giving the game a chance to believe again.
4
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Something needs to be done about Europe's secondary cup,
« on: November 25, 2019, 04:13:09 PM »
From the Torygraph
Something needs to be done about Europe's secondary cup, as clubs view it as an irritant
• BRIAN MOORE
It is safe to say that the first two rounds of the Champions and Challenge Cups, usually the jewels in the crown of European club rugby, have been underwhelming. Whether this is simply a case of natural post-World Cup blues is a moot point. Suffice to say that the tournaments that usually show the best of northern hemisphere club rugby have stuttered and stumbled, with only the odd game providing the usual thrills and quality we have come to associate with European rugby.
You can certainly see the effect of players having to be withheld because of prescribed rest after the World Cup, but in some cases you detect other reasons. It is clear that European Professional Club Rugby is going to have to do something about the secondary cup competition, the Challenge Cup. Rather like football’s Europa Cup, this is now seen as an irritant to many of the qualifiers and certainly of secondary priority to success or survival in the relevant domestic leagues.
I am going to highlight the Cardiff v Leicester game, but I am not singling out those clubs for anything other than illustrative purposes. There were similar matches over the whole of the weekend. If you had the misfortune to watch that game, you will have seen a handful of Cardiff’s best and almost none of the Tigers’ star players. What you make of this will depend on your perspective, but one point cannot be overlooked: if you bill this as a bona fide European Cup tie you are short-changing paying fans, sponsors and broadcasters, all of whom pay to support rugby, when you produce the sort of dross served up last Saturday night at the Arms Park.
Some will shrug their shoulders and say they have more important considerations, but they should remember a couple of important points. If one of these games is your first experience of rugby, as a fan and especially a sponsor who has invited customers, you are going to think long and hard about repeating the venture. Likewise, when you are a minority sport fighting for attention and your product is, in this case, not being seen on terrestrial TV, you will not attract any new viewers if this is what they see. The only way you can justify the absence of so many top players is if a tournament is clearly agreed, by all concerned, to be one in which it is acceptable to blood fringe and development players.
What EPCR does about this is problematic. Sanctioning teams for playing under-strength squads would only increase club resistance to the whole concept. There is a point at which one or more of the three participating leagues would refuse to cooperate. The Challenge Cup already gives one team automatic qualification for the Champions Cup but if you increased this to two places, to try to incentivise participants, which of the Pro14, Top 14 or Premiership competitions will give up one of their qualifying places? With domestic survival an absolute in England and France, because of the huge financial ramifications of relegation, would even that incentive be effective for their clubs?
To give a bit of balance, it has not all been bad. Saracens’ domination of the Ospreys was complete, even accounting for the number of missing payers from the Welsh side. When you consider that Elliot Daly was one of their star players at full-back, you can see their selectors having to shuffle their selections to keep three top-class No 15s happy. The beauty for Saracens is that Daly, Liam Williams and Alex Goode can all play in other positions, which softens this conundrum.
Exeter continued their good start in Europe by hammering Glasgow, in a strange game. If you look at the possession statistics without having watched the game, you would conclude that Glasgow must have had at least a reasonable amount of the game. In reality, they had so many phases of play in their own 22 that they rarely threatened Exeter’s line.
This was a baffling performance from Glasgow and tactically naive; if there is one team likely to maintain patience in attack and defence, it is Exeter. Simple attacking patterns were never going to work against a defence that tackled and realigned with alacrity.
As final asides, two Anglo-French games ended up with red cards for the French sides. Sale should have gained a bonus-point win over La Rochelle, while Gloucester battled hard away at Montpellier to go down by three points. With a bit more luck and better decision-making they could have done what few sides do: leave the Altrad Stadium with a win.
It is too early for sensible predictions, but one that is likely to turn out half reasonable is that whoever beat Toulouse might well win the lot.
Something needs to be done about Europe's secondary cup, as clubs view it as an irritant
• BRIAN MOORE
It is safe to say that the first two rounds of the Champions and Challenge Cups, usually the jewels in the crown of European club rugby, have been underwhelming. Whether this is simply a case of natural post-World Cup blues is a moot point. Suffice to say that the tournaments that usually show the best of northern hemisphere club rugby have stuttered and stumbled, with only the odd game providing the usual thrills and quality we have come to associate with European rugby.
You can certainly see the effect of players having to be withheld because of prescribed rest after the World Cup, but in some cases you detect other reasons. It is clear that European Professional Club Rugby is going to have to do something about the secondary cup competition, the Challenge Cup. Rather like football’s Europa Cup, this is now seen as an irritant to many of the qualifiers and certainly of secondary priority to success or survival in the relevant domestic leagues.
I am going to highlight the Cardiff v Leicester game, but I am not singling out those clubs for anything other than illustrative purposes. There were similar matches over the whole of the weekend. If you had the misfortune to watch that game, you will have seen a handful of Cardiff’s best and almost none of the Tigers’ star players. What you make of this will depend on your perspective, but one point cannot be overlooked: if you bill this as a bona fide European Cup tie you are short-changing paying fans, sponsors and broadcasters, all of whom pay to support rugby, when you produce the sort of dross served up last Saturday night at the Arms Park.
