WRW SIX NATIONS EXTRA: MUCH AT STAKE
BACK TO BACK WINS?
Friday:
Bristol v Wasps, 7.45pm, BT Sport 1
Saturday:
Newcastle v Bath, 12.30pm, BT Sport Extra
Exeter v Harlequins, 12.30pm, BT Sport Extra
Northampton v Sale, 2.45pm, BT Sport Extra
Gloucester v Leicester, 3.00pm, BT Sport Extra
Sunday:
London Irish v Worcester, 1.00pm, BT Sport 1
We’ll have a good idea by the time Tigers kick off at Kingsholm tomorrow, just what they need to do to close the gap on the teams above them.
If Bath and Bristol were to make it a fine weekend for those around the Avon and Sale were to follow up their terrific victory over Newcastle, a place in the top 6 would be Leicester’s with a win.
A victory at Kingsholm would only be Leicester’s 2nd win on the road in the Premiership in nearly two years.
I’m hoping for a big game from the back row with a newly restored Hanro Liebenberg after suspension, as stopping Willi Heinz has usually been the way to halting Gloucester’s progress in past seasons. We shall see against a team, who are now off the bottom of the table and while they’ve lost 9 of their 12 games so far, only Leicester whipped them by more than 20.
This is a very different Gloucester team to that which bore that heavy load on opening day at Welford Road. Watch with care.
NO CHANGE HERE
The last episode of LTTV gave us more insight on how the support package was put together with the help of HSBC and Sport England.
If you recall, that £10.7m package had three elements - a loan from Sport England, a loan facility secured by both major shareholders and an extended overdraft from HSBC.
While the shareholders’ loan facility was clearly a prerequisite for the other funding support, Peter Tom’s comment that “we don’t expect our money back” suggests at the seriousness of the situation. It also does not rule out the chance that loan facility could be converted back into equity when it expires in 2023, though should that happen, Sport England may have a view.
“Others” have re-upped their investment but beyond season ticket holders and those already stated, I wonder who else may have done so and who were offered the chance to do so, if any.
While hindsight is a wonderful thing, there is greater reason for optimism on the playing front than at any point since Richard Cockerill’s departure just over four years ago. Perhaps changes could have been made earlier, but then again advice, freely advised for the good of the club, could have been acted upon sooner too.
With the risk to survival now close to zero, the challenge now comes in how to strengthen the club’s financial strength beyond its pre-pandemic position. That will require fresh thinking and a new strategy, which were not wholly laid out, but a willingness to accept mistakes have been made, is a nod in the right direction.
There is also a recognition that local business opportunities have not always been maximised, which is not always measured in sponsorship revenue. Developing your brand and working alongside other local brands, for a common purpose, can be part of that too.
Recovery may not be quick, either. The events sector and hotels are bound to suffer from the impact of Zoom/Teams et al and I suspect an ongoing nervousness with public health. For instance, will wearing masks in public will become as common as say in the Far East?
But we do need more clarity on the “rolling 3 year” strategy? I don’t doubt Peter Tom’s sincerity when he says he wants the best for the club, but I don’t know what the strategy is, beyond sustaining the status quo and winning more matches. Anyone connected with Saracens the last few years might dispute that financial success automatically follows victory on the field.
As unfair as the timing of the question is, are Leicester ready for that next big change that will come when Borthwick is - almost inevitably - lured into international rugby? Offers will surely come after the next World Cup, if the improvement at Leicester continues as sharply.
But above all, we need to see more flesh on the bones on how Leicester intends to build its brand.
HELPING THE CHAMPIONSHIP PT 2
Just one last word on how to help the Championship get the facilities it needs.
If you have the facilities, you can then start earning commercial income and with greater commercial income comes a sustainability for decent squad sizes, etc, etc..
The RFU currently funds junior clubs up to and including National League One, with help to develop their grounds. You can apply for small matched grants via the Rugby Football Foundation to large scale facility grants and loans for capital projects.
Separately, the RFU have also made grants and loans ranging up to £100,000, often partnering up with Sport England. There is obviously some help available to the Championship but it’s paltry compared to the French and the lack of interest from Premiership Rugby cant’t be ignored.
