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Tom Stade On Shopping Picture

British rugby is underneath great threat of their best players moving away, mainly to France. The vastly higher salary cap of the French Top 14 league allows clubs to offer much higher wages than Avia Premiership or Magners League teams can. High profile players such as Jonny Wilkinson, James Haskell and Tom Palmer all presently play in the Top 14.

There are a number of players that have been reported to be mesmerized in moving to France at the end of this season. Two being Andrew Sheridan & James Hook of Kooga’s Ospreys.

This has worried International Rugby Unions as they believe they have less access to their players whilst playing in a league they do not have control over. In this article I will talk about whether the mass exodus of players is a good or bad thing and if bad, how may it be avoided?

Different International Rugby unions have varied policies with their players and clubs. The territorial clubs of the Magners league have a very close kinship with the national team. The little amount of regions give the global side very good positional compoundings such as the half back pairing of Stringer and O’Gara for Ireland that lasted for assorted years. The national team also has agreements with the clubs for player release for games and extra training.

The RFU works somewhat differently. Due to the long history and number of teams in the English top flight, it has been harder for the clubs and RFU to agree on how players are made available. The old saying of ‘Club vs Country’. In 2007 an agreement was made with the 12 premiership teams to give the national side more control and access to players in return for wage compensation.

These agreements by National Rugby teams and their clubs is a way of hopefully bettering the national team’s performances by having the players for longer and protecting them from sure games if they feel they will have to be rested. This in theory is a good idea and will gain every one concerned but only works if the players play for clubs under their jurisdiction.

English Players for example playing in France do not fall under these terms and their clubs only have to release their players for official International dates. This happened when England kept James Haskell when his club Stade Francais insisted he ought to be back with them.

Should a player playing abroad be a problem? Surely they may have written in their contract that they are to be made available for their countries program. National coaches disagree and more measures have been put in place to ascertain that their players play for a club in their own country. Both Warren Gatland & Martin Johnson have freed affirmations that they will not play any person from a none Welsh or English team respectively. They always do throw in except in special circumstances. This policy has put some players in to global obscurity like Tom May & Paul Sackey but they have realised they would be putting themselves in a disfavor if they didn’t select players such as Dwayne Peel, Andy Powell for Wales and Jonny Wilkinson for England.

England have reinforced this again by saying after the 2012 RWC they will not be picking players from abroad. Jonny Wilkinson looks set to resign with Toulon, will they stick to their word and not pick him after the world cup? I find it hard to believe that Wales won’t select James Hook if he leaves Kooga’s Ospreys or Martin Johnson won’t pick Andrew Sheridan if he leaves.

Footballers are perpetually criticised for being cash grabbers, using agents to demand higher and higher wages. Are rugby players getting the same by chasing the pound or will have to I say Euro? Although this may be true I believe that it is a dissimilar circumstance to football. Wayne Rooney’s on a weekly basis wage will compare to most yearly wages of the intermediate top division player. You could argue that a rugby player deserves more as they put their body on the line more and it is true to say that a rugby player is only one injury away from retirement. A player such as Sheridan plays in a high peril position and at 31 his next contract perhaps his last. Can you blame him for wanting it to be as huge as possible? I can’t see him going on rigorously Come Dancing.

Said this, a big amount of players do choose to stay playing for clubs in their own country, perchance sacrificing cash for pride and their International career. Many will say these players must be rewarded for this. I can’t argue with that.

There are numerous arguments for and versus this subject. New Zealand have a rigorous policy of only playing players based in New Zealand. Because of this they have lost high profile players who have moved to Europe for lets be honest, money. The likes of Jerry Collins and Carl Hayman, who both would still be considered to play for the All Blacks. They even lost Dan Carter for a year when he was given a sabbatical to play in France. Some would say this is cutting their nose off to spite their face. I do agree with the New Zealand policy. Jonny Wilkinson may hop on a plane and be at Twickenham more quickly than Andrew Sheridan and Mark Cueto may drive down from Manchester. This isn’t so with the European based players travelling back to New Zealand. Also one of the reasons for New Zealand’s success is the way they play. This attacking style of rugby is played by all their clubs and from the very point a player picks up a rugby ball and puts on their boots. Players not using this system day in day out may not slip into the set up as well.

This scheme possibly true in countries such as Wales, Ireland and Scotland with provincial clubs and no relegation but it would be inconceivable to impose a style of play on so galore premiership clubs who winning is everything. The matter of advert and relegation is another matter we will discuss. This could be argued a reason why playing abroad isn’t as bad in England situation. On the matter of style, there could be an vantage of someone playing their rugby abroad. Different teams will have dissimilar style and strength, even more so in other countries. Surly having players learning new styles, moves, and cultures will heighten a team. Jonny Wilkinson says he is playing the best rugby of his life. If this is so, it has to be an vantage to the national team.

Unfortunately I don’t think there is a definitive answer whether a national team will have to demand players will have to play domestically. The argument changes for dissimilar countries depending on their location, club set up and implementation of playing style. I feel where England are concerned, they need to pick an boulevard and stick to it. Saying they will only select domestic based rugby players but then continuing to pick the stars from abroad is only at best going to put of numerous of their border line internationals. Maybe if the All Blacks win the WRC you could say their scheme is the one to follow.