Loose Pass

This week we will mostly be concerning ourselves with caps, peculiar straightening of matters, accidents and crises…

This week we will mostly be concerning ourselves with caps, peculiar straightening of matters, accidents and crises…

So after all our talk last week about salary caps NOT being the reason for Saracens' crash at home to Clermont, it seems Premier Rugby feels differently.

The English league's governing body last Monday announced that the cap – which is already set to be raised by 17 per cent next season as well as a clause allowing the most moneyed of clubs to sign a 'marquee player' outside of the new GBP 4.5m ($7m) limit – would be reviewed in the wake of England's performance, or lack thereof, in Europe, as continued failure could 'harm England's prospects at a home soil World Cup.'

Throwing money at the problem really isn't the solution. For all the French clubs who have managed to buy their way to European glory, there are numerous ones who have not, even more who have given themselves some serious financial problems, more than one which has found itself staring oblivion in the face just trying to keep up with the Boudjellals.

But France's salary cap has at least ensured the Top 14 is a more even affair than it used to be five years ago when Toulouse had a player budget some eighteen times the size of Albi's, and it is that level of competition which has improved their general club rugby performance at home and in Europe. No longer can the likes of Toulouse and Clermont cruise through half their domestic season and that evening-out process has only just started.

The biggest problem staring England in the face right now is the generally lamentable quality of the Premiership rugby. There has to be a problem with a league where the current champions were eighth of twelve in the try-scoring table last season and where only three teams this season average more than two tries a game.

Simply allowing more money to vanish down more players' pockets will not usher in a cultural change in Premiership rugby, finding a way to nurture young players with keener attacking instincts and bringing in a less conservative national rugby culture will. English clubs might even find more money made available to throw around if that happens.

But then again, when you consider the demise of Wasps, perhaps not. The potential loss of one of England's most celebrated flagship clubs from their high-level rugby landscape is a tragedy for the English game akin to that of Otago's demise in New Zealand.

Hopefully it won't happen. Hopefully the club finds a new backer and can at least continue – hopefully with long-term stability.

But if the worst does happen it will be a timely reminder for Premier Rugby that money is actually tight in general and that not even the biggest names are immune to financial hardship or poor management.

Lifting the salary cap is one thing. Ensuring the money is there is quite another.

Insisting the Crusaders had not been 'cleared' of eye-gouging earlier this week was a real head-scratcher of a statement by SANZAR chief Greg Peters.

“It doesn't mean they are cleared, it simply means that there is no video evidence to substantiate the claim,” said Peters on New Zealand television.

What on earth is that supposed to mean? That there is doubt over the Crusaders' innocence?

Better came later in the interview when Peters added that teams with an on-field grievance and whose complaints result in a white card and citing are now compelled to substantiate the claims made on the pitch after the game, and that any on-pitch aired grievances not followed up after the game will be considered a probable breach of conduct.

In one fell swoop you have a lot of the potential problems associated with the white cards either removed or open to punishment. Perhaps now white cards might be more useful – and referees will be able to use their own initiative again.

The appalling injury that has struck at Warren Gatland leaves Wales in a big hole ahead of this June, but should the worst happen and Gatland be stuck in New Zealand for the June Tests it will be fascinating to see how the Welsh cope under the hands-on guidance of Shaun Edwards and Rob Howley, and even more fascinating to see if the club v country arguments, already bubbling under in the valleys, rear their heads again.

Gatland has been ferocious in his assertion of authority in Wales during his tenure and has been almost single-handedly responsible in bringing together any number of warring factions within the principality's passionate and turbulent landscape.

He's now likely to be away for a few months, and with Welsh teams stuttering domestically and in Europe, we are now going to see just how well Gatland has glued the Welsh model together.

Loose Pass compiled by Richard Anderson