The Stade Français president, Max Guazzini, this week announced that he would not be signing any more England-qualified rugby players who were either in the national senior squad or close to it. He has had enough of losing the likes of James Haskell and Tom Palmer for a month in the autumn and two months during the Six Nations, and will look to other countries for recruits.
England’s governing body, the Rugby Football Union, announced at the end of last year that after the World Cup, players who were earning their livings outside England would only be considered for Test duty under exceptional circumstances.
Guazzini is unhappy not just at losing Palmer and Haskell for long periods, but at seeing English clubs handsomely compensated for the players they provide to England’s elite squad. While the two forwards, along with Toulon’s Jonny Wilkinson, rested, recovered and trained with England this week, the France squad have returned to club duty for their Top 14 matches this weekend.
France is now the one major union where the club and international games run on parallel lines, one of the reasons why the national coach, Marc Lièvremont, will not be staying after the World Cup. He envies England’s model.
But is it working more to the advantage of the England XV than the club sides?
Northampton, runaway league leaders in the fall, have not won a Premiership match during the Six Nations so far. Dylan Hartley, Tom Wood, Ben Foden and Chris Ashton have been formidable presences with the red rose on their jerseys (as would Courtney Lawes have been, surely, had he been fit); the club mates have clearly left a gaping hole in the Northampton XV.
Just as the likes of Stade Français may have cause to question the value of signing England internationals, is it worth the Saints having so many on their books?
Guazzini made the point that Palmer was not in the England side when Stade signed him. Nor were Foden, Ashton, Hartley, Lawes and Wood internationals when the Saints signed them.
Northampton looked odds-on for a top-two finish just a couple of months ago, never mind top four, but even with a couple of games in hand, they are in danger of falling well behind the front two, Leicester and Saracens. Defeat at Exeter on Sunday would not only be a sixth in a row in the Premiership, but would leave them just fighting for a top-six finish rather than sparring with the title contenders.
The Saints have already met the top three twice and their fixture list for the remainder of the regular season is not the most daunting, even though five of their final eight matches are away from Franklin’s Gardens.
If their England players, when they return, show their usual confidence and contagious self-belief, then Northampton will finish in the top four.
The loss of the England players has been compounded by injury to the scrum-half, Lee Dickson. Northampton’s problems at half-back have become more glaring in their weakened state and their director of rugby, Jim Mallinder, has admitted that the club’s recruitment policy will be looked at.
The RFU is keen for clubs to develop young England-qualified players. This aim is helped because with a salary cap of $7 million per season, English clubs are usually out-bid for the services of South African, Australian and New Zealand stars by the “loadsamoney” clubs in France.
Yet Northampton find themselves in the position of being at a disadvantage because the players they have developed are away en masse with England.
There are 22 fixtures in the regular Premiership season. More than one quarter are played during the November internationals and Six Nations, with a seventh being held at the end of October, when the England squad are in camp ahead of their autumn series. Add to that two mandatory rest periods for elite players during the season. It means a club like Northampton may feel unfairly penalized for having too many English star players.
For example, Ashton has played in six league matches for Northampton this season, compared to 13 at this stage last year. He has played for his club only once in the past four months.
A successful national side will have an impact on the whole of the game in England, but much of it is intangible, and it will be of small consolation to Northampton if they miss out on a play-off place despite having won eight of their first nine league matches.
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