JEFF PROBYN
A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME
As the song goes, it's Christmas time, a time when everyone is having fun. If only that were true of the world of England's club rugby which is in such a mess and with no clear picture of what the future will be for them.
Wasps are supposedly coming back into next season's Championship having managed to satisfy the RFU that they are now on a sound financial footing. This is even though they haven't got a home venue so far, or any players or coaching staff to create so will have to create a team who can play their games.
Despite the fact that Worcester do at least still have the Sixways stadium if not a team, they have been refused to be allowed back into the Championship. But that may change if former Warriors director of rugby Steve Diamond can get all his ‘ducks in a row' and meet with RFU approval.
Personally I can't see what the problem is selling off the excess land around Sixways if it helps pay off their debts and keep then financially stable. Assuming that happens, it is going to cause a major rethink on behalf of the Premiership officials who are proposing a completely new structure over the next few seasons which will result in fewer clubs competing in the Premiership.
One would think that a resurrected Wasps and Worcester will see reaching the Premiership as a ‘must' for any new controlling group. After all, in theory that is where the money is.
I also have no doubt that they will expect their P share back, particularly as Saracens, the current leaders of the Premiership, never had their P shares removed just because they were ‘relegated' to the Championship in 2020.
Meanwhile, the grassroots are suffering one of their worst seasons for years with more games cancelled because of the current severe weather, which is likely to again impact on the already declining number of adult male players in the game.
Despite all this, I love this time of the year as it's when we get some proper competitive club rugby with the Champions Cup being contested by Europe's best.
I wish I could say the same for the Challenge Cup, but I think that we all know that many of the teams use it as a chance to ‘blood' some new players in what many regard as weakened teams. Meaning that it is seen by some of the clubs as a second rate contest.
Even so, it does offer the winner the chance of a crack at the Champions Cup that they may not have if they had to rely on league position, particularly with all the unrest and confusion that is surrounding the leagues currently.
That said, the Champions Cup has put some different perspective on the view of the game in the Southern Hemisphere with the South African teams not quite measuring up to expectations.
I say this even though three of the four teams competing in the United Rugby Championship are currently in the top five but it seems the step up to the European competition has perhaps surprised them.
Exeter Chiefs thumping the Bulls by 44 points to 14 will be a wake up call to all. And the lessons learned by all the players from the
European teams about their South African opponents will be a major help for those that face them on the international stage.
Having never played against the All Blacks in my first five years with England and yet constantly being told how good they were, certainly didn't help when we faced them for the first time in the 1991 World Cup, but after that game which they won 18-12 we knew they were not supermen.
It's funny how once a coach is set to be replaced everyone looks at the obvious but not necessarily the best choice as a replacement. Although Steve Borthwick is proving himself an able head coach at Leicester, it is still really early days for him as head coach, having only had a couple of seasons in the role.
He will have a few of his Leicester assistants with him creating a familiar environment but he won't have long to settle into the job before he will be called on to make some serious decisions as far as his England squad is concerned for the Six Nations.
He does have the advantage of having worked for the RFU for a five year period and knows Conor O'Shea who will be a good sounding board for him while he adjusts to the role.
It seems the RFU have had to bite the bullet and pay the price that Leicester wanted for what is virtually their whole coaching set-up even if it does seem a big figure. With Borthwick taking his lieutenants with him it means that Leicester have looked to Richard Wigglesworth for the interim period, and long-term could be starting from scratch after what they thought was a dream start to more years at the top of the table.
This must be difficult for the Tigers as they were probably looking for one of Bothwick's group to take on the head coach role, particularly Kevin Sinfield, and continue along the path they had just started together.
