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How the 'ruthless' Premiership is punching far above its weight

Marcus Smith of Harlequins gives comfort to Maxime Lucu of UBB after their victory after the Investec Champions Cup Quarter Final match between Union Bordeaux Begles and Harlequins at Stade Chaban-Delmas on April 13, 2024 in Bordeaux, France. (Photo by Lionel Hahn/Getty Images)

Gloucester boss George Skivington believes the success of Premiership clubs in the Investec Champions Cup and the European Challenge Cup proves the league is more “ruthless” than people realise.

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The Premiership sides cannot compete against the big-spending French clubs, while the Irish provinces have the ability to bring in world-class players with Leinster signing Jordie Barrett, the All Black star, to highlight their buying power having also taken RG Snyman, the World Cup-winning Springbok lock, from arch-rivals Munster.

However, Northampton Saints and Harlequins are in the last four of the Champions Cup while Gloucester will have home advantage in their Challenge Cup semi-final against Benetton.

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Springbok legend Victor Matfield gives his verdict on Bulls Director of Rugby Jake White

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Springbok legend Victor Matfield gives his verdict on Bulls Director of Rugby Jake White

Springbok legend Victor Matfield said the Bulls are starting to reap the rewards of Jake White’s planning, including the development of some future Springboks.

English rugby’s top clubs are operating with a £5m salary cap that will rise to £6.4m next season which means they will still lag behind the financial strength of the Top 14 which has attracted a raft of England players including Jack Willis, Henry Arundell, Owen Farrell and Billy Vunipola.

Skivington said: “There is a lot more money in other competitions and the French and Irish have an advantage.

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“But, I think people underestimate how tough the Premiership is as a competition. It is absolutely ruthless and you have seen this season that if you win or lose a couple of games is the difference between where we sit right now (ninth) and having an opportunity to be in the playoffs.

“People underestimate the league and Harlequins and Northampton have done a great job to be in the Champions Cup semi-finals and turned over some quality teams to do that.

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“The Premiership deserves a lot of respect because it is a ruthless competition week in, week out. We have to be honest about the money and it allows you to have more depth in your squad.

“With Premiership teams, you find that if you lose a couple of players in one position you are reliant on the academy lads or bringing people in on loan.

“It is never going to be a level playing field but in the Premiership you have some really good coaches getting really good value out of players with good systems.

“The Premiership is in a really good situation and we have seen the sharp end of that this season. We can compete (in Europe) if you get a bit of luck.”

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Gloucester head to Saracens on Saturday looking to rest key players with Exeter Chiefs and that semi-final looming.

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Comments

2 Comments
G
GH 428 days ago

the success of the premiership can be summarized by : only 10 teams. It makes a huge difference with the overcrowded top 14 (let us not talk about Leinster and URC…)

B
Blanco 427 days ago

The big players for the 3 fallen clubs have all bolstered the remaining clubs. That has been a bit of a windfall.

But agree in general, less clubs should equal more concentrated quality.

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T
Tom 47 minutes ago
Has 'narrow-mindedness' cost Ribbans and others their Lions chance?

I didn't say anything regarding whether I feel the eligibility rule is right or wrong, you've jumped to conclusions there…


The fact is the eligibility rule does exist and any English qualified player is aware when they sign a foreign contract that they're making themselves ineligible and less likely to be picked for the Lions. If Jack Willis and Dave Ribbans priority was playing for England and the Lions they wouldn't be playing in France. Whether they should be allowed to play for England or not isn't my point. Under the current rules they have chosen to make themselves ineligible so they can't have their cake and eat it while other players have taken lesser salaries to commit themselves to their dream of playing for England and the Lions. They have made their choices.


Besides, while it works for South Africa doesn't prove it will work for any other country. South Africa have an extraordinary talent pool of incredible rugby athletes which no other country can compete with. They sadly don't have the resources to keep hold of them so they've been forced into this system. If they had the wealth to keep all their players at home and were still playing in Super Rugby they might be even better… they could be worse. We can't know for sure but cherry picking the best country in the world with a sample size of 1 and extrapolating it to other nations with very different circumstances doesn't hold water. Again, not saying the eligibility rule is correct just that you can't assume scrapping it would benefit us simply because South Africa are world champions.

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I
IkeaBoy 1 hour ago
How Leinster bullied the Bulls at Croke Park

Expert coaches exist across the land and the IRFU already funds plenty. Ulster own their academy and who owns Ulster?


If you go to school in the North and rugby/tag rugby isn’t even on the PE curriculum until 12/13 as opposed to 7 or 8 in Leinster, how is that the IRFU’s fault? Even then, it’s only certain schools in the North that will offer it. On what basis would they go up to the North (strictly speaking, another country in the eyes of some) and dictate their schools programme?


The ABs used to be light years ahead of the pack because their eventual test superstars had been playing structured, competitive rugby from an average age of 5/6! On top of kicking it around the yard from the age they could walk with their rugby mad parents and older siblings.


Have you somehow gotten the impression that the Leinster system is not working for Irish rugby? What is that based on? The SARU should just stop competing because despite their back to back RWC’s, all 4 of their URC teams aren’t contesting semi-finals every year?


A couple of mining towns basically provided a Welsh team in the 70’s that were unplayable. Queensland in the old Super 10 provided the spine of an Oz team that were the first to win multiple world cups and in the same decade. The ABs population density is well documented with 35% of the population living around one city.


Is England’s match day 23 equally represented by mid-counties players, tough as nails northerners, a couple from Cornwall, a pack of manc’s and a lone Geordie? Ever?

It’s cute they won’t relegate the Falcons but has a Geordie test player ever hit 50 caps?


It’s ok not to understand geography. It’s also ok not to understand sport. Not understanding the geography of sport is something different entirely.

266 Go to comments
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