Premiership ready to rumble again with a post-Six Nations glow

Premiership Rugby executives have been picking the brains of their counterparts at World Wrestling Entertainment of late. The bad news is that rugby union’s version of the Royal Rumble is not in the pipeline, the good is that there is no better organisation when it comes to selling its stars and the Premiership has evidently been doing its homework over how to follow suit.

The findings were instructive. Better to encourage profiles to develop organically than force growth and it was interesting to hear the Rugby Football Union (RFU) chief executive, Bill Sweeney, suggest recently that Netflix might have mis-stepped by opening this year’s Six Nations documentary with an episode all about Marcus Smith, Twickenham’s golden boy, buying a car. Rugby is not football was the gist of Sweeney’s argument in his latest podcast appearance.

A fine line to tread then but as the Premiership returns after an eight-week break with the glow of an uplifting Six Nations campaign for England still warm, the ground is fertile. As one Premiership executive put it, “the torch is being passed” from the international arena back to the club game. It is the second of the season’s Derby Weekends, kicking off on Friday night with Northampton hosting Leicester and Newcastle hosting Sale, and it intentionally comes during an international football window, allowing the broadcaster TNT Sports to throw its full weight behind it.

The rub is that England players require rest and not all will be on show this weekend. It is safe to say Tom Curry will not be on duty for Sale judging by his holiday snaps alongside Northampton’s Alex Mitchell in Dubai. The same goes for Smith, who has been in Miami, ensuring he misses Harlequins’ trip to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to face Saracens. Another star was born last weekend in Cardiff in 20-year-old Henry Pollock, who is on the bench for Northampton, and, while the fly-half Fin Smith starts, Tommy Freeman sits it out.

To be clear, it is no one’s fault that not all Premiership teams will be fully loaded this weekend. It is entirely understandable that TNT – which has enjoyed an 8% bump in viewing figures this season – wants the Derby Weekend during a break in the Premier League’s fixture list and so soon after the Six Nations. Equally, players need their rest – all the more so in a British & Irish Lions year – and, as Premiership officials acknowledge, they cannot control selection. It is one of the imperfections of the calendar that has improved since domestic league and international fixtures no longer clash but is still far from ideal. Indeed, after two Premiership weekends, just as post-Six Nations form is becoming apparent, there will be a pause to allow for Champions Cup and Challenge Cup matches.

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Perhaps it would be less of a problem without such resignation over English hopes in European competitions but, nonetheless, Premiership organisers point to how tickets for this season’s final are selling twice as fast as last year’s – the holy grail being to sell out before the regular season finishes. They point to how the average age of supporters is coming down, how there is a significant spike in interest in the 18-34 age bracket and point to the joint marketing agreement with the RFU – a key part of the Professional Game Partnership – as a driving force.

The elephant in the room is the emerging news about Newcastle’s finances. Premiership executives insist the league has come through the period of “fire-fighting” but there are understandable concerns about the Falcons. Having lost three clubs and dropped to 10 teams it is unpalatable to consider dropping to nine. The demises of Worcester, Wasps and London Irish at least led to greater financial transparency and so both the Premiership and the RFU have a far better idea of what they are dealing with. An advance of RFU funding and a loan from the other Premiership clubs are both live options but Newcastle need long-term investment. Without it a loan would appear to be little more than a stay of execution next season.

As Premiership executives acknowledge, future investment is not going to come from British benefactors, who prop up a number of clubs at present. It will be US or Middle East money that is required but so far rugby union is an outlier: it seems the one major sport Gulf states have shown little interest in investing in.

That relegation is now off the table for another season is a black mark against the Premiership and broadcasters are believed to prefer a sense of jeopardy. The broadcast deal with TNT was extended 12 months ago but discussions are live about the next one. TNT is said to have bought into what the Premiership considers to be its selling points, namely athleticism, the gladiatorial nature of the sport, and the fact it is among the most unpredictable competitions around. It is now the league’s unique selling point.

Steve Borthwick’s view on that is hardly an endorsement, however. The madcap nature of the Premiership does not necessarily best prepare players for the Test arena and after repeatedly describing England’s 16-15 win over Scotland as an “arm-wrestle”, he made a point of explaining how few Premiership matches pan out in that manner. Blowouts do not help prepare Test players either, even if victory over Wales transpired in precisely that fashion last weekend.

For the next couple of months though, he sits and watches. Hoping that unexpected victories in Europe can boost his players’ hopes of Lions selection. Hoping that the Professional Game Partnership can overcome the evident teething problems as seen in the management of Immanuel Feyi-Waboso’s injury and bring the alignment we have been promised.

For that was another imperfection and the Premiership returns to focus against a backdrop of a number of them, contrasted by plenty of genuine reasons for optimism yet looming again is the spectre of financial upheaval. If nothing else, it is an intoxicating mix.