Worcester and Sale offered conditional spots in next season's Premier 15s
The Rugby Football Union has confirmed Sale Sharks Women and Worcester Warriors Women have been issued with a conditional offer to join the Allianz Premier 15s league for the 2023/24 season, bringing the number of clubs up to ten.
During the recent tender process, for entry into the league from the 2023/24 season onwards, eight clubs were granted places. However, the tender panel made a strong recommendation for the RFU and Women’s Premier 15 Ltd (WP15) to explore how greater geographical spread could be provided in the league.
The RFU press release read:
The RFU and WP15 recognise the need to grow the game in the North of England and acknowledge the challenges faced in the region. The RFU has therefore developed a package of support to grow the game in the North, which coupled with a strategy for further investment will allow Sale Sharks to adequately address the feedback from the tender panel.
Worcester Warriors Women have recently secured funding to enable them to continue to operate, therefore, they have also been offered a conditional place, subject to providing the required information requested by the RFU.
Once the Premier 15s NewCo Board is established, it will be the responsibility of the Board (and shareholders) to consider any league expansion for the 2024/25 season onwards and the process or system for entry.
Alex Teasdale, RFU Women’s Game Director said: “We know rugby in the North can be disproportionately challenged. We have therefore responded to the panel’s recommendation to explore if a northern club could be part of the league. Given the importance of having a northern provision, we believe with the proposed support package Sale Sharks will be well placed to continue their work to develop and grow rugby in the region.
“Worcester narrowly missed out on being awarded a place in the initial tender. The club’s circumstances are now changing and we believe it is only fair to also offer to work with them on a conditional basis to also continue to deliver elite rugby in the region.”
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Don’t pay a blind bit of notice to Lukie… he likes the sound of his own voice and is always looking for something controversial to say. He has been banging on about Leinster's defensive system all season like he knows something Jacques Nienebar doesn’t. Which is the reason why he didn’t apply for the job obviously
Go to commentsI’m all for speeding up the game. But can we be certain that the slowness of the game contributed to fans walking out? I’m not so sure. Super rugby largely suffered from most fans only being able to, really, follow the games played in their own time zone. So at least a third of the fan base wasn’t engaged at any point in time. As a Saffer following SA teams in the URC - I now watch virtually every European game played on the weekend. In SR, I wouldn’t be bothered to follow the games being played on the other side of the world, at weird hours, if my team wasn’t playing. I now follow the whole tournament and not just the games in my time zone. Second, with New Zealand teams always winning. It’s like formula one. When one team dominates, people lose interest. After COVID, with SA leaving and Australia dipping in form, SR became an even greater one horse race. Thats why I think Japan’s league needs to get in the mix. The international flavor of those teams could make for a great spectacle. But surely if we believe that shaving seconds off lost time events in rugby is going to draw fans back, we should be shown some figures that supports this idea before we draw any major conclusions. Where are the stats that shows these changes have made that sort of impact? We’ve measured down to the average no. Of seconds per game. Where the measurement of the impact on the fanbase? Does a rugby “fan” who lost interest because of ball in play time suddenly have a revived interest because we’ve saved or brought back into play a matter of seconds or a few minutes each game? I doubt it. I don’t thinks it’s even a noticeable difference to be impactful. The 20 min red card idea. Agreed. Let’s give it a go. But I think it’s fairer that the player sent off is substituted and plays no further part in the game as a consequence.
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