IN RESPONSE to Jeff Gage's conspiracy theory contained in his letter published on the June 28.
Mr Gage asserted that that there must be some “secret agreement” between PRL and RFU regarding Saracens players being allowed to play for England despite the club not being in the Premiership next season. It is said this is in contravention of the rules.
I cannot find anywhere that there is a rule preventing players playing for England if signed to an English club outside the Premiership, only that there is a requirement to meet “exceptional circumstances” if a player plays outside of England.
The England Rugby website includes the following section on England Qualified Players.
“An England Qualified Player (EQP) is a player qualified to play rugby football for England in accordance with World Rugby Regulation 8.
“While this accounts for a large majority of players in England, for player registration purposes, we only seek to record those who play at level 1 of the Women's game (Premier 15s) and levels 1 and 2 of the Men's game (Premiership and Championship).”
The reference to Championship above would seem to confirm that a player playing for a Championship club and meeting World Rugby's regulation would be an EQP.
As such it would seem that there is no need for a “secret agreement” that the rest of English Rugby need to know about.