Some will shrug their shoulders and say they have more important considerations, but they should remember a couple of important points. If one of these games is your first experience of rugby, as a fan and especially a sponsor who has invited customers, you are going to think long and hard about repeating the venture. Likewise, when you are a minority sport fighting for attention and your product is, in this case, not being seen on terrestrial TV, you will not attract any new viewers if this is what they see. The only way you can justify the absence of so many top players is if a tournament is clearly agreed, by all concerned, to be one in which it is acceptable to blood fringe and development players.
What EPCR does about this is problematic. Sanctioning teams for playing under-strength squads would only increase club resistance to the whole concept. There is a point at which one or more of the three participating leagues would refuse to cooperate. The Challenge Cup already gives one team automatic qualification for the Champions Cup but if you increased this to two places, to try to incentivise participants, which of the Pro14, Top 14 or Premiership competitions will give up one of their qualifying places? With domestic survival an absolute in England and France, because of the huge financial ramifications of relegation, would even that incentive be effective for their clubs?
To give a bit of balance, it has not all been bad. Saracens’ domination of the Ospreys was complete, even accounting for the number of missing payers from the Welsh side. When you consider that Elliot Daly was one of their star players at full-back, you can see their selectors having to shuffle their selections to keep three top-class No 15s happy. The beauty for Saracens is that Daly, Liam Williams and Alex Goode can all play in other positions, which softens this conundrum.
Exeter continued their good start in Europe by hammering Glasgow, in a strange game. If you look at the possession statistics without having watched the game, you would conclude that Glasgow must have had at least a reasonable amount of the game. In reality, they had so many phases of play in their own 22 that they rarely threatened Exeter’s line.
This was a baffling performance from Glasgow and tactically naive; if there is one team likely to maintain patience in attack and defence, it is Exeter. Simple attacking patterns were never going to work against a defence that tackled and realigned with alacrity.
As final asides, two Anglo-French games ended up with red cards for the French sides. Sale should have gained a bonus-point win over La Rochelle, while Gloucester battled hard away at Montpellier to go down by three points. With a bit more luck and better decision-making they could have done what few sides do: leave the Altrad Stadium with a win.
It is too early for sensible predictions, but one that is likely to turn out half reasonable is that whoever beat Toulouse might well win the lot.
5
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Times worst signing of the season
« on: May 20, 2019, 10:19:26 AM »
Worst signing of the season
Lima Sopoaga (Wasps). If Gloucester signing Danny Cipriani is everyone’s player of the season, the worst piece of business now appears to have been done at Wasps, where they let him go. They put judgment on the line by bringing in Sopoaga instead. To be fair, no one said at the time that this was anything other than an outstanding recruit. Maybe next season it will be, but he needs renewed confidence and a lot of work on his defence.
Lima Sopoaga (Wasps). If Gloucester signing Danny Cipriani is everyone’s player of the season, the worst piece of business now appears to have been done at Wasps, where they let him go. They put judgment on the line by bringing in Sopoaga instead. To be fair, no one said at the time that this was anything other than an outstanding recruit. Maybe next season it will be, but he needs renewed confidence and a lot of work on his defence.
6
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Wasps boss Dai Young admits he must hit the reset button and build a new squad t
« on: May 19, 2019, 05:08:37 PM »
FROM TODAYS TORYGRAPH
Mick Cleary, rugby union correspondent, at the ricoh arena
19 MAY 2019 • 12:16PM
There was no attempt to massage the truth, no suggestion that the league table may have lied, no top-spin, just an acknowledgment that both teams had got their just desserts from the season - Wasps missing out on Champions Cup qualification, Harlequins on the play-offs.
Wasps have had a ‘dark cloud’ hanging over them since October, according to director of rugby Dai Young; a gathering storm of money issues and player departures.
Quins, meanwhile, in taking only seven points from their last seven Premiership matches, would have been guilty of flattering to deceive if they had made the semi-finals. It would have done them no good either to have clutched at the straw that was James Lang’s agonisingly-close missed kick from 52 metres in the dying seconds. Harlequins knew that and, to their credit, they didn’t duck the starkness of the outcome.
Such honesty will stand them both in good stead. The best four teams have made the play-offs, albeit Exeter Chiefs and Saracens look to be in a class of their own. It will take some about-turn in recent form to topple the Premiership’s pre-eminent duo of the last five seasons.
Wasps had their brief flirtation with putative glory in 2017 only to be trumped by Exeter in extra time. They know better than most just what it takes to prosper at the top having been there themselves more than a decade ago. Exeter and Saracens are their modern-day equivalents, with their well-stocked squads giving them the ability to rotate and cover for international absences, allied to hard-headed play out on the field when the pressure comes on. They lead the way and the others are playing a distant catch-up.
