WRW #10: WHAT DID YOU DO LAST WEEKEND?
If you moved off the sofa, well played...
RELEGATION NOT QUITE CONFIRMED
Sunday’s Rugby Paper story caused a bit of a stir in a quiet weekend for rugby.
Well, I’m sure they would like it if relegation was scrapped, but it’s not up to just them…
(Full disclosure - I’ve worked with and known Jon Newcombe for around 15 years. and he is well-sourced.)
So who are the five? Well, there may have been twelve.
If five clubs are getting nervous about relegation which could still easily be true, who could those five be?
As mentioned before in WRW, Tigers would be far from against ring-fencing because the price for buying Tigers goes up.
But there is a broader picture to see here. The headline is rather misleading because ring-fencing is not in the clubs’ gift, it has to go before the Professional Game Board where the RFU will have a view. There are plenty of reasons for saying the RFU want ring-fencing to happen themselves, but there’s been nothing official yet and time is starting to get on.
That also suggests a rather desperate need to force that elusive statement to come out. Greater legal minds than mine suggest that there are only two legal options.
Bear with me on the legal speak. Either, they can challenge under contract law suggesting the right process wasn’t followed or under company law, suggesting some shareholders have been treated unfairly (a claim under unfair prejudice, apparently).
So the case - if this isn’t an idle threat - is that either Premiership Rugby have been negligent in their administration, or more likely, that the club finishes bottom suggests it has been unfairly treated.
But they are only possible if there was a disagreement at the time about how those Covid regulations were being implemented.
If that shareholder voted to agree to the rules in the first place, it will need a serious brass neck to sue. Was it a unamimous vote or not?
HUMBLE BRAG TIME
From the BBC Sport website.
In June.
*Ahem* Thanks to WRW’s sources!
BREAKING NEWS
Well, Wales need a defence coach…
ALEX SANDERSON
I read with interest some message-board comments, doubtless from WRW subscribers, about how much new Sale Sharks Director of Rugby Alex Sanderson hated Tigers in his playing days. But surely everybody outside of Leicestershire hates Tigers? Have you not noticed?
It is though a big jump to be the number one, when you have to delegate rather than do. But Sanderson - who, if he is like his brother Pat, will also be good fun - might prove to be a fine replacement for Steve Diamond on and off the field.
After all, keeping the club visible in the Manchester area is no mean feat with the competition including United, City, five other Football League clubs, 1 in the Conference….oh and rugby league, Test match cricket and plenty more besides.
Certainly, Mark McCall’s right-hand man at Saracens is no shrinking violet and has been a sought-after commodity and this quote, referred to in The Times, strikes me as
“Two international teams who have come in, one forwards, one defence, and two other Premiership clubs,” Sanderson said.
Who could they be? International teams would certainly include Wales, who are still in the market for a new defence coach and I’d be surprised if England didn’t knock on the door, given his relationship with John Mitchell after the New Zealander arrived at Sale. But as for the Premiership? I wonder…
I’m thinking of a Premiership club with great history, but who have fallen on hard times who needed a strong character to knock heads together with coaching experience and knowledge of the English top-flight. Ring any bells?
RUNNING FROM DEEP
Sir Ian McGeechan has his say on England picking 28 players for the Six Nations and having to stick to it (barring injuries of course). This from the Telegraph (£):
Eddie has a decision to make over Kyle Sinckler. With the Bristol prop banned for the opening match, does he jettison him from his squad? I don’t think so. He would have to go with three tightheads in the squad as he will need specialist cover for that first match. But Sinckler is such a key player for England now that I think Eddie will accept his absence for one game.
Bath’s Will Stuart and Exeter’s Harry Williams were back-ups in the Six Nations resumption/Autumn Nations Cup campaign. Joe Heyes was going to be used for the ill-fated Barbarians game. Surely not?
What do you make of this? A South African coach’s sounding-off on the game as it stands right now… and he’s not impressed.
He’s very hot at the moment and yes, he did start in the Leicester Academy. He may well end up in the England squad this week.
I’m not bitter he was released. Personally, I’m just glad Paolo Odogwu’s found the place thats’s worked out for him.More next week and hopefully we will have some rugby to get excited about, very soon.
Superb as ever Chris. Zondagh’s comments are 100% spot on. I heard that we may have looked at Sanderson 🤷♂️
Excellent as ever 👍