Is English rugby making the most of the talent available to it? The question is a direct one and, to Conor O’Shea’s credit, he does not duck it. “The simple answer is no,” replies the Rugby Football Union’s director of performance, sitting in the national squad’s hotel in Bagshot on a Monday morning. In the middle of a Six Nations championship, with a major Calcutta Cup clash looming, the Murrayfield outcome is currently not the only issue focusing minds around Twickenham.
Where to start? Late on Friday the RFU confirmed a six-week deadline has now been set for a workable set of minimum standards to be agreed with those clubs just below the Premiership, with a view to kickstarting a recast second tier in autumn 2025. Along with untangling the knotty issues of promotion, relegation, funding and player development pathways, there has to be a solid basic governance framework underpinning it all. Six weeks? Historically those things have taken years.
The ticking clock was further highlighted at Ealing Trailfinders on Sunday. Had the Championship leaders not butchered two gilt-edged try-scoring chances, hit the posts twice or conceded two scores after interceptions they would have deservedly beaten Leicester of the Premiership in their cup semi-final. Admittedly it was not a totally full-strength Tigers side but any newcomer watching the scrums would have concluded it was Ealing who were the top-tier big dogs.
Then again, the crowd was a modest 2,565 for one of the bigger days in Ealing’s history, restoking the debate about how many sustainable professional clubs England can actually accommodate. So how, exactly, should people now be regarding Ealing: as a friendly, well-coached pro club complete with a top-tier women’s side and direct links with nearby Brunel University or as a privately funded pipe dream entitled to only the most basic RFU funding?
It all boils down to the structure that works best for the English national team, future generations of young players and the domestic leagues themselves. England are not the only ones wrestling with structural dilemmas: Scotland have just announced the scrapping of the Super Series competition meant to support the country’s two pro sides while Wales are also seeking to rationalise their pathways. As O’Shea rightly observes, the first rule of elite player development is sacrosanct: they have to play.