Young admits that it will take Wasps some time to get back to such status, acknowledging that with the departure of stalwarts such as Gloucester-bound scrum-half Joe Simpson and centre Elliot Daly - whose signing for Saracens earlier in the year prompted such howls of anguish from the Wasps’ faithful - he will have to rebuild another squad for a new era. Simpson’s two tries against Quins (to add to one from wing Josh Bassett) show how much he will be missed. The reconstruction job is far from straightforward.
“Maybe this is the kick in the nuts the club needs because we haven’t been good enough,” said Young. “This squad has run its course. It’s time to press the reset button. We need to be different because things haven’t worked and our second team hasn’t been good enough. My job is to build it back up again.”
As Saracens have shown, that process has to be in constant flow. For all the mud thrown the way of the European champions, with an ongoing investigation into their salary-cap dealings, the north London club have shown the rest of the game the vital importance of nurturing talent from within. Wasps used to be like that. There is a sense that they will find it harder to regroup this time around. They lack leaders and do not appear to have the stability that others do. It will take a mighty effort from the stout-hearted Young.
The Premiership has been more fiercely contested than ever. The margins between success and (relative) failure are fine with only five points separating fourth and ninth. One bonus-point win and a wholly different complexion is put on the season.
Harlequins finished on the same points as Northampton above them and Bath below, yet much as they merit praise for the manner in which they have rallied from last season’s trough of despair, which finished with the sacking of John Kingston and the arrival of Gustard, there is still much to do.
Even though Gustard might eventually take satisfaction from his team’s fifth-place finish, he realises that the manner in which their Premiership campaign tailed off, slipping from a position eight points ahead of Gloucester (who ended up a comfortable third) means that he can assume little for next season.
There is more steel and grit about Harlequins and even if the likes of centre Joe Marchant - surely a bolter for Eddie Jones’ World Cup squad - caught the eye here with his well-taken try, with Danny Care and Elia Elia also on the scoresheet, there needs to be greater potency in the ranks. Quins are on the right path, although they cannot afford to rest on laurels.
“Hard work is what underpins success as I know from my time at Saracens,” said Gustard. “We all have to improve. My bar is not set at finishing fifth.”
The chasing pack still has much ground to make up on Exeter and Saracens.
Mick Cleary, rugby union correspondent, at the ricoh arena
19 MAY 2019 • 12:16PM
There was no attempt to massage the truth, no suggestion that the league table may have lied, no top-spin, just an acknowledgment that both teams had got their just desserts from the season - Wasps missing out on Champions Cup qualification, Harlequins on the play-offs.
Wasps have had a ‘dark cloud’ hanging over them since October, according to director of rugby Dai Young; a gathering storm of money issues and player departures.
Quins, meanwhile, in taking only seven points from their last seven Premiership matches, would have been guilty of flattering to deceive if they had made the semi-finals. It would have done them no good either to have clutched at the straw that was James Lang’s agonisingly-close missed kick from 52 metres in the dying seconds. Harlequins knew that and, to their credit, they didn’t duck the starkness of the outcome.
Such honesty will stand them both in good stead. The best four teams have made the play-offs, albeit Exeter Chiefs and Saracens look to be in a class of their own. It will take some about-turn in recent form to topple the Premiership’s pre-eminent duo of the last five seasons.
Wasps had their brief flirtation with putative glory in 2017 only to be trumped by Exeter in extra time. They know better than most just what it takes to prosper at the top having been there themselves more than a decade ago. Exeter and Saracens are their modern-day equivalents, with their well-stocked squads giving them the ability to rotate and cover for international absences, allied to hard-headed play out on the field when the pressure comes on. They lead the way and the others are playing a distant catch-up.
Young admits that it will take Wasps some time to get back to such status, acknowledging that with the departure of stalwarts such as Gloucester-bound scrum-half Joe Simpson and centre Elliot Daly - whose signing for Saracens earlier in the year prompted such howls of anguish from the Wasps’ faithful - he will have to rebuild another squad for a new era. Simpson’s two tries against Quins (to add to one from wing Josh Bassett) show how much he will be missed. The reconstruction job is far from straightforward.
“Maybe this is the kick in the nuts the club needs because we haven’t been good enough,” said Young. “This squad has run its course. It’s time to press the reset button. We need to be different because things haven’t worked and our second team hasn’t been good enough. My job is to build it back up again.”
As Saracens have shown, that process has to be in constant flow. For all the mud thrown the way of the European champions, with an ongoing investigation into their salary-cap dealings, the north London club have shown the rest of the game the vital importance of nurturing talent from within. Wasps used to be like that. There is a sense that they will find it harder to regroup this time around. They lack leaders and do not appear to have the stability that others do. It will take a mighty effort from the stout-hearted Young.
The Premiership has been more fiercely contested than ever. The margins between success and (relative) failure are fine with only five points separating fourth and ninth. One bonus-point win and a wholly different complexion is put on the season.
Harlequins finished on the same points as Northampton above them and Bath below, yet much as they merit praise for the manner in which they have rallied from last season’s trough of despair, which finished with the sacking of John Kingston and the arrival of Gustard, there is still much to do.
Even though Gustard might eventually take satisfaction from his team’s fifth-place finish, he realises that the manner in which their Premiership campaign tailed off, slipping from a position eight points ahead of Gloucester (who ended up a comfortable third) means that he can assume little for next season.
