I must admit that I was in two minds about posting this article as it’s a bit of a rant about the goings on in English rugby and particularly the impasse between the Premiership clubs and the RFU on a number of issues which maybe of little or no interest to readers. However, I’ve decided to don my body armour and tin hat, damn the torpedoes and go full steam ahead as it cuts across a couple of issues that have been galling me for ages namely the benefits of overseas players and player development/pathways. The latter has been a relatively hot topic on G&GR in recent months.
For the purposes of this exercise I’m going to look at three countries, Australia, England and Ireland. In all three countries at the elite level at least, I see pathway as a straight line from school to club academy, to senior squad and then on to representation at U20 or senior test level. In an ideal world I also see player development as a cooperation between national organisations and the clubs. However, this is some cases not completely true, the relationship between the English Premiership clubs and the RFU being a prime example. Before going down that particular rabbit hole I’ll Do The Time Warp, jump to the left and bring up the issue of overseas players and whether or not they are beneficial. It is relevant because it raises the issue of player development and comes courtesy of a recent comment by your friend and mine Mr Alley Oz – take a bow. And I quote:-
“The other issue for me is, while I am happy, particularly as a Reds fan, to see two, quality NZ developed front row replacements in our squad it does confirm to me that we might not have enough domestically developed players to stock all 5 teams with players who are at the standard (at least at present). Now if we had better structures we might be getting these players locally but at the moment we aren’t. And we are having to top up our playing pool with Englishmen, NZs, Saffers and islanders who are not qualified to represent the Wallabies.
Is that a problem? Not if it’s just for the short term. There will be benefits, for instance, for Zane Nongorr in both training with these blokes and competing with them for time. And that will make him a better player, almost as much as playing against quality opposition improves you, but maybe more so.
And is there anything wrong with this? As long as we can afford it, then I think it is fine but the only other concern I would have is, if almost all our SR teams have THPs that are from overseas/no Wallablies qualified (or another position. We had a similar issue with 10s at one point and it cost us but, with a centralised system, and some better grassroots development, this should be able to be avoided.
In the end, I don’t have an issue with borrowing overseas expertise for the short term to help develop out depth internally but we need to be able to afford to pay for it.”
Now, I don’t disagree with AO’s words but I do have my own take on them. Clubs do have a duty to do the best they can for their supporters and if this means bringing in a few overseas players then so be it. However, I also feel that they have duty to develop players in the national interest. So how many overseas players are in the squads of the club teams in the three countries (courtesy of the most recent info from Wikipedia). These are simply broken down into country qualified and non country qualified and gives an inkling of where I’m coming from, misjudged as it may be.
Ireland
Leinster 41 IQP 3 non IQP – 7%
Ulster 41 IQP 3 non IQP – 7%
Munster 38 IQP 4 non IQP – 9%
Connaught 37 IQP 8 non IQP – 18%
Australia
The Force 31 AQP 9 non AQP – 22%
Rebels 30 AQP 7 non AQP- 19%
Tahs 33 AQP 5 non AQP- 13%
Reds 37 AQP 5 non AQP- 12%
Brumbies 32 AQP 4 non AQP- 11%
Soap Dodgers
Bath 30 EQP 20 non EQP – 40%
Bristol 28 EQP 19 non EQP – 40%
Exeter 32 EQP 18 non EQP – 36%
Gloucester 20 EQP 13 non EQP – 39%
Quins 31 EQP 16 non EQP – 34%
Leicester 25 EQP 14 – 35%
Newcastle 22 EQP 21 non EQP -48%
Northampton 26 EQP 14 non EQP -35%
Sale 46 EQP 11 non EQP- 19%
Saracens 31 EQP 14 non EQP – 31%
So the stats are pretty clear but exactly what do they mean. Who knows?
The Future
Ireland are the best team in Europe and are in the top 3 in world rugby. They have a very strong U20 squad that is feeding into the provincial teams. The provinces have relatively few overseas players with a couple of NZers being Irish citizens. Guys like Bundee Aki, James Lowe and Gibson-Park are worthy of their places in the Irish side and at the same time can pass on their knowledge to develop IQPs. The IRFU and the provinces work hand in glove and present an ideal model. Envious, you bet.
The stats for the Aussie Super rugby teams are not that bad. Taking a look at the make up of the squads for round 4, you would be pushed to find an overseas player blocking the pathway of one of ours, so AO’s observation about overseas players being of benefit to our guys may have a ring of truth. However, this is not a time for complacency. We have a new management team in charge and a new coach who is well respected in the rugby world. It’s up to RA to identify talent either at u20 level, through a 3rd tier comp or at a community level via the state unions and feed these players into the elite system. Another G&GR colleague remarked on the number of Aussie players playing overseas. Up to date information on this is difficult to come by but in an article I found dating three years ago the figure was around 80 odd, representing guys with with SR or Aussie 7s experience. Whether these were older players looking to wind down careers or youngsters looking to broaden their experience is difficult to say. However, you cannot blame players for making these moves if that’s where the money is. After all, a professional player’s career can be cut short by a serious injury. It also makes me wonder where, when the Rebels fold, their playing squad ends up. I dare say a few will be heading home to QLD but we’ll see.
As far as the SDs are concerned, the stats are in my view pretty damning. The situation is not helped by the fact that under some ridiculous EU ruling (whoever heard of Brexit) Saffas and players from Fiji, Tonga and Samoa are not regarded as coming from overseas. Go figure. A change will be implemented in 2024/25 with match day squads being required to contain 15 EQPs. I’m sure the the Premiership owners will not mind that one bit as long as they continue to receive cash from the RFU to help fund their overseas imports. Just to highlight this I’ll give a few examples. At Bath Ollie Lawrence plays at 13, England play him at 12. Max Ojomoh also plays at Bath and is in the England squad as a 12. You would think that having a very decent pairing at 12 and 13 at both club and international level would make sense but no. Bath have Finn Russell at 10 on a salary around £750k pa. They chose to play another Scot, Cam Redpath, at 12. Ojomoh gets next to no game time at 12 and Townsend rubs his hands together. Thank you RFU. At the Quins, they have Esterhuizen at 12 (guess where he comes from?) and an England u20 centre getting next to no game time. To rub it in, they are now in competition with Leicester for Izzy Perese. Only this week it was reported that Sale were after a 33 yr Fijian on a one year contract when they already have another England u20 who could step up. As far as the Premiership is concerned there is apparently no interest like self interest.
The Young Ones.
Finally as a bit of a digression, have a look at the 6Ns U20 championship on STAN. Some great rugby. The SDs come out on top after beating the French 45-31. According to the press the Frogs have a shed load of players in their Top 14 league. They even have another Tuilagi dropped from the senior side to play U20, not that it did them any good, how is that right? In the meantime the SDs have FA players playing on a regular basis in the Premiership. The SDs 10 plays in Div 1 FFS, hardly a development pathway. One of the England locks, Junior Epoku has already signed up and playing for Stuart Lancaster at Racing 92. His two other rugby playing brothers are also playing in France. There is every chance that he will be lost to Les Bleus. The very, very latest is that Wiese the Tigers 8 is leaving at season’s end to play in France. The Tigers have a shed load of academy players including the current England U20 captain who has been playing in the back row of the team that has just won the U20 6Ns. A very good prospect. He has played a few games in the Premiership as well. Time for him to get more game time you’d think. But no, the Tigers are importing another bloody Saffa, an U20 player who is meant to be the dog’s bollocks, on a long term contract to replace Wiese. Cannot be clearer example of a club’s self interest at the expense of a very good EQP. Am I p@##$d off. You bet I am.
