Loose Pass
This week we will mostly be concerning ourselves with imbalances, more royal gossip, April Fools and special offers…
This week we will mostly be concerning ourselves with imbalances, more royal gossip, April Fools and special offers…
News broke this week that the Aviva Premiership salary cap would not be raised from its current level, provoking the usual mixture of frustration in some and relief in others.
Specifically, there are four clubs who believe it should be raised: Bath, Leicester, Saracens and Northampton. The rest have not seemed too vocal one way or the other, but given the economic climate it is perhaps still prudent to focus on 'survival, rather than development', as one Chief Executive put it when criticising the lack of a raise.
However, what is a financially healthy club to feel when they find their own league designs a restriction leaving them categorically unable to pursue the signing of the best in the business, i.e. unable to match the US$1.69m (GBP 1.05m; Euro 1.19m) per year set to be offered to Dan Carter by Racing Metro owner Jacky Lorenzetti? Probably a slight feeling of being leashed, to be sure.
But, and think very hard for a moment, what would be the greater good here? Abolish the salary cap so those four can flourish and flash their cash?
No. Carter's weekly salary will thus be getting on for US$ 32,500 a week, which is kind of grotesque when there are still people being made redundant all around the globe. Abolish the salary cap in the UK and you will one day end up with a soccer scenario where a handful of clubs have all the cash and players while the rest face a daily fight against bankruptcy just to keep even vaguely on the same playing field in terms of recruitment.
Premier Rugby has offered, in this new salary cap deal, a great amount of financial relief to a club that develops an England player through the ranks and has to deal with a big salary rise as a result. So a club spending well on development should reap the benefits in terms of that relief.
We happen to think that would be a good deal better than spending over £ 20 000 a week on a player who will be entering the late afternoon of his career after the coming World Cup…
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While on the subject of imbalances, could someone please explain why Karena Wihongi was banned for four months this week for taking – in the same manner and with the same lack of intent – the same banned stimulant as Bjorn Basson and Chiliboy Ralepelle, indeed why the latter two were exonerated?
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Martyn Williams is well set to be going to the royal wedding as we reported last week. But another invited rugby luminary, none other than Richie McCaw, has declined to come, with Super Rugby more on his mind.
It seems that New Zealand will be represented though, with Sean Fitzpatrick a likely guest, while Gareth Thomas, Mike Tindall and Brian O'Driscoll will also be among the throng. In fact, the only nation missing seems to be Scotland – we're wondering if Princess Anne will use her SRU patronage status to cause some good old wedding guest politics…
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Finest April Fool's gag of the week goes to none other than the RFU, who came up with the following gem:
“Routine kicking practice at Twickenham stadium could soon be halted after England fly-half Toby Flood kicked a ball out of the stadium and into the path of a passenger aeroplane as it made its approach into Heathrow Airport.
Experienced Icelandic pilot, Captain Mikael Takin, stated that “the ball was never in danger of striking the aircraft, but was clearly visible as it passed the co-pilot's window position and gave us a bit of a scare”.
None of the passengers were aware of the incident, but in a completely unprecedented action the airline authorities have now appealed to the RFU to reduce the pressure of the ball to prevent any future incidents.
A formal RFU response will follow after noon today, but sources close to Flood's camp have described it as “health and safety gone mad.”
A good one – although we've found video proof that such a concept is not unthinkable… have a gander at this!
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The first Olympic Sevens tournament for 92 years in Brazil will be hotting up long before the teams hit Rio's beaches for a spot of speed and acceleration training.
12 teams will play in the tournament, with qualification evenly distributed over the continents, meaning that Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, New Zealand and Australia might be all competing for only three or four final spots. One will have to miss out.
“The debate with Oceania [is that] there will have to be a qualifying process. There is the debate about using the HSBC Sevens World Series as a qualifier as well, then there is the debate [about] how many come from each region,” said tournament organiser Beth Coulter.
“We want the best of the best in both men's and women's [events], but you also want there to be the possibility of an upset. You want the Kenyas and possibly Russia and China coming through.”
One certainty is that the IRB will continue to develop regional tournaments, with the prospect of Olympic qualification as the carrot.
“It's about giving as many opportunities as possible so that they don't just have one chance to qualify,” Coulter said.
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London Irish put on a big bash for St. Patrick's Day, so it seems only fitting London Wasps should do the same for St. George's.
It's not all that well-know news yet, but you can get two-for-one tickets for the game on April 23 against Bath, simply by quoting “VOUCHERCODES” when placing a booking through the Wasps ticket hotline on 0844 225 2990.
It's likely to be a belter of a game, so we'd get cracking!
Loose Pass compiled by Richard Anderson