This feels like an area which could be extended to support the Championship, actions which seem particularly appropriate in a week when England alone will benefit by £95 million over 5 years.
Nearly £20 million a year will get used rather quickly, but isn’t this exactly the type of long-term development the CVC investment was intended to foster?
Sweeney said potential areas for investment included "club, ground and stadium development, data and digital investment and opportunities to further grow the women's game".
He added: "As a result of significant revenue losses, we will also apportion some CVC capital in the short term to pay down debt and rebuild reserves."
IMAGE RIGHTS ISSUES OUT OF FOCUS
Recent coverage on image rights and how payments to players may have been manipulated to cheat the salary cap, requires a steady view, with this story likely to run and run.
First reported in i, then picked up by the Telegraph and elsewhere, this is an uncomfortable story where the template was created within football but rugby can’t be blind to it.
While HMRC are always careful not to put advice down in writing, the suggestion has been that an 80/20% split between salary and image rights would be considered fair. Anything resembling a 50/50 split or higher, as seen in Premier League football, would not.
Speaking to a couple of people in the last 24 hours, enquiries may be far more advanced than previously thought, I understand.
HMRC have been holding discussions, around the time of the Saracens salary cap scandal in 2019, though further enquiries have been hampered by Covid. One club - not Leicester - appears to have had a visit from HMRC, which led to no further action being taken.
It’s not beyond the realms of possibility that some clubs have acted inappropriately in the past, but that would have been on a very limited basis. Given the publicity surrounding football and its issues with image rights, someone would have to be extremely brazen or foolish to get caught in this sort of trap.
QUICK HITS
0 games this season + 3 lines in statement = One brutal send-off
Whatever lies behind the decision, this is a player who has genuine talent but has undoubtedly rubbed people up the wrong way. I’m sorry to see him go, but if he kicks on under another club’s tutelage, I will be fascinated and pleased for him.
RUNNING FROM DEEP
It’s not been widely marked in the West, but yesterday marked the ten year anniversary of the horrific earthquake and tsunami which struck Western Japan.
Rugby played its small part in the 2019 World Cup host city of Kamaishi. This is the city’s story…
Apparently, Eddie Jones has got the message about discpline ahead of France tomorrow. According to the Guardian:
Jones has admitted his players had been “trying too hard” when giving away needless penalties and wants them to improve on how they deal with their disappointment during the match.
Citing France’s knack of forcing their opponents to infringe, Jones said: “We have tried to create training sessions this week particularly to replicate what might be termed as a disappointment in the game to make sure that we don’t lose our focus. Because what happens when you are not at your best is when you get those disappointing moments in the game, all other ideas start flooding into your head instead of just getting back to what is really important.
Let’s see if that’s spin….BUT Ollivon has to be stopped at breakdowns near the French line..
And the most detailed analysis of the Six Nations’ deal with CVC is from Owen Slot in The Times. It’s a little rosier than I would agree with, but he may have a point here on CVC’s motives:
The other question is: what is CVC hoping to achieve? This is harder to fathom, though that is not to suggest that there is some secret move afoot because it seems that there is not.
The fact is that the big driver of increased revenue over the past two decades has been the rise in the value of TV rights; this has now plateaued.
The single biggest increase in earnings for CVC and the unions is not going to be from the Six Nations Championship but, instead, from the autumn. In future years the Autumn Nations Cup will involve the big southern hemisphere nations and the tournament’s value will grow.
Will this be enough? If CVC has doubled its pot by the time it reaches the exit, it will be considered a good deal. It therefore needs to make Test rugby work harder and it believes it can do that with better marketing and use of data. It is widely recognised that the game’s personalities are hopelessly under-promoted.
….
The next set of TV rights are up for sale. They should be worth at least £150 million a year, maybe £200 million. If they average £175 million, CVC’s return would be £25 million a year. That alone is good business.
Enjoy the rugby weekend and remember if you get a chance to have a Covid vaccine shot, miss the rugby and go…
See you soon
Chris