Paul Rees reveals that the £5m salary cap has seen Premiership clubs being forced to balance the books
It has not been a summer of splurging in the Premiership. The drop last season of the salary cap to £5m before add-ons has effectively meant that incomings have to be balanced by outgoings with directors of rugby having to act as accountants.
Gloucester's head coach George Skivington, whose side finished fifth last season having been two off the bottom in 2020-21, has confined himself to one recruit, No 8 Albert Tuisue from London Irish, although Jake Polledri's return from a long-term knee injury will be like a new signing.
So while Bristol have signed current internationals Ellis Genge, last season's captain of champions Leicester, AJ MacGinty and Malcolm Bradbury, they said goodbye to John Afoa, Nathan Hughes and Dave Attwood. With the clubs spending to the limit of the cap, which is now vigilantly monitored, they are all having to budget.
Sale offset the loss of MacGinty by signing England outside-half George Ford from Leicester. Ford's final appearance for the Tigers was against Saracens in the Premiership final. He lasted 20 minutes before suffering an Achilles' injury that will keep him out of action until the end of the year.
Robert du Preez will cover for Ford, one of the South Africans who will be at AJ Bell Stadium next season. Faf de Klerk and Lood de Jager are off the Japan, JP du Preez has joined Glasgow and Rohan Janse van Rensburg will still be playing for the Sharks, swapping Manchester for Durban.
Sale have gone for quality rather than quantity, with the Exeter pair of Jonny Hill and Tom O'Flaherty joining Ford, but it is different at Bath who last season finished bottom of the Premiership for the first time.
They have brought in 12 new players, the latest of whom, Ireland second row Quinn Roux, arrived last week and three academy graduates, Orlando Bailey, Max Ojomoh and Ewan Richards, have signed their first senior contracts. Anthony Watson, Semesa Rokoduguni, Taulupe Faletau, Danny Cipriani and Max Clark are among the 14 players who have left as Johann van Graan prepares for his first season coaching in England after joining from Munster.
“All the players are on zero,” said van Graan. “It is a new squad and coaching team. It is what we do now that will determine the future and I am under no illusions that there is a whole journey to be undertaken here. We need to work our way upwards and the playing group is hungry.
“When you come into something new and change everything it does not just happen in week one. We have changed our whole calling system and the way Bath has operated before because we needed to go in a new direction. That will take time to bed in. We will give ourselves small goals to start and try to reach them week by week.”
Champions Leicester will be without two of the players who played central roles in their title winning season when they led the Premiership from the opening week and held their nerve to defeat Saracens in the final through Freddie Burns's drop goal at the death, Genge and Ford. They also face the prospect of their head coach Steve Borthwick, who in less than two years took the club from the basement to the top floor, being approached by England as they look for a successor to Eddie Jones after next year's World Cup.
South Africa's World Cup winning outside-half Handre Pollard replaced Ford and the capture of Watson for Bath will give the Tigers options on the wing and at full-back. Olly Cracknell has arrived from London Irish to give Borthwick another option in a back row that has interested international coaches and the former Wasp Jimmy Gopperth, who turned 39 last month, changed clubs at a time when most players of his experience are changing careers. He may combine his playing duties with a coaching role, like Richard Wigglesworth.
Exeter over the years have kept changes to a minimum, viewing continuity as the means of success, but the drops in the cap has made it virtually impossible to retain and to recruit.
Hill, Sam Skinner and Sam Hidalgo-Clyne are three international players who have left, Don Armand has retired, Will Witty has moved to France and O'Flaherty has gone north.
Five players have arrived, including Jack Dunne and Rory O'Loughlin from Leinster and Ruben van Heerden from the Sharks in South Africa. Exeter missed out on the top four last season having made the previous six finals and head coach Rob Baxter has become director of rugby, giving greater responsibility to his management team.
“The energy from the lads has been fantastic,” said Baxter. “We have had some really good meetings to set the scene and it reminds me of pre-season in our first four or five years in the Premiership when they guys turned up and looked forward to what lay ahead.”
