LONG READ Mick Cleary: 'It's up to Steve Borthwick to make England's brave new world work'

Any system only takes you so far. There is no such thing as the perfect set-up, the magical blueprint that ensures success. In politics, in business, in sport, in life even. If there were then we’d all be doing it, copying the Greeks, Apple and Google, the New York Yankees and Real Madrid, or George Clooney, God bless his age-defying looks.

And we didn’t even mention the All Blacks in that list of exemplars of excellence, statistically one of the greatest of all enterprises. Whatever happened to them? Or why did it take them so long to win another World Cup after their inaugural success in 1987?

England U20s” width=”1024″ height=”583″ />RFU chief executive Billy Sweeney says the men’s national side have “underperformed massively” since winning the 2003 Rugby World Cup (Photo by Nick B Images)

All of which brings us to the RFU’s Professional Game Agreement, the £264m panacea for what chief executive Bill Sweeney dubbed two decades of underperformance by the national team. Given that three Premiership sides have gone bust in horribly recent memory, the state of affairs on the club scene has been none too sparkling either. Underperformance all round.

Of course the bells-and-whistles deal does offer hope for a better future for the elite game if only for the fact the head coach will have more control over his leading players, the ‘final say’ on sports science and medical matters as enshrined in the agreement. It is not so much an equal partners’ ‘agreement’, more an acceptance the Allianz-boosted coffers of the RFU have the wherewithal to ease the financial pressure that is the constant companion of the 10 Premiership clubs. It’s a centuries-old transaction – here’s the dosh, and here’s what you’re going to do. We all sell our souls on a daily basis.

Credit to the RFU for attempting to at least get the shape of the jigsaw sorted. But it will be up to Borthwick to bring it all together.

So, in theory, Steve Borthwick will be informed in good time and good faith about the sort of injury (hip, in this case) Ollie Lawrence was nursing through club games for Bath and which then ruled him out of the opening couple of games of this year’s Six Nations. That sounds a positive although for the life of me I don’t know why Borthwick wasn’t kept abreast of these matters under the old arrangement. There was supposed to be joined-up thinking even in those days. Club-and-country doesn’t have to mean club v country but, regrettably, it has done so.

It boils down to this. Any system is only as good as the people within it, only as consequential as the interaction between the various parties, only workable if there is trust and co-operation. There has to be a two-way street. At least now there is clarity on the all-important ‘final say’.

But here’s the rub. It will only guarantee smoother running. It does not guarantee success. How on earth does South Africa manage? Many of their players face a Race Across the World contest just to make it to a training camp. The Springboks are scattered hither and yon. Never mind the rigours of a season, they are battered from one end of a calendar year to another. And still they produce. For all the jibes thrown the way of Rassie Erasmus and his fruit-the-loop tendencies, the man is obviously a master performer when it comes to the management, emotional as well as physical, of his players. They want to be with him and they want to deliver for him and their country.

The New Zealand way used to be the acme for all other set-ups. It used to be said an 18-year-old novice in Waikato was being tutored in the way to ruck in exactly the same way as a 28-year-old with the national squad. The pyramid structure ran from the mighty All Blacks on the world stage all the way down through the ranks and the generations. It was the musketeer approach, one for all and all for one. It still is in many ways. It is only that New Zealand rugby has been buffeted by global economic forces, as well as Covid viruses, and is struggling (relatively) as a result.

The Irish way? Yeah, fine, of course. Andy Farrell has even more control than Borthwick. Across the Channel, Fabien Galthie has been the beneficiary of years of lobbying from the likes of Bernard Laporte, (who also did a spot of gamekeeper-turned-poacher when boss at Toulon) to have greater training access for his players. And yet? How did Ireland and France fare in the World Cup? All that investment and still it can come down to a dodgy decision or fine-line tackle.

Of course, you can’t legislate for outright success in sport. That is the very essence of the business. There is jeopardy at every turn no matter how all-encompassing an agreement might seem. A deal is only ever a part of the jigsaw. There are so many pieces that have to be in place.

Sweeney believes England should always be right in the mix for World Cup honours and Grand Slams. Good to see fuel for the fire still available for tribal baiting about the presumptuous English.

Credit, then, to the RFU for attempting to at least get the shape of the jigsaw sorted. But it will be up to Borthwick to bring it all together. And much as Sweeney railed against the accusation Borthwick was overseeing an ‘unstable’ environment that led to the departure of the well-regarded defence coach Felix Jones, it would behove the chief executive to investigate and reveal why three front-line figures have left the coaching set-up in a matter of weeks.

The flip side of this deal for Borthwick is there is now enormous pressure on him to deliver. He would argue there is always that pressure and no-one places more pressure on achieving than he does himself. Sure, that’s true. No-one would ever question Borthwick’s work ethic. But there can now be fewer excuses, perhaps not any at all. Sweeney believes England should always be right, slap bang in the mix for World Cup honours, not to mention Grand Slams and Six Nations titles. Good to see fuel for the fire still available for the tribal baiting that goes on about the presumptuous English.

There are other noteworthy things in the PGP agreement, such as pathway development programmes and ways in which to maximise the talent pool available to England. That’s all very well and good.

It has to be said though that not all rugby followers in the country care wholly and passionately about the fortunes of the national side. What they care about is Bath Rugby or Bristol Bears or Northampton Saints or Leicester Tigers. If they are denied the services of a Lawrence or a George Furbank at a critical juncture then what means it to them if England are to land a Grand Slam in two years’ time? Not a lot is the answer.

Who owns the players has always been the crux of the matter ever since the game went professional in the mid-nineties. More and more, the RFU is the boss man, the money man extracting his dues. ‘They are taking advantage,’ said Exeter’s Rob Baxter, ever the realist, recognising the economic realpolitik of the deal.

The PRP Agreement is a multi-faceted package. It’s not a one-size-fits-all. (And pity the impoverished Championship clubs). The RFU has made its play. It’s up to Steve Borthwick to make it work.