There is more steel and grit about Harlequins and even if the likes of centre Joe Marchant - surely a bolter for Eddie Jones’ World Cup squad - caught the eye here with his well-taken try, with Danny Care and Elia Elia also on the scoresheet, there needs to be greater potency in the ranks. Quins are on the right path, although they cannot afford to rest on laurels.
“Hard work is what underpins success as I know from my time at Saracens,” said Gustard. “We all have to improve. My bar is not set at finishing fifth.”
The chasing pack still has much ground to make up on Exeter and Saracens.
9
Wasps Rugby Discussion / OT Just who are Saracens fans - and where are they all? From the Telegraph
« on: May 10, 2019, 06:04:54 PM »
Telegraph Sport Rugby Union
Just who are Saracens fans - and where are they all?
There are expected to be fewer than 5,000 Saracens fans at Saturday's Champions Cup final
It is hard work finding a Saracens fan. They might be the most successful English rugby club of the last decade, with the chance to be crowned European champions for a third time against Leinster this weekend, but take a walk in the streets around their Allianz Park home and there is almost zero chance of spotting a Sarries shirt. Indeed, beyond a few electronic billboards advertising season tickets on the West Way and North Circular, it feels the club might as well not exist.
To find 'Sarries country' you must delve deep into that odd hinterland where north London suburbs blend into Hertfordshire green belt. The fans you find there seem a passionate bunch, albeit characterised by a certain civilised gentility. Ask why this turbo-charged club, boasting some of the world's finest rugby players - including England captain Owen Farrell, Maro Itoje and the Vunipola brothers - remains something of a fringe interest when it comes to support, and the answers tend to be the same: the area's big football clubs, Tottenham and Arsenal, suck support away.
Indeed, for many Saracens fans, football was their first love. Fraser Collett-Gorton was a lifelong Arsenal supporter but a combination of falling for rugby culture and the soaring prices of Premier League season tickets have made him a Saracens devotee - even if he is careful to point that his enthusiasm has limits. “I wouldn’t describe myself as fanatical, that has certain connotations that I am not comfortable with it," he says. "But I would say that I am passionate about Saracens."
Saracens' problem is that followers like Fraser are an endangered species. There are expected to be fewer than 5,000 fans travelling to Saturday's Champions Cup final at St James’s Park in Newcastle, with the majority of the sell-out crowd of 51,500 expected to be wearing either the blue of Leinster or the red of Munster, the latter having bought tickets in advance and will attend regardless of their side's 32-16 defeat to Saracens in the semi-finals.
Saracens cannot be accused of not trying to swell their ranks. A travelling fans' group - Sarries on Tour - was set up by Collett-Gorton and Claire Gonzalez, another who converted to rugby after many frustrating years supporting Newcastle United, in a bid to boost the numbers of travelling fans.
One striking aspect of the club's support is the number of women - and in particular single women - who attend matches. "With Sarries on Tour we get a lot of single women coming with us," Collet-Gorton says. "It is difficult to know why but Saracens is very friendly and a very sociable environment. I think women feel safe and comfortable coming to games by themselves. There is a lot of women in the Sarries on Tour group that come on their own and they make friendships because of it. It's not about looking for love but fair enough if they find it!”
John Trigg, Chair of the Saracens' Supporters Association, who are officially linked to the club, puts it another way. “I am not sure if they would set up a dating agency in the club but I dare say they could if they wanted to!”
Frenchwoman Veronique Landew, another who swerves the 'fanatic' label in favour of “Saracens aficionado”, believes the “convivial” atmosphere at Allianz Park, where supporters can sip on craft beer and chow down on wood-fired pizza, has helped broaden the club's appeal.
The club is certainly keen to target a younger demographic and have made inroads into their local community through setting up Saracens High School and initiating projects such as working with young offenders, but attracting supporters from outside middle-class backgrounds has been a struggle.
“I sometimes think that is rugby's downfall," adds Gonzalez. "I think rugby is still seen by a lot of people as being a public school thing in England. I would like to see that change - I have met people, and not just Saracens fans but others, who are very snobby about the sport in general.”
In the mean time, it is about taking baby steps. One of Gummer's more innovative projects is a recent deal to play their London derby against Harlequins at Tottenham’s new stadium, part of an effort to tap into that area's working-class background. “We are trying to reach out to new audiences and if we can get the football audience in north London some exposure to rugby that might help us to grow rugby in this area,” he says.
"We hope to create content that would appeal to both sets of fans. We have a lot of similarities, we both work with Nike as a brand, we both have leading England players. There are so many nice parallels that would work well from a marketing perspective.”
An advertising campaign featuring two England captains in Owen Farrell and Harry Kane would be the definition of an easy sell. But in the mean time, Saracens and their band of 'aficianados' will have to keep punching above their weight, off the field at least.
Just who are Saracens fans - and where are they all?