Harlequins, whose title defence perished at Saracens in the play-off semi-finals, have been almost as inactive as Gloucester, promoting eight academy players and bringing in the 29-year old second row Irne Herbst from Treviso having lost two locks, Hugh Tizard, who has moved to Saracens, and Matt Symons, who has retired.
London Irish and Newcastle have been active, along with Northampton, who will be under new management with Phil Dowson replacing director of rugby Chris Boyd who has returned to New Zealand after revolutionising the way the Saints' style. Steve Diamond will start his first campaign in charge of Worcester having taken over halfway through last season.
Wasps and Saracens have lost some long-serving players, with the South Africa prop Vincent Koch swapping north London for Coventry in another example of a move being the only way many players can earn a pay rise. The number of marquee players a club is allowed drops from two to one this season, although it does not affect current contracts.
The idea is that the cap will return to £6.4m from the 2024-25 season, but the drop to £5m has been exacerbated by the rising inflation rate and the soaring cost of energy. Players and staff took pay cuts during the lockdowns, but with wages falling in real terms at their fastest rate for half a century, there is likely to be pressure on clubs to increase the cap next season by the rate of inflation at least.
The recruitment by the 13 clubs reflects the economic position of the Premiership as well as the looming World Cup in France. The emphasis is more on home produce than imports, and after last season when the likes of Henry Arundell, Freddie Steward, Will Joseph, Orlando Bailey, Ewan Richards, Dafydd Jenkins and Jack van Poortvliet announced themselves, the game itself is not suffering.
Bath
IN: Quinn Roux (Toulon), Orlando Bailey (Academy), Max Ojomoh (Academy), Niall Annett (Worcester Warriors), Matt Gallagher (Munster), Wesley White (Jersey Reds), Louis Schreuder (Newcastle Falcons), Chris Cloete (Munster), Dave Attwood (Bristol Bears), Piers Francis (Northampton Saints), Ewan Richards (Academy), JJ Tonks (Northampton Saints), Louie Hennessey (Cardiff), GJ van Velze (Tel Aviv Heat), Aranos Coetzee (Free State Cheetahs)
OUT: Taulupe Faletau (Cardiff), Max Clark (Dragons), Semesa Rokoduguni (Montauban), Valery Morozov (Worcester Warriors), Tian Schoeman (Newcastle Falcons), Danny Cipriani (released)
Anthony Watson (Leicester Tigers), Jacques du Toit (Zebre), Ollie Fox (Ealing Trailfinders), Harry Casson (released), Ma'afu Fia (Ospreys), Tom Prydie (released), Joe Simpson (Gloucester), Will Vaughan (released)
Bristol Bears
IN: AJ MacGinty (Sale Sharks), Ellis Genge (Leicester Tigers), Magnus Bradbury (Edinburgh), Gabriel Ibitoye (Tel Aviv Heat), James Williams (Hartpury University), Rhys Charalambous (Leeds Beckett University), Fred Davies (Durham University), Martin Mulhall (Swansea University), Richard Lane (Bedford Blues), Jono Benz-Salomon (Hartpury University), Toti Benz-Salomon (Hartpury University), Oscar Lennon (Hartpury University), Joe Owen (Clifton), Morgan Eames (Beziers)
OUT: Dave Attwood (Bath), Antoine Frisch (Munster), Alapati Leiua (Vannes), John Afoa (Vannes), Niyi Adelokun (released), Joe Cotton (released), Mitch Eadie (released), Theo Strang (released), Nathan Hughes (released), James Dun (seasonlong loan to Jersey Reds), Charlie Powell (season-long loan to Jersey Reds), Tiff Eden (Zebre), Ashley Challenger (Chartes)
IN: Jack Dunne (Leinster), Rory O'Loughlin (Leinster), Aidon Davis (Free State Cheetahs), Iestyn Harris (Cardiff), Ruben van Heerden (Sharks)
