Loose Pass: European rugby in a perilous position

Lawrence Nolan
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This week we will mostly be concerning ourselves with Europe, again, salary caps, again and a terrible feeling of ‘oh no, not again…’

One rule for them

Loose Pass referred to the European Champions Cup last week as cursed; frankly, we were right. But if nothing else, we are now forced to think back to a couple of years ago and to that time when so much rugby was off and many a player considered just how much the reduced load might have benefitted his or her health.

EPCR has insisted that the fixtures postponed due to exceptional circumstances in the Champions Cup will be caught up, which is both a bold and horrendously unfair statement to make; bold because there is not a pocket of breathing space in the calendar, unfair because if the virus causing a global pandemic which kills hundreds every day appearing within your squad is not an exceptional circumstance, goodness knows what is.

Leinster were already seething at the award of their match against Montpellier to the French team despite cases being present in both sides, but should EPCR decide to replay other games and stick with that forfeit, the RDS might melt down completely.

The same applies to the Scarlets; the exceptional circumstance referred to was the governmental decision in France about quarantine rules, but the Scarlets had been caught out by a similar sudden change in rules. Why should either suffer a 28-0 loss when others simply get another game? Why should the Ospreys forfeit a fixture because of Covid, when their opponents would not have travelled anyway?

And then what about the losses financially? Bristol noted that cancelling the Scarlets fixture cost them €350,000, but Leicester and others have done pretty well, thanks. That’s not a situation that ought to be continued.

This is not intended as a broadside against EPCR only, hindsight is a very precise science and there is a knee-jerk aspect to every reaction in this miserable Omicron era.

But loud questions are now being asked everywhere about the rest of European competition this season and beyond, given lukewarm interest only from French clubs, the glaring lack of room in the calendar, the spectre of player burn-out and concussion looming above the plans for mid-week catch-up matches, and the likelihood that even the best-laid plans are set to go awry over the next couple of months.

What EPCR would do well to do is come up with a solution founded on principles of ‘less is more’ for the current season; maybe even a similar solution for seasons ahead too, as the calendar continues to overflow.

Levelling out

Loose Pass also referred to salary caps last week and their perceived long-term benefit. With Exeter shipping out a first-choice second-row this week, that long-term benefit to the league might come sooner rather than later. It might even spread across leagues, given that one of Exeter’s departures was to Scotland. Leicester are resigned to losing two England internationals, yet the weekend proved that the young Tigers are every bit as good as the old.

A meeting was apparently held in France this week past to talk about cutting the salary cap in France as well. Not that it would be cut to anywhere near the Premiership level (the mooted cut is to just under double what the Premiership’s is), but it is at least indicative that everybody is in the same boat. Given the tortuous length of France’s season, some of the players deserve more, although not as much more as they currently get.

But there is a lot of movement looming between France’s teams this off-season. La Rochelle have made a number of big signings as they look to rejuvenate – and with a couple of older heads set to retire. Toulon have splashed out as well, as they so often do. Should the salary cap be cut in France too, you could expect the trading to reach fever pitch, not least with many a French team owner’s willingness to see how far a rule can be bent, or to see how water-tight it really is.

Anyway, the point is this: teams look to be becoming more even, while wages are unlikely to be able to spiral irresponsibly as they have before. And the difference between the evened teams is likely to be made by those players the club is able to produce itself, which should have both Eddie Jones, his successor, and Fabien Galthie all very excited.

Can the season be rescued?

We already mentioned the lack of wiggle room in the calendar, yet the fixtures continue to come and come, while Covid continues to cancel and cancel. The Ospreys have announced that a URC game is now off because of an outbreak; the number of positive tests across the Premiership last week was a new record.

Loose Pass hopes, more than anything else written here, that this season is able to make its way to a meaningful conclusion. For that, administrators, coaches, players and fans will have to work together, perhaps coming up with solutions more imaginative than anything we’d ever consider before. Seven weeks out from the start of the Six Nations, European rugby is in a perilous position.

Loose Pass compiled by Lawrence Nolan

Bristol