There are expected to be fewer than 5,000 Saracens fans at Saturday's Champions Cup final
It is hard work finding a Saracens fan. They might be the most successful English rugby club of the last decade, with the chance to be crowned European champions for a third time against Leinster this weekend, but take a walk in the streets around their Allianz Park home and there is almost zero chance of spotting a Sarries shirt. Indeed, beyond a few electronic billboards advertising season tickets on the West Way and North Circular, it feels the club might as well not exist.
To find 'Sarries country' you must delve deep into that odd hinterland where north London suburbs blend into Hertfordshire green belt. The fans you find there seem a passionate bunch, albeit characterised by a certain civilised gentility. Ask why this turbo-charged club, boasting some of the world's finest rugby players - including England captain Owen Farrell, Maro Itoje and the Vunipola brothers - remains something of a fringe interest when it comes to support, and the answers tend to be the same: the area's big football clubs, Tottenham and Arsenal, suck support away.
Indeed, for many Saracens fans, football was their first love. Fraser Collett-Gorton was a lifelong Arsenal supporter but a combination of falling for rugby culture and the soaring prices of Premier League season tickets have made him a Saracens devotee - even if he is careful to point that his enthusiasm has limits. “I wouldn’t describe myself as fanatical, that has certain connotations that I am not comfortable with it," he says. "But I would say that I am passionate about Saracens."
Saracens' problem is that followers like Fraser are an endangered species. There are expected to be fewer than 5,000 fans travelling to Saturday's Champions Cup final at St James’s Park in Newcastle, with the majority of the sell-out crowd of 51,500 expected to be wearing either the blue of Leinster or the red of Munster, the latter having bought tickets in advance and will attend regardless of their side's 32-16 defeat to Saracens in the semi-finals.
Saracens cannot be accused of not trying to swell their ranks. A travelling fans' group - Sarries on Tour - was set up by Collett-Gorton and Claire Gonzalez, another who converted to rugby after many frustrating years supporting Newcastle United, in a bid to boost the numbers of travelling fans.
One striking aspect of the club's support is the number of women - and in particular single women - who attend matches. "With Sarries on Tour we get a lot of single women coming with us," Collet-Gorton says. "It is difficult to know why but Saracens is very friendly and a very sociable environment. I think women feel safe and comfortable coming to games by themselves. There is a lot of women in the Sarries on Tour group that come on their own and they make friendships because of it. It's not about looking for love but fair enough if they find it!”
John Trigg, Chair of the Saracens' Supporters Association, who are officially linked to the club, puts it another way. “I am not sure if they would set up a dating agency in the club but I dare say they could if they wanted to!”
Frenchwoman Veronique Landew, another who swerves the 'fanatic' label in favour of “Saracens aficionado”, believes the “convivial” atmosphere at Allianz Park, where supporters can sip on craft beer and chow down on wood-fired pizza, has helped broaden the club's appeal.
The club is certainly keen to target a younger demographic and have made inroads into their local community through setting up Saracens High School and initiating projects such as working with young offenders, but attracting supporters from outside middle-class backgrounds has been a struggle.
“I sometimes think that is rugby's downfall," adds Gonzalez. "I think rugby is still seen by a lot of people as being a public school thing in England. I would like to see that change - I have met people, and not just Saracens fans but others, who are very snobby about the sport in general.”
In the mean time, it is about taking baby steps. One of Gummer's more innovative projects is a recent deal to play their London derby against Harlequins at Tottenham’s new stadium, part of an effort to tap into that area's working-class background. “We are trying to reach out to new audiences and if we can get the football audience in north London some exposure to rugby that might help us to grow rugby in this area,” he says.
"We hope to create content that would appeal to both sets of fans. We have a lot of similarities, we both work with Nike as a brand, we both have leading England players. There are so many nice parallels that would work well from a marketing perspective.”
An advertising campaign featuring two England captains in Owen Farrell and Harry Kane would be the definition of an easy sell. But in the mean time, Saracens and their band of 'aficianados' will have to keep punching above their weight, off the field at least.
10
Wasps Rugby Discussion / 2 Tickets to the Quins Game
« on: May 09, 2019, 06:48:16 PM »
For once in my life I won a prize in a competition! 2 tickets to the Quins game. Unfortunately I am unable to use them so they are up for grabs.
East Stand Block E17 Row HH seats 10 and 11.
Any takers?
East Stand Block E17 Row HH seats 10 and 11.
Any takers?
11
Wasps Rugby Discussion / England squad for U20 world cup - 2 Waspies
« on: May 07, 2019, 03:08:28 PM »12
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Willie le Roux interview: From Wasps to Japan, but will it be for the Rugby Worl
« on: May 05, 2019, 02:24:53 PM »Willie le Roux interview: From Wasps to Japan, but will it be for the Rugby World Cup?
You would hardly describe Willie le Roux's playing style as cautious, but when the the electric Wasps full-back discusses his potential involvement with the Springboks later this year, he is understandably tentative.
Still just 29, Le Roux broke back into South Africa's side last year, fulfilling his role as one of the wiser heads in a young backline.
Le Roux is heading to Japan whatever happens, leaving Wasps at the end of the season after two and a half years to join Jake White's Toyota Verblitz.