OUT: Sam Skinner (Edinburgh), Jonny Hill (Sale Sharks), Sam Hidalgo-Clyne (Benetton), Sean Lonsdale (Dragons), Tom O'Flaherty (Sale Sharks), Don Armand (retired), Sam Nixon (Grenoble), Jack Walsh (Ospreys), Aaron Hinkley (Northampton Saints), Alfie Petch (Northampton Saints), Jordon Poole (Coventry), Shea Cornish (season-long loan to Coventry), Danny Southworth (season-long loan to Coventry), Will Witty (Perpignan)
Gloucester
IN: Albert Tuisue (London Irish)
OUT: Will Britton (Cornish Pirates), Jack Stanley (released), Jason Woodward (released), Olly Adkins (season-long loan to Cornish Pirates), Josh Gray (season-long loan to Jersey Reds), Toby Venner (Jersey Reds), Seb Nagle-Taylor (Cornish Pirates), Joe Simpson (Sale Sharks), Ed Slater (retired)
Harlequins
IN: Fin Baxter (academy), Oscar Beard (academy), Sam Riley (academy), Matas Jurevicius (academy), Irne Herbst (Benetton), Jack Stafford (academy), George Hammond (academy), Jack Kenningham (academy), Jack Musk (academy)
OUT: Hugh Tizard (Saracens), Matt Symons (retired), Joe Grary (retired), Huw Jones (Glasgow Warriors), Christian Scotland-Williamson (released), Craig Trenier (retired), Mak Wilson (Doncaster Knights)
Leicester Tigers
IN: Handre Pollard (Montpellier), James Cronin (Biarritz), Phil Cokanasiga (London Irish), Olly Cracknell (London Irish), Jimmy Gopperth (Wasps), Anthony Watson (Bath)
OUT: George Ford (Sale Sharks), Ellis Genge (Bristol Bears), Jonny Law (Jersey Reds), Matias Moroni (Newcastle Falcons), Tomiwa Agbongbon (released), Olly Robinson (Cardiff), Jack Rowntree (released), Jaco Taute (retired), Marco van Staden (released), Sam Aspland-Robinson (Rosslyn Park), Jordan Olowofela (Nottingham), Juan Pablo Socino (Santboiana)
London Irish
IN: Tom Pearson (academy), Danilo Fischetti (Zebre), Will Joseph (academy), Henry Arundell (academy), Luca Morisi (Benetton), Tom Hitchcock (Exeter University), Josh Basham (Newcastle Falcons), Josh Caulfield (Cornish Pirates), Ed Scragg (Cornish Pirates), Api Ratuniyarawa (Northampton Saints), Joe Powell (Melbourne Rebels), So'otala Fa'aso'o (Brive), Isaac Miller (Worcester Warriors)
OUT: Albert Tuisue (Gloucester), Terrence Hepetema (Grenoble), Steve Mafi (Oyonnax), Sean O'Brien (retired), George Nott (Dragons), Phil Cokanasiga (Leicester Tigers), Olly Cracknell (Leicester Tigers), Rory Brand (released), George Davis (retired), Jamie Dever (released), Tadgh McElroy (Ealing Trailfinders), Rory Morgan (released), Nick Phipps (released), Cillian Redmond (released), Noel Reid (released), Marcus Rhodes (released), Theo Smerdon (retired), Alandre van Rooyen (released), Marcel van der Merwe (Brive), Allan Dell (Glasgow Warriors)
Newcastle Falcons
IN: Freddie Lockwood (academy), Iwan Stephens (academy), Tian Schoeman (Bath), Josh Peters (Doncaster Knights), Conrad Cade (academy), Josh Thomas (Ospreys), Sebastian de Chaves (Austin Gilgronis), Josh Barton (Coventry), Matias Moroni (Leicester Tigers), Vereimi Qorowale (British Army)
OUT: Louis Schreuder (Bath), Will Haywood-Wood (Wasps), Robbie Smith (Northampton Saints), Rob Farrar (Ealing Trailfinders), Will Montgomery (Ealing Trailfinders), Josh Basham (London Irish), Mike Brown (released), Luther Burrell (released), Oscar Caudle (released), Kyle Cooper (released), Joel Hodgson (released), Ollie Lindsay-Hague (released), Mathew Ward (released), Max Wright (Bath), Marco Fuser (Massy), Morgan Passman (Darlington Mowden Park)
Northampton Saints
IN: Callum Braley (Benetton), Ethan Waller (Worcester Warriors), Lukhan Salakaia-Loto (Queensland Reds), Angus Scott-Young (Queensland Reds), Sam Graham (Doncaster Knights), Robbie Smith (Newcastle Falcons) James Ramm (NSW Waratahs), Aaron Hinkley (Exeter Chiefs), Alfie Petch (Exeter Chiefs).
