This week we will mostly be concerning ourselves with the supply of money, being hung out to dry and a few wishes for the year ahead\u2026<\/p>\n
What if the Prem plan doesn\u2019t work?<\/p>\n
The most concerning aspect of the Sale<\/a> squad\u2019s midweek meeting with the club owners this week was not the run of form that preceded it. Rather it was the numbers that preceded it. GBP 8m is a heck of a lot of money to lose on anything, never mind simply to keep a rugby club afloat. But that was the annual result shown in Sale\u2019s most recent accounts. To put that into perspective, Sale\u2019s annual loss is 120 per cent of the annual base salary cap for the entire squad.<\/p>\n Imagine a company making an operating loss to the value of 120 per cent of its annual wage bill? We can, but not a company that would be operating next year. But then such losses are the nature of the industry; the 10 clubs in the Prem made a loss of GBP 32m combined according to preliminary figures released this week. Rising costs, squeaky tight margins, covid loan burdens, continued reliance on benefactors with deep pockets, all are haranguing one or the other Prem clubs.<\/p>\n Newcastle were thought to be on the brink of going the same way as Wasps, London Irish and Worcester before Red Bull gave them wings, and added depth in a couple of other positions as well. Harlequins\u2019 losses are put at around half the salary cap; that\u2019s a side that, unlike Sale, has a long, famed, and well-established fan base, densely-populated catchment area and draws an average home gate of roughly double that of Sale.<\/p>\n Small wonder then that the Prem<\/a> is all but certain to scrap relegation this season, ostensibly in order to safeguard its money-losing teams from the financial ardours of relegation, while at the same time draping itself suggestively in equity shop windows and hoping for some well-heeled \u2013 preferably American \u2013 custom. And given that the product is, currently at least, both attractive and English-speaking, it may well get it. Few things get such deals moving forward like a common language of communication.<\/p>\n PREM Rugby Team of the Week: Lions star \u2018strikes terror\u2019 in \u2018proper statement\u2019 performance as Louis Rees-Zammit \u2018seems right at home\u2019 in new position<\/a><\/p>\n But those numbers, while not totally surprising, should make one thing clear: if that custom is enticed to a different shop window over the next few months, there are few other possibilities out there. It\u2019d be nice to know if there\u2019s consideration being given to a Plan B.<\/p>\n Baptism of fire<\/p>\n If you are going to devote the time and resource to becoming a professional referee, it\u2019s going to be at least in part driven by the desire to be the whistler in those big games: World Cup Finals, Six Nations deciders, European crunch knock-outs, play-offs, derbies.<\/p>\n That dream came true early in the career of the 27-year-old Peter Martin at the weekend as he took charge of a Munster<\/a> v Leinster<\/a> clash laden with subplots and scores to settle after Munster\u2019s surprise win in Dublin earlier in the season. Seasoned referees would have had to breathe deep and settle the nerves, to call on the reserves of experience, would have had an inkling that it could be a task that proved thankless.<\/p>\n The relatively green Martin never stood a chance. The two teams tore into each other, trying every sly trick in the book at every breakdown along with implementing some pretty aggressive defensive plans and limited attacking plans. It required a level of experience that Martin simply could not have been expected to have.<\/p>\n It was his misfortune to adjudge Alex Nankivell\u2019s potentially scoring pass forward when it probably wasn\u2019t, but he\u2019s not the first referee to do that \u2013 Wayne Barnes has a story about being wrong about forward passes and he turned out ok. If more scrum penalties should have gone to Leinster, more ruck penalties should have gone to Munster. Swings and roundabouts in a game where both teams sought advantage by both hook and crook. In the end, Martin could only referee what was in front of him, which was a pig of a game. An intense pig, a nuanced pig, a technically awkward pig, but a pig nonetheless.<\/p>\n Debating Tadhg Beirne\u2019s \u2018style of game gone\u2019 claim: The 35.8% statistic that backs up Ireland star\u2019s argument<\/a><\/p>\n So blaming him, to the extent that has been done so, for the game\u2019s poor quality is a bit rich from all concerned. Perhaps instead point the finger at the well-meant but ill-conceived selection process that put a rookie in charge of this game in the first place.<\/p>\n 2026?<\/p>\n What do we want for 2026? A more settled feel to the game for one, with less law-tinkering (and associated soap-boxing) and league-tweaking and more continuity.<\/p>\n A resurgence for Wales would be nice; if the problems are of their own making, so be it, but it feels wrong not to have a strong Welsh team in rugby; the same goes, to an extent, for Australia.<\/p>\n