The only question is when will he arrive: in December once his Rugby World Cup is over with South Africa - the final takes place on the first of November - or in August having missed out on selection. The former seems far more likely, despite Le Roux’s humility, after a run of excellent performances last year.
"There is so much talent in South Africa and all over the world so it is going to be tough to pick 31 players to go to Japan. I would not want that job," he admits.
Le Roux's return to the Springbok fold last summer, having not played Test rugby for over a year, found him selected in a back three with two debutants in Aphiwe Dyantyi and Sbu Nkosi against England. Dyantyi went on to be named Breakthrough Player of the Year and Le Roux reestablished himself as one of the world's premier full-backs.
It has been quite the resurgence. Le Roux's form had tailed off dramatically towards the end of his time in South Africa with the Sharks before he thrived at Wasps. Rassie Erasmus, the new Springbok head coach, effectively gave Le Roux a license to take risks, without major consequences.
"That first Test against England it was both of the wingers’ first starts and we found ourselves 25-3 down after 20 minutes. I don’t think they know what happened. But we came back and those new guys scored a couple of tries. Unbelievable talents. In South Africa, you never know what is coming next. My advice to them is to always fun.
"I played Super Rugby for the Sharks and they said other people were playing better, and I took that on the chin. I knew what I had to work on. I was not good enough for Springbok rugby at the time.
"I went in last summer trying to be my old self, to have fun. Not bothered what people say. They say you can do one good thing and five bad things, I am always going to try, I am not going to stop. I was just having fun and Rassie gave me an opportunity, and said to express myself. It is nice if a coach backs you like that."
Moving to Wasps has revitalised Le Roux's career and his gratitude towards the club is genuine. He arrived in Coventry at the start of 2017 and five months later found himself starting in the Premiership final against Exeter. The outcome of that game still haunts him, when Wasps defeated were in extra time under the baking Twickenham sun.
"It was my first season, only four months and into a final. The semi-final, a sell-out at the Ricoh with us winning in the last minute against Leicester was unbelievable," Le Roux recalls.
"And then we came so close at Twickenham, leading with two minutes to go. It is mental how it works out. I still think about it. It would have been nice to win a trophy."
Wasps were back in the play-offs last season with Le Roux at the peak of his powers, providing 21 assists.
Before this weekend's matches they were still mathematically in the mix for the semi-finals, but this will be remembered as a testing campaign for Wasps, hindered by injury with an overall air of transition.
The win over Exeter Chiefs a few weeks back was a lightning bolt, reminding us all of how good Wasps can be at their imperious best.
"It is tough. We are not going as well as we went in past seasons but it is not down to a lack of effort. New guys have come in, we have had loads of injuries, could never get the same team every week.
"Nine and ten combinations are very important and we have had three different nines and 10s so far. That is the core of your team.
"The calls have not gone our way. Sometimes you think the referees call it your way, but this season it feels like none of them have gone our way. Sometimes that is just how it goes.
"I haven’t left yet. I still have a job to do here and that job is to reach the semi-finals, finishing in the top four. I still believe we can do it." When he eventually does say goodbye, Le Roux will depart as a vastly improved player compared to two years ago
13
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Shaun and Wales parting company confirmed
« on: May 02, 2019, 10:34:20 AM »15
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Could we be in a similar place?
« on: April 30, 2019, 11:18:21 AM »
From today's Times.
Posted for discussion
Leicester Tigers and Bath declines will continue without hired help
owen slot, chief rugby correspondent
When Harry Thacker scored for Bristol Bears, with five minutes to go at Welford Road, and consigned Leicester Tigers to their seemingly weekly dose of crushing indignity, you wondered: what if he had never left? No, I don’t mean Thacker — even though he has scored three tries in two games against his old side and applied all that salt to their copious wounds. No, I mean what if Richard Cockerill had never left?
What if Leicester had stuck by Cockerill a while longer? What if they hadn’t given him the opportunity to rescue Toulon’s season and get them to the 2017 Top 14 final? And then what if he hadn’t got the opportunity to carry on being successful at Edinburgh and got them this season to a first Heineken Cup quarter-final since 2012?
Instead of twisting, what if Leicester had stuck? What if they hadn’t given Aaron Mauger the main job instead of Cockerill? And then Matt O’Connor instead of Mauger, when that didn’t work? And then Geordan Murphy instead of O’Connor, when that didn’t work either?
They are on their fourth regime in three seasons and will have spent Lord knows how much in redundancies. My guess — and it’s not a very brave one — is that if Cockerill had never left, Leicester would be better off and somewhere higher than 11th in the Gallagher Premiership with relegation still a mathematical possibility.
When, though, is it right to sack the coach? It is dead easy to make chin-stroking assumptions about what-ifs and what-might-have-beens with Cockerill and the value of loyalty, yet the fact is that the teams that have risen the farthest up the Premiership this season are those who took the exact same decision as Leicester: to sack and start again.
