PREMIERSHIP CLOAK OF SECRECY

I know I am digressing away from RWC to matters closer to home, but would be interested in anyone's view on this important issue. Inevitably, with England out of its own tournament, the country v club issue has reared its head, with Premiership Rugby announcing that it has reached confidential agreements with some clubs over salary cap issues. It has not obviously named any clubs, and a few have already stepped forward to deny their inclusion on this list. There have been rumours for years of the larger, more successful clubs getting around the existing cap, so buying success, and causing a huge gulf between them and the likes of London Welsh playing in the same league. Like in France (and Premiership soccer), wealthy millionaires pour huge piles of cash into a rugby club expecting instant success. What I fail to understand is that in terms of individual wealth, the chap who runs Worcester appears to have more more money than any of the other owners, but insists on running his club on sensible commercial terms, producing good homegrown talent, attracting good crowds and engaging with their local community. He may not have won much, but he has the respect of neutrals who love the game and still remember its amateur values - respect sir! What really annoys me about these big Premiership Clubs, who have been somehow getting around the current salary cap, is (apart from their ego) that most of them continue to invest little of their cash piles in developing their own, but instead plunder other club's younger players who have emerged from their academies. Hopefully, part of the RFU review over England's woeful performance will focus on ensuring the bigger Premiership clubs are forced to produce more homegrown talent at the expense of some gravy train seeking Southern Hemisphere journeyman.