The Premiership Rugby response to latest league merger speculation

Premiership Rugby appear to have killed off proposals for a British and Irish or Anglo-Welsh league in favour of retaining a 10-team domestic competition. Chief executive Simon Massie-Taylor has insisted that the Gallagher Premiership is in a “very strong position” after the possibility of a merger with sides from Ireland, Scotland and Wales was discussed at board meeting of English clubs last month.

In setting up such a competition in order to grow revenue from broadcast and commercial deals, the United Rugby Championship would be dissolved with its South African and Italian teams marooned without a league.

An Anglo-Welsh structure – a long-term talking point – has also been examined as a way of increasing value, in the process helping the ailing regions with more appealing cross-border fixtures. But Massie-Taylor has indicated that the Premiership will remain intact in its current format, stating that the “benchmark is massively high” when considering changes.

“You need to think not just four years ahead, but 10 years ahead,” he said. “You ask all the questions around European competitions and you’ve got to keep a long-term open mind about how things will pan out. We are really proud of the Premiership. We think it’s on a really good trajectory and the numbers prove that with the interest around it.

“If you were ever to change things, the benchmark is massively high and it should be. You look at all sorts of options but the obvious thing to say about a British and Irish league is what happens to the rest of URC? Because they’ve shareholders there and they’d all need to agree to do something different.

“When you look at the relative economics of things it’s quite hard to make it work for all stakeholders. I do think we’re in a very strong position. It’s difficult to see how you take an expansive approach without compromising elsewhere in the system.”

Premiership Rugby’s director of rugby Phil Winstanley also ruled out the possibility of Welsh teams joining the second-tier Championship with the aim of securing promotion, while stressing that the addition of the regions would force a fixture overlap with the Six Nations.

“We are in a really strong position in the Premiership so even to have the conversation the bar has to be so high,” he explained. Private equity giants CVC acquired a 27 per cent share in Premiership Rugby in 2018 and a 28 per cent share of PRO14 Rugby in 2020.

It was hoped that their involvement as well as the injection of cash would propel the club game to a new level, but instead it helped the game weather the financial turbulence caused by the pandemic. “CVC has a share hold in both. It’s not a vote on either/or when it comes to decisions like this,” Massie-Taylor said.

“As is their style, they have been very collaborative and encouraging of long-term thinking. This isn’t a mandate from them to come up with a solution. They realise the complexity. The Anglo-Welsh they would care about because they’ve got an investment in URC.”