Third, fourth and fifth in the Premiership are teams that recently changed their head coach or director of rugby. In terms of regime change, Gloucester are a season ahead of Harlequins and Northampton Saints, which may explain why they are safely in third rather scrapping for fourth.
Johan Ackermann has clearly been a success at Gloucester; likewise Chris Boyd at Northampton and so too Paul Gustard at Harlequins. And all three have only just got going. Expect more and better from them next season, especially from Gustard and Boyd who, by and large, inherited a squad for season one and have had a year tinkering with it before they go into season two.
You can no longer, now, watch a Leicester game without your commentators informing you that Leicester are better than this and should be doing better than this and will soon work their way out of the present mess. However, with Gloucester, Saints and Harlequins on an upward trajectory, it is actually more likely that these three will pull away even more next season and leave Leicester even farther in their wake.
Last season, when there was an unusually high turnover of Premiership directors of rugby and head coaches, rugby traditionalists squealed that this new rugby culture was horrid and far too much like football. This season, that turnover doesn’t look such a bad thing after all.
Traditionally, rugby — indeed, most sports — agree that loyalty and continuity are to be prized. This season the evidence does not bear that out. Here is the problem that Leicester — and, indeed, Bath — face. At one time, these were the two giants of the English club game. In their different ways, though, they have both spent too many seasons testing and rejecting too many different coaching and management groups. Leicester have twisted and burned so many times that it is the board itself which looks culpable. Bath’s turnover has been slower, yet barely more effective.
Yet just when Gloucester, Saints and Harlequins have proven the benefits of regime change, Bath and Leicester are both looking at a more traditional option: continuity, loyalty, promoting from within, all the stuff they forgot with Cockerill.
Murphy is 41 and has been appointed head coach of the Tigers; Stuart Hooper is only 37 and is to be next season’s director of rugby at Bath. Both are comparatively fresh to the world of coaching and management; Murphy stopped playing six years ago, Hooper only three.
Their clubs have identified them as the smart, new leaders of the new age, an assessment based on their years together, their understanding of these personalities and the way they interact around their clubs. Yet, however much you admire the faith being placed in them, the fact remains that both clubs are making an educated gamble because Murphy and Hooper are being promoted into jobs that they have not done before.
Murphy has now been in this job for the best part of a season and no one can pretend that it is working. Success may yet lie ahead for Murphy and Hooper in these roles, though surely only if the right support and infrastructure is put in place around them. Murphy needs another senior coach alongside him. Tigers were hoping that would be Shaun Edwards, it may now be Mike Ford. It is vital that they get it right.
It would appear even less likely that Bath will. After Todd Blackadder announced his departure two weeks ago, Bath confirmed that Hooper was to be promoted to fill his shoes a year earlier than expected. That is one thing, it is quite another that he appears set to take over without anyone in the role of head coach.
Bath have not renewed the contracts of Toby Booth and Darren Edwards, two of their coaches for next season. Neal Hatley, the England scrum coach, is set to join the coaching staff but not until after the World Cup in November. What the coaching team desperately lacks is a senior experienced figure to lead it. The club insist that they will be fine without one. We shall see. Leicester and Bath have become serial underperformers; they are both desperately trying to stick a heel in to stop the slide but they could also slide even farther. They have placed commendable faith in their young leaders; they now need to make appointments around them too. That is the management lesson of this season.
Breezy Worcester proved me wrong
Wrong, wrong and wrong again. At the start of this season, I was convinced that Worcester Warriors would be relegated, halfway through I felt the same and even five weeks ago, I hadn’t changed my mind.
I should have paid attention to the money. Newcastle Falcons reduced their wage bill this season by nearly £1 million; their total spend on players was the lowest in the league, considerably lower than Worcester’s. After their success in finishing fourth last year, it seems Newcastle thought they could make cuts and not get found out.
I still don’t want to pay too much attention to the money, though, because it is not as if Worcester have bought their way out of trouble. In their past four games, their three wins were breezy, confident displays; they looked nothing like a team trying to dig their way out of trouble.
Their next challenge is to do it again. They are such victims of their own success that Josh Adams, Bryce Heem and Jack Singleton are on the way out this summer, all rough diamonds polished at Sixways and now cherry-picked by other ambitious clubs. Warriors have not gone out shopping for players of similar reputation; they will go back to the mine and look for the talent again.
Posted for discussion
Leicester Tigers and Bath declines will continue without hired help
owen slot, chief rugby correspondent
When Harry Thacker scored for Bristol Bears, with five minutes to go at Welford Road, and consigned Leicester Tigers to their seemingly weekly dose of crushing indignity, you wondered: what if he had never left? No, I don’t mean Thacker — even though he has scored three tries in two games against his old side and applied all that salt to their copious wounds. No, I mean what if Richard Cockerill had never left?
What if Leicester had stuck by Cockerill a while longer? What if they hadn’t given him the opportunity to rescue Toulon’s season and get them to the 2017 Top 14 final? And then what if he hadn’t got the opportunity to carry on being successful at Edinburgh and got them this season to a first Heineken Cup quarter-final since 2012?
