LONG READ Mick Cleary: 'Rivalry is a box-office ticket, ripe for indulgence and legitimate exploitation'

Let’s silence talk of expanding this or that league, of reaching out across borders in search of a few more shillings for the coffers, and revel instead in what really makes us tick – a local derby.

Take your pick this weekend in the Premiership – you’ll be dizzy with choice from Sale v Newcastle t’up north to Exeter against Bristol and Gloucester v Bath in the West Country to Leicester tackling Northampton in the East Midlands.

And for those in London seeking capital bragging rights, there is Harlequins against Saracens, a north-south face-off in its way as well as a clash of styles and background and outlook, old money against new money and all that. Promoters are licking lips, pens poised on billboards, easy straplines to hand.

It has always baffled and irked me as to why administrators look to come up with all sorts of madcap schemes to alter the fixture list, to yearn for new markets and all that faff-like jazz.

There have been several hair-brained proposals down the years for a pan-European league to supplant the European Cup (and hasn’t that competition lost its lustre?) whereby the so-called best of the various leagues, the Northampton Saints and Glasgow Warriors and Toulouses, would be playing each other each and every weekend.

Okay, to be fair, there is some mileage to be had. Racing 92 against Saracens, Faz’s Homecoming, would get the turnstiles clicking, as would two or three of the other high-end fixtures. But for the rest? Pau v Sale or Connacht against Newcastle Falcons on a wild west-coast night in November? I don’t think so.

Rivalry is a box-office ticket, ripe for indulgence and legitimate exploitation. It’s why New Zealand and South Africa have taken it upon themselves to stage a series every other year to cash in on ancient enmities

Fair play to Premier Rugby, then, for orchestrating these two derby weekends. (The return legs are after the Six Nations when Saracens decamp to the magnificent surrounds of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to take on the southern invaders from the Stoop). A derby is a rich part of sport round the world. There are many in South Africa who will argue that there was nothing as fierce and fervent and crowd-drawing as the old-style Currie Cup and how many Kiwis still long for the inter-island derby of Auckland against Canterbury in New Zealand?

Rivalry is a box-office ticket, ripe for indulgence and legitimate exploitation. It’s why New Zealand and South Africa have taken it upon themselves to stage a series every other year, to cash in on ancient enmities. Somewhere in the ESPN archive is a fabulous 30-minute documentary on the history of that fixture with evocative footage from the 1950s of the Springboks arriving by steam train into some far-flung rural part of New Zealand with what looked like the entire local populace perched on roof-tops to get a glimpse. The rugby episode has equal billing in The Great Sporting Rivalries series with the likes of the River Plate-Boca Juniors Super Classico story. There are a few nicey-nicey bits but, yes, it’s mainly all about blood and guts and scrapping for every last inch.

You can see the attraction of New Zealand and South Africa going down their route until you consider the fact that Australia and Argentina (who have beaten all three Rugby Championship opponents this year) will be left to languish by the wayside as a result. And it ill becomes the Kiwis to bellyache when they get a dose of their own medicine with France announcing they will send a weakened squad to tour in summer 2025. Touché.

The global calendar, then, is a fragile ecosystem, as buffeted and under strain as the actual climate. Premier Rugby has been subjected to the same forces and upheaval which is why it is only right to appreciate what is on the cards this weekend.

If Saracens were a stick of rock, then Farrell’s character traits would be chiselled down the middle – hard, unflinching, demanding, remorseless, brawn and brain in equal measure.

The London derby has a particular billing for an unfortunate reason in that two of the former contenders, Wasps (their Coventry relocation notwithstanding) and London Irish (likewise the Reading exile before their move to Brentford) are no longer in the ball game.

Saracens, too, had their grave moments of uncertainty during the salary cap crisis but are now battling a far more orthodox difficulty – a changing of the guard. All the brainstorming in the world would not have contemplated the departure of Owen Farrell to Paris. Faz was a fixture at the club, boy and man and all that, an intrinsic part not just of the team but of the very ethos of the place.

If Saracens were a stick of rock, then Farrell’s character traits would be chiselled down the middle – hard, unflinching, demanding, remorseless, brawn and brain in equal measure. There wasn’t just a player to replace but a whole value system. The moment of leaving duly came and Saracens have had to take all that on board along with more conventional end-of-an-era events such as the exits of the Vunipola brothers among others.

Saracens have their critics as we know. But what they brought to the Premiership and to Europe a decade ago was a thing of substance. That is why they appear – early days for sure – to be handling this transition reasonably well. All those tales of Oktoberfest beery bonding sessions down the years were not mere froth. If they were to mean anything now is the time that you would find out, discover whether the tight-knit feel of the club and the upholding of its core beliefs can actually come into play. One man falls, another steps into his place. Entire armies march to that particular beat.

The Premiership may be a domestic, localised affair but on Derby weekend there are riches and dramas on offer right under your nose

The spotlight has been on Farrell’s replacement, Fergus Burke, but in truth the Crusader was never seen as a like-for-like replacement. The most pressing potential fault-line was actually up front and Saracens have moved to rectify that by drafting the likes of Fraser Balmain. Tom Willis has been a force-field of activity in the loose while it will be fascinating to see if Maro Itoje’s captaincy can grow into something meaningful for club in the first instance and then into country and even the Lions.

Harlequins, too, have had to deal with significant departures, notably that of South African centre, Andre Esterhuizen, the main man in the middle of the field around whom so much of the team’s attacking play revolved. There was far more to his game than the crash-bang-wallop bit, although he wasn’t too bad at that either.

There is little sign of Quins reining in their attacking instincts even though such adventure cost them in the concession of defensive bonus-points last season. Danny Care trucks on, Marcus Smith is all too well aware that this is a crunch season for him on so many fronts while tyro wing, Cassius Cleaves, is already making a mark.

There will be more, so much more, to come from both clubs across the next several months. The Premiership may be a domestic, localised affair but on Derby weekend there are riches and dramas on offer right under your nose.