English game's bold new era set to bring hope and trepidation

Amid thelikely triumphalism at Twickenham, concer still remains over how club and country matters will dovetail

- Gerar Meagher

English rugby's bold new era appears set to belatedly begin. Nearly 12 months since the Rugby Football Union chief executive, Bill Sweeney, bullishly said that English rugby was "on the cusp of something spectacular" the time has arrived to demonstrate why.

The much vaunted Professional Game Partnership is set to be unveiled, the agreement that governs how club and country coexist and cooperate, but amid the triumphalism we can expect at Twickenham today, there is trepidation too.

These eight-year agreements are not easy to formulate but that said, progress has been painstaking of late. There is a degree of cynicism from within the Premiership that it has taken until a few weeks before the season begins for clarity to emerge, and concerns that negotiations with players over their enhanced contracts have hit roadblocks along the way.

"Slow, slow" was how Ellis Genge described the progress only a couple of weeks ago.

Perhaps cynicism should be set aside for now. Just a couple of years into the previous agreement, Sweeney's predecessor was moaning it was too expensive.

Two years ago, Sweeney said "everyone is fed up" with the existing structure - a damning indictment of the state of the game in England - and he has made it his priority to improve it. It was not by coincidence that Simon MassieTaylor, with whom he worked at the British Olympic Association and the RFU, became Premiership Rugby's chief executive and a deal has been thrashed out.