Instead of twisting, what if Leicester had stuck? What if they hadn’t given Aaron Mauger the main job instead of Cockerill? And then Matt O’Connor instead of Mauger, when that didn’t work? And then Geordan Murphy instead of O’Connor, when that didn’t work either?
They are on their fourth regime in three seasons and will have spent Lord knows how much in redundancies. My guess — and it’s not a very brave one — is that if Cockerill had never left, Leicester would be better off and somewhere higher than 11th in the Gallagher Premiership with relegation still a mathematical possibility.
When, though, is it right to sack the coach? It is dead easy to make chin-stroking assumptions about what-ifs and what-might-have-beens with Cockerill and the value of loyalty, yet the fact is that the teams that have risen the farthest up the Premiership this season are those who took the exact same decision as Leicester: to sack and start again.
Third, fourth and fifth in the Premiership are teams that recently changed their head coach or director of rugby. In terms of regime change, Gloucester are a season ahead of Harlequins and Northampton Saints, which may explain why they are safely in third rather scrapping for fourth.
Johan Ackermann has clearly been a success at Gloucester; likewise Chris Boyd at Northampton and so too Paul Gustard at Harlequins. And all three have only just got going. Expect more and better from them next season, especially from Gustard and Boyd who, by and large, inherited a squad for season one and have had a year tinkering with it before they go into season two.
You can no longer, now, watch a Leicester game without your commentators informing you that Leicester are better than this and should be doing better than this and will soon work their way out of the present mess. However, with Gloucester, Saints and Harlequins on an upward trajectory, it is actually more likely that these three will pull away even more next season and leave Leicester even farther in their wake.
Last season, when there was an unusually high turnover of Premiership directors of rugby and head coaches, rugby traditionalists squealed that this new rugby culture was horrid and far too much like football. This season, that turnover doesn’t look such a bad thing after all.
Traditionally, rugby — indeed, most sports — agree that loyalty and continuity are to be prized. This season the evidence does not bear that out. Here is the problem that Leicester — and, indeed, Bath — face. At one time, these were the two giants of the English club game. In their different ways, though, they have both spent too many seasons testing and rejecting too many different coaching and management groups. Leicester have twisted and burned so many times that it is the board itself which looks culpable. Bath’s turnover has been slower, yet barely more effective.
Yet just when Gloucester, Saints and Harlequins have proven the benefits of regime change, Bath and Leicester are both looking at a more traditional option: continuity, loyalty, promoting from within, all the stuff they forgot with Cockerill.
Murphy is 41 and has been appointed head coach of the Tigers; Stuart Hooper is only 37 and is to be next season’s director of rugby at Bath. Both are comparatively fresh to the world of coaching and management; Murphy stopped playing six years ago, Hooper only three.
Their clubs have identified them as the smart, new leaders of the new age, an assessment based on their years together, their understanding of these personalities and the way they interact around their clubs. Yet, however much you admire the faith being placed in them, the fact remains that both clubs are making an educated gamble because Murphy and Hooper are being promoted into jobs that they have not done before.
Murphy has now been in this job for the best part of a season and no one can pretend that it is working. Success may yet lie ahead for Murphy and Hooper in these roles, though surely only if the right support and infrastructure is put in place around them. Murphy needs another senior coach alongside him. Tigers were hoping that would be Shaun Edwards, it may now be Mike Ford. It is vital that they get it right.
It would appear even less likely that Bath will. After Todd Blackadder announced his departure two weeks ago, Bath confirmed that Hooper was to be promoted to fill his shoes a year earlier than expected. That is one thing, it is quite another that he appears set to take over without anyone in the role of head coach.
Bath have not renewed the contracts of Toby Booth and Darren Edwards, two of their coaches for next season. Neal Hatley, the England scrum coach, is set to join the coaching staff but not until after the World Cup in November. What the coaching team desperately lacks is a senior experienced figure to lead it. The club insist that they will be fine without one. We shall see. Leicester and Bath have become serial underperformers; they are both desperately trying to stick a heel in to stop the slide but they could also slide even farther. They have placed commendable faith in their young leaders; they now need to make appointments around them too. That is the management lesson of this season.
Breezy Worcester proved me wrong
Wrong, wrong and wrong again. At the start of this season, I was convinced that Worcester Warriors would be relegated, halfway through I felt the same and even five weeks ago, I hadn’t changed my mind.
I should have paid attention to the money. Newcastle Falcons reduced their wage bill this season by nearly £1 million; their total spend on players was the lowest in the league, considerably lower than Worcester’s. After their success in finishing fourth last year, it seems Newcastle thought they could make cuts and not get found out.
I still don’t want to pay too much attention to the money, though, because it is not as if Worcester have bought their way out of trouble. In their past four games, their three wins were breezy, confident displays; they looked nothing like a team trying to dig their way out of trouble.
Their next challenge is to do it again. They are such victims of their own success that Josh Adams, Bryce Heem and Jack Singleton are on the way out this summer, all rough diamonds polished at Sixways and now cherry-picked by other ambitious clubs. Warriors have not gone out shopping for players of similar reputation; they will go back to the mine and look for the talent again.