OUT: Teimana Harrison (Provence), Piers Francis (Bath), Taqele Naiyaravoro (released), Ahsee Tuala (Counties Manukau Steelers), Conor Carey (released), Reece Marshall (released), Leroy O'Neil (released), Connor Tupai (released), Ollie Newman (Ealing Trailfinders), Tom Wood (retired), Josh Gillespie (Ealing Trailfinders), JJ Tonks (Bath), Karl Garside (Doncaster Knights), Nick Auterac (Edinburgh), Api Ratuniyarawa (London Irish)
Sale Sharks
IN: George Ford (Leicester Tigers), Jonny Hill (Exeter Chiefs), Tom O'Flaherty (Exeter Chiefs), Joe Simpson (Gloucester)
OUT: AJ MacGinty (Bristol Bears), JP du Preez (Glasgow Warriors), Curtis Langdon (Worcester Warriors), Cameron Neild (Worcester Warriors), Faf de Klerk (Yokohama Canon Eagles), Rohan Janse van Rensburg (Sharks), Simon Hammersley (retired), Lood de Jager (Saitama Wild Knights), Jack Metcalf (Ealing Trailfinders)
Saracens
IN: Hugh Tizard (Harlequins), Brandon Jackson (academy), Christian Judge (Worcester Warriors), Eduardo Bello (Zebre)
OUT: Vincent Koch (Wasps), Sean Reffell (Ulster), Richard Barrington (Agen), Tim Swinson (retired), Tom Mills (released), Elliott Obatoyinbo (released), Janco Venter (released), Charlie Watson (released), Harvey Beaton (season-long loan to Cornish Pirates)
Wasps
IN: Vincent Koch (Saracens), Immanuel Feyi-Waboso (Cardiff), Olly Hartley (academy), Burger Odendaal (Lions), Kiran McDonald (Glasgow Warriors), John Ryan (Munster), Will Haydon-Wood (Newcastle Falcons)
OUT: Thomas Young (Cardiff), Vaea Fifita (Scarlets), Malakai Fekitoa (Munster), Jimmy Gopperth (Leicester Tigers), Cameron Anderson (released), James Gaskell (released), Rob Miller (released), Jeffrey Toomaga-Allen (Ulster), Michael Le Bourgeois (Bedford Blues), Pieter Scholtz (Bayonne), Marcus Watson (Benetton)
Worcester Warriors
IN: Curtis Langdon (Sale Sharks), Cameron Neild (Sale Sharks), Fergus Lee-Warner (Western Force), Santiago Medrano (Western Force), Hame Faiva (Benetton), Valery Morozov (Bath), Renato Giammarioli (Zebre)
OUT: Ethan Waller (Northampton Saints), Niall Annett (Bath), Sione Vailanu (Glasgow Warriors), Matt Garvey (retired), Christian Judge (Saracens), Sam Lewis (released), Caleb Montgomery (released), Joe Morris (released), Ben Murphy (released), Melani Nanai (released), Joe Richardson (released), Cheick Kone (Colorno), James Scott (Jersey Reds), Isaac Miller (London Irish), Marc Thomas (Cardiff RFC)
