Opening Champions Cup weekend proves it’s not all doom and gloom for English Premiership

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Rumours of the Premiership’s demise, it would appear, have been greatly exaggerated. If it was with tentative, apprehensive steps that England’s eight Investec Champions Cup representatives embarked on their continental campaigns after a year of worry and woe, then a weekend return of seven wins (including three on the road) suggested a league in rather ruder health than first appears.

That it was Saracens, the best side in the Premiership, who fell short came as a surprise but there were certainly promising signs here for a league in need of a dose of positivity. Some mitigating circumstances helped explain the Premiership’s opening weekend pre-eminence – the Stormers, for instance, sent something of a second-string side to Welford Road – but wins for Exeter, Northampton and Harlequins particularly evidenced quality that might not have been immediately apparent.

Suggestions that the Premiership clubs would struggle were understandable. The league’s depressed salary cap is about two-thirds that of the Top 14’s upper spending limits, while the United Rugby Championship offers (generally) more cohesive set-ups. And, of course, it is patently ridiculous that 80 per cent of England’s top-flight clubs are included in the Champions Cup, with organisers EPCR understood to be considering another revamp next year: Bristol Bears, who pipped Lyon at Ashton Gate, finished third from bottom last season but were elevated from the Challenge Cup after London Irish’s untimely demise.

It is the three-club reduction in the league’s size that has left the Premiership in this strange scenario, but it also perhaps partly explains the early success. The loss of Wasps, Worcester and Irish flooded the market with experienced, often low-cost options with which their former Premiership rivals could bolster their squads. The productivity of the academies at Wasps and Irish particularly has provided young talent eager to prove themselves, creating competition for places and driving up standards.

Seeing so many homegrown products thrive elsewhere will provide scant consolation to fans who have lost clubs in the last season and a half. But there were individuals previously at the three much-missed clubs prominent right across the weekend. While Marcus Smith took the headlines, Will Joseph was just as impressive as Quins danced to victory at Racing 92’s Paris discotheque. Fin Smith’s controlling performance in the Scotstoun chill shows why he is attracting attention on both sides of the border.

Benhard Janse van Rensburg looks the sort of glue signing that could turn things around for Bristol, who only have to look 20 miles away to Bath to see how a team can be built quickly out of challenging circumstances: Alfie Barbeary and Ollie Lawrence, picked up after leaving Wasps and Worcester respectively, were to the fore against Ulster.

Some figures at England’s Rugby Football Union (RFU) have long been proponents of a smaller Premiership, concentrating the player pool. A more competitive and financially robust ecosystem below the Premiership is necessary to go alongside; the union is understood to be having several key stakeholder meetings over the next couple of weeks as it refines plans for the second tier, with the ambition still to create a “Premiership Two” despite opposition from Championship clubs.

A slightly shorter season also aids in providing player rest. This season’s Top 14 started on 18 August and will finish in late June. The Premiership season’s pause during the Six Nations will leave those not involved internationally time to recharge, a luxury not available to their URC and French-based rivals.

Not all is well for English rugby, obviously. News that Henry Arundell is likely to extend his stay at Racing, in the process turning down a combined club and country contract worth more than his deal in Paris, is a major blow to the RFU’s hopes of having the best English players remain in the Premiership. Lewis Ludlam and Kyle Sinckler, meanwhile, could both be at Toulon next season.

There is also every chance that this first round proves a false dawn. Round two includes English trips to Bordeaux, Dublin and Stade Francais, while Munster and Toulouse will be eyeing away scalps at Exeter and Harlequins respectively. Of the potential contenders, Leinster and La Rochelle contested a hellacious affair in the coastal cloudburst that may well prove another final preview, while Toulouse will take some stopping if Antoine Dupont’s sevens sojourn does not have much impact. It also surely won’t be long before a South African side challenges for club rugby’s biggest prize.

But fears of a Premiership wipeout were misplaced. Three finals have now passed without an English side involved – this weekend showed that there is at least a chance of that run ending.