Aviva Premiership: something exciting happens

[simonokeeffe]

Dr. Brendan 'Batshit Crazy' Venter returns to London Irish as technical director.

Wowzers

But theyll win all their matches so he'll go even crazier not being able to complain about refs

[simonokeeffe]

Kyle Eastmond has moved to Wasps from Bath
the ex rugby leaguer was keen to work with Lions prop Dai Young

Wasps get stronger, Bath get even weaker in the backs (only 8 senior contracted 3/4 players now) and fallout from the Burgess affair rumbles on

[Ruckedtobits]

Will Eastmond's move be regarded as one of the first actual "transfers" in Rugby Union? He re-signed for Bath last January, rumoured to be a two-year contract to end in June 2018. Time flies in the west country!

[simonokeeffe]

Will Eastmond's move be regarded as one of the first actual "transfers" in Rugby Union? He re-signed for Bath last January, rumoured to be a two-year contract to end in June 2018. Time flies in the west country!

Transfer fees arent covered by the salary cap

[tigerburnie]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/36884250
Money, Money, Money. But will it help the game? I' d like to have seen some of the lucre spread around the Championship and National leagues.

[simonokeeffe]

Just as Sarries dominate England squad...

[Dave Cahill]

Looking at the press release it looks like the start of the promotion ladder being pulled up

[simonokeeffe]

Looking at the press release it looks like the start of the promotion ladder being pulled up

I think more dramatically stratified premiership as much as anything, though also harder for newly promoted teams

[cormac]

Wille le Roux has signed for Wasps

[simonokeeffe]

Wille le Roux has signed for Wasps

Ah well, we'll always have the pro12

[Oldschool]

Did anyone read that load of sh!te coming from some "expert" suggesting that Exeter's use of the "Chiefs" tag and the associated paraphernalia such as beating a drum and wearing a feathered hat was disrespectful to the Native American Indian's. Must have been a very slow day in the newspaper industry.

[simonokeeffe]

Did anyone read that load of sh!te coming from some "expert" suggesting that Exeter's use of the "Chiefs" tag and the associated paraphernalia such as beating a drum and wearing a feathered hat was disrespectful to the Native American Indian's. Must have been a very slow day in the newspaper industry.

its a racist tree falling in a forest; if they were in North America like the Washington Redskins and their outmoded BS you'd say yeah thats dodgy

but theres no Native American population in England to be legitimately offended by it, although I dont know how Native Americans feel about the idea of fat middle aged English guys dressing up in homage to them

[Xanthippe]

EXCLUSIVE: Premiership giants will ‘buddy up’ to save the Championship

Posted on December 20, 2016
By NEALE HARVEY

Premiership Rugby could assume control of the Championship as part of revolutionary plans to overhaul the top two tiers of English club rugby.

The Rugby Paper understands top-flight bosses are open to partnership arrangements with Championship clubs that will see the A-League scrapped and unlimited numbers of underused Premiership professionals loaned to level two sides instead.

Championship clubs who have no interest in promotion will be encouraged to ‘buddy-up’ with Premiership sides, enabling them to utilise up to 12 of that club’s first team players and any number of academy youngsters in need of senior game time.

Under the terms of the proposals, which are being driven by RFU director of professional rugby Nigel Melville and were presented to the Premiership clubs last Tuesday, Championship ‘buddy clubs’ would not be eligible for promotion to the top-flight.

Promotion and relegation would remain, however, with ambitious Championship clubs who fund their own full-time squads having to state their promotion intentions before a season starts. Such clubs would be able to field just four on-loan players.

While an implementation date has yet to be decided, TRP understands the existing Championship play-offs are likely to be scrapped next season, with Premiership clubs compensating tier two sides to the tune of £1.7m for a return to first-past-the-post.

Melville’s radical proposals are seen as a ‘last chance solution’ for a Championship competition which is in danger of collapse in the light of financial troubles afflicting London Welsh, Jersey and others.

With no more RFU money on the table for tier two sides and Premiership Rugby keen to address issues around the A-League and player game time, the buddy system is seen as a viable way of helping Championship clubs cut costs and survive.

A well-placed Premiership insider told TRP: “The Championship clubs have squads of 35 professionals and semi-pros they can’t afford and the Premiership clubs have got massive squads of 50-70 professionals, a lot of whom don’t play, so why don’t we marry the two together and find a solution to benefit everybody?

“Buddying-up will mean standard of rugby in the Championship will rocket and clubs like Rotherham and Nottingham will not have to spend all their money on players and coaches. It’ll mean they can stabilise their ships, upgrade facilities, grow crowds and still have a route to the top.”

The insider added: “The Championship has almost been an embarrassment to the RFU and they’ve totally neglected it for the last seven years.

“It’s the second tier of what professes to be the biggest Rugby Union in the world, yet virtually every club is bankrupt.

“A solution has been found and control of the Championship must fall to the Premiership.

“If we get the right people in charge and the right rules and regulations in place, it will stop clubs going out of business while still offering ambitious full-time teams like Doncaster and Cornish Pirates a chance of promotion.”

TRP understands the buddy system could be extended to include National One sides like Moseley, Coventry, Plymouth and Darlington Mowden Park.



http://www.therugbypaper.co.uk/featured ... mpionship/

[Oldschool]

Obvious question but is the Premiership actually successful financially speaking?
If this goes ahead, the most likely thing to happen is a nett reduction in personel.

[simonokeeffe]

If nothing else its about time playoffs were scrapped, deliberate hamstringing of promotion seeking teams

Bristol will be delighted

[ribs]

Would you support a club as a fan if you knew it couldn't be promoted?

[Peg Leg]

What would happen if a signed up unpromotable team won? I think its a ridiculous idea. A good attempt at helping the lower tier but ridiculous.
We can't be arsed run/invest an academy, so here you can do it for us....

[simonokeeffe]

Would you support a club as a fan if you knew it couldn't be promoted?

I think the majority know they cant go up because of finances/eligibility of their ground

[dropkick]

The PRL are good. They do their best to weaken championship clubs - their rivals - and when the rivals are at the point of collapse, the PRL come in to "save" them. On PRL terms of course . They should run a bank.


I like their latest buzzword, "buddying-up". More catchy than "meritocracy".

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Didn't want to start a new thread so throwing this in here because of the talk about league structures etc.

It looks like PRO Rugby USA has collapsed. Lots of people haven't been paid, some teams don't have anywhere to play next year, and the guy who was behind it all appears to have withdrawn his support. The CEO left in October, sounds like he was given false promises by the guy behind it all but I may have taken that up wrong. Thought they were making a good go of it, hope it can be salvaged.