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'There will obviously be an occasion where there is disagreement'
By Liam Heagney
English rugby administrators have admitted they expect a limited number of controversies to arise during the 2024/25 season regarding the implementation of the new professional game partnership.
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The new eight-year plan governing the professional game in England, which allows for an elite playing squad of 50, was unveiled at Twickenham on Wednesday afternoon and it has given Test team head coach Steve Borthwick greater control over 25 of these elite players on an annual basis.
Borthwick will have the final say on all sports science and medical issues regarding those 25 players selected for enhanced elite player squad deals, but officials believe the inclusion of independent members on the new professional rugby board can limit any major controversies regarding the unavailable of players to their clubs to one or two instances per season.
Kicking off the post-partnership announcement media briefing at Twickenham, which has been newly rebranded as Allianz Stadium following a 10-year naming rights deal, RFU CEO Bill Sweeney explained: “For the enhanced EPS players, the 25, Steve has an oversight and a say over anything to do with S&C, anything to do with individual development programmes and he will work with the clubs to develop that going forward.
“There will obviously be an occasion where there is disagreement or an inability to come the final conclusion. That’s the whole purpose of the men’s professional rugby board bringing in an independent chair, so we take that to discussions there and we will resolve them.”
Phil Winstanley, the Premiership Rugby director, stressed this potential area for club and country conflict under the new agreement was something that had been discussed long and hard with Conor O’Shea, the RFU’s director of rugby performance.
“Clearly this has been one of the areas Conor and I have spent a lot of time trying to get right because it is very easy as a concept but to actually put it into practice and deal with the what ifs is a little more difficult,” he began.
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“We have spent a lot of time with the directors of rugby, Conor with Steve, just talking through how this will work. Very simply speaking, Steve will have final say on S&C and medical issues for those players in the enhanced EPS. The directors of rugby will have final say on selection of those players and on S&C, selection, medical for the non-enhanced EPS.
“The question that we came to which we spent the most time on is how do we ensure that that decision making is reasonable and that is where, as Bill says, the PRB will come in and monitor that. It won’t necessarily but it could make a recommendation to change a decision or to change the process, but it won’t necessarily override that. It will just ensure that a decision that is made is a reasonable decision.
O’Shea, who was seated alongside Winstanley at the top-table briefing set-up, chipped in: “Like with anything, it is check and challenge which every system should have done through an independent which is a good thing.
“But we all come from it and that’s why it is so important the IDP process is started off as it is, player, club and country coaches all sitting in a room together all deciding the way forward because we all want the same thing – you want your best players on the pitch for your club and your country at the backend when it really counts.
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“That’s what it is all about. Will there be one or two (arguments)? Of course, that’s the nature of rugby and we have to make sure there is a check and challenge over that in the right way.”
Winstanley hoped that any acrimony regarding the power now bestowed to Borthwick would be limited to less than a handful of instances. “I hope when we get to this point next year that we are talking one or two cases.
“The reality is we have a proper IDP (individual development process) in place and Steve has been to six of the (10) clubs already overseeing the process. We should be addressing any S&C needs at that point in time. If there is anything fallen through the gaps we have got something slight wrong there.
“Any long-term medical issues are medical issues, they get dealt with anyway and there will be a plan to what the season looks like in terms of when players are playing and that IDP will be reviewed on a regular basis, so we are really narrowing it down to some really fine, nuanced decisions to whether a player has a medical need and does he need to rest this week or can he do something next week?
“It’s that type of nuanced decision. I am hoping that if we get this right then there won’t be too many of those when we sit down next year and talk about this… What is so important is we have to have better communication and relationships between the England head coach and the directors of rugby, and Steve has put so much effort into this over the last few months and that is starting to play out in the success of this process.”
O’Shea now took over the floor again. “Where it does relate to having the aligned medical record system there will be aligned data so there are no surprises. Are there going to be two or three potentially at the end when we look back? Yes. That be reviewed, challenged, checked to make sure that someone isn’t acting outside, but everyone is in it at the start for the same reason and that is why the importance of the IDP alignment at the start of the season is fundamental to this.
“There is 50 in the senior EPS, 50 in the U20 EPS – and there is up to 25 (senior) who will be enhanced. What Steve and all the clubs are doing at the moment is there is an indication of when the selection is confirmed in October, but they are probably going outside of that 50 at the moment in discussions because there is going to be the start of the season when you knuckle it down.
“In terms of Steve, it will be final say on medical and conditioning on the 25 enhanced… but he ain’t going to pick 25 this year. He wants people to really aim and want to be in that group.”
Winstanley added: “The independence of the new PRB and the independent directors will put a different dynamic into those discussions because historically in the room it has been RFU, PRL and RPA and, by definition, people have got self-interest. This will be a different dynamic when we get in the room.”
