In the past 2 days its emerged that Riki Flutey, James Haskell and Tom Palmer have left to join various French clubs who are not restricted by salary caps. Also Raphael Ibanez has retired from club rugby following a series of medical problems, mainly caused by repeated concussions.
Given that England have proved they’ll still consider players outside of the UK by picking Andy Goode at flyhalf, is this a good reflection on the English Club Rugby scene, and what effects will it have on other players like Danny Cipriani looking for a bigger pay cheque from Wasps? If England continue to lose out to French clubs when their youth decide to play across the channel for better pay, this will surely have bigger repercussions at senior level and we’ll see a further decline in their rugby status.
What are the options open to the Wasps now having lost 4 players at the end of this season? import retired Southern Hempisphere players to bolster the squad or bring in local players to replace those that have left? either way, it will surely hurt their chances at competing in all competitions next season.
what are the thoughts on the situation facing English rugby with the lure of the Euro?
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2 comments
Ron says:
Feb 18, 2009
Interesting post here BP. I guess at the end of the day the rugby players seem to be after money. If you are offered better money then take it. We have seen that with the New Zealand players leaving New Zealand and going to play in Europe for the big money. Will this kill New Zealand rugby? Maybe not now but as time goes on I think it would.
Now if nations such as England are also loosing their players to France where there is more money, it could also signal the death of English rugby. But then what will this do to French rugby where all these players are going? It will kill the French national team as their own local talent will not be playing the their own league and thus no room for growth.
A perfect example of this is English football. Their national team is useless in my opinion all because their Premier League is flooded with foreign players and their young local players do not get the chance to play at the highest level.
BP says:
Feb 18, 2009
ya true, but you’d have thought that the english clubs wouldve learnt from their football comrades. in anycase, they still have a club vs country fight on their hands which affects their international games whcih they still havent completely resolved, so basically, the future of english rugby is heading the same way as their football, overrated and underachieving….