‘Premiership Rugby MUST make most of storylines to solidify league’
This weekend’s Premiership action sees the first of the major derbies in English rugby: Gloucester versus Bath.
The Kingsholm terraces will be packed and jeering, and the opposition players taking abuse for 80 minutes. This is the kind of storyline and cauldron Premiership Rugby needs to build upon following the Rugby World Cup.
The league is haemorrhaging players to France and elsewhere and the English top flight is desperate to prove that it can financially support itself.
Three clubs went under last season and the league simply cannot afford the same situation this year.
They need to promote rivalries and storylines, thrust young players into the faces of fans and onto the timelines of teams, and force casual sports watchers to care.
And that’s where derbies like Friday’s come into play.
Gloucester and Bath are stalwarts of the Premiership; neither side have ever been relegated from the top flight and both achieve solid attendances in comparison to many other teams.
And when they clash on Friday at Kingsholm it is expected to be a sell out.
But the Premiership can, and should, always do more.
When Saracens name their team for their fixture against Newcastle Falcons later today, they are expected to rest a large number of their first team.
The success of the Premiership relies on the likes of Owen Farrell going to Newcastle and Manchester as well as Bath and south London; fans want to see the stars of the show.
And that is why this new calendar, with 10 Premiership teams, can work in years other than World Cup years.
Fans are able to buy tickets knowing the big names of the sport are likely to be there, knowing the blockbuster teams will bring their headline names, and knowing that their own teams are forced to show up for games.
English rugby is so close to breaking through its traditional base and into the masses, especially after such an enthralling World Cup, but it needs all the help it can get.
England needs a representative in the final of either the Challenge Cup or Champions Cup to promote the Premiership across an international audience, and it needs to provide the national team with the depth other countries are taking advantage of in their ranks.
That’s not to get away from the product, however, which I rate above the United Rugby Championship.
There are a number of teams in England who can win the league each year while other top competitions feel slightly more predictable.
The Premiership has the pizazz to go beyond its traditional audiences but the league must learn to take full advantage of the possibility that has come up after the World Cup.
It’s time everyone got on board and tried to help the English top flight thrive.
Former England Sevens captain Ollie Phillips recently swam the English Channel to raise money for Head for Change, a charity aspiring to achieve positive change for brain health in sport. Follow Ollie on Twitter to donate.