Fearing players going abroad is a false storm

WORLD Cups provide rugby union with an opportunity to reset, and the actions taken following the 2023 tournament, which finished in France a few weeks ago, will be crucial to the game’s future.

- JEREMY CUSCOTT

One of the most important aspects is that the sport has to be sustainable around the world, and at the moment it is not, which can be seen by the problems experienced in the English club game.

The plain fact, which is being ignored almost everywhere, is that if you want a healthy sport you pay the players what you can afford, and not any more than that.

The knock-on effects of organisations like the RFU and Premiership trying to stop players moving to overseas leagues for better wages by denying them the opportunity to play international rugby is a false storm.

The reality, even in countries like France, is that the Top 14 clubs have a limited amount of overseas players that they can sign because of strict French Federation rules on the high number of French-qualified players each club must have. It means that England’s international losses to Top 14 clubs would be unlikely to reach double figures and, in any case, losing players who are 30 and above, like Owen Farrell and George Ford, would not irrevocably change England’s future.

Maybe losing Maro Itoje would be more of an issue, but if he went to France for two or three seasons and returned the year before the World Cup to a Premiership club, it would not be a disaster. If we cannot compete at the moment with the French and Irish on wages, so be it, because at least rugby union in England would be sustainable.

One of the aspects of this World Cup that really jolted me was the intensity of the quarter-finals, and especially those between France and South Africa, and New Zealand and Ireland.

I loved those quarter-finals because of their quality, drama and ferocity – and it was the same to a lesser extent with the France v New Zealand opener, and the Ireland v South Africa pool clash.