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Premiership Rugby still to reach agreement over player release for World Cup

Back three star Liam Williams is in a contract year at Saracens. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Premier Rugby and World Rugby have yet to reach an agreement that will ensure players from Wales, Scotland and a number of other countries won’t be denied permission to take a full part in World Cup training preparations.  

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Wales names their training squad as early as next Tuesday for the finals in Japan, but Warren Garland is still uncertain he will have access to the likes of Liam Williams, Dan Biggar and Taulupe Faletau are for their altitude training camp in July, and their first warm-up match against England on August 11.

The next World Rugby council meeting is due to be held on May 22 and it is hoped by then that an ongoing row with Premiership Rugby (PRL) will finally be resolved. 

It was last December when the Guardian newspaper reported that PRL issued World Rugby with a legal action threat regarding insurance. As a consequence, they insisted they would strictly enforce the release of non-English players. 

Such a restriction would mean that a raft of Welsh and Scottish players – along with others from Tonga, Samoa and Fiji who are contracted to Premiership clubs – would not be able to join their countries’ World Cup preparations until mid?August, only 35 days before the tournament begins in Japan. 

“We are continuing to have discussions with World Rugby and while we have made progress there are still some outstanding issues,” a PRL spokesperson told the Guardian.

“Positive discussions are ongoing, however there are still some details that need confirming. We cannot confirm these finer details at this stage but we look forward to further positive discussions with World Rugby.”

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World Rugby’s regulation 23 states that clubs are compensated by unions for injuries picked up on international duty for players who earn £225,000 or less a year. Anything more than that is paid by the clubs.

World Rugby. agreed to increase the threshold to £350,000 but PRL wanted no limit and requested it be removed on the basis there are 60 non-English internationals in the Premiership earning £225,000 or above and 25 on £350,000 or above.

WATCH: The RugbyPass documentary on what awaits fans at the World Cup in Japan

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fl 2 hours ago
Why Les Kiss and Stuart Lancaster can lead Australia to glory

“A succession of recent ex-players going straight back into the game as coaches in their early 40’s would prob be enough to kill it stone-dead. Innovation would die a death.”

Would it? I do think one of the major differences between rugby and most other sports - which we’ve been overlooking - is the degree to which players are expected to lead team meetings & analysis sessions and the like. Someone like Owen Farrell has basically been an assistant coach already for ten years - and he’s been so under a variety of different head coaches with different expectations and playing styles.


“The most interesting ppl I have met in the game have all coached well into their sixties and they value the time and opportunity they have had to reflect and therefore innovate in the game. That’s based on their ability to compare and contrast between multiple eras.”

I don’t doubt that that’s true. But having interesting insights doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be the best able to inspire a team, or the best at managing the backroom staff.


“Wayne Smith winning the WWC in his mid sixties three years ago prob means nothing to you but it meant a lot to him. It took him back to the roots of is own coaching journey.”

I don’t doubt that! But I don’t think coaches should be hired on the basis that it means a lot to them.


“The likes of Carlo Ancelotti and Wayne Bennett and Andy Reid all have a tale to tell. You should open your ears and listen to it!”

I agree! Never have I ever suggested otherwise!

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