Steve Borthwick handed ‘final say’ over England players’ medical plans in rugby’s £264m overhaul
A landmark £264 million deal to “reshape the rugby landscape” of English rugby will give Steve Borthwick greater control than any previous England head coach of up to 25 players, including the “final say” over all sports science and medical issues.
The eight-year agreement between the Rugby Football Union and the Premiership, first revealed by Telegraph Sport, is designed to bring to an end year of club-versus-country conflict and enable England to become a “world-leading” team.
With a guaranteed payment of £33 million per season for the first four years of the deal, it will also provide greater financial security for the 10 professional clubs following the devastating impact of the pandemic. The upfront payment by the RFU may be generous, but they have secured more control than any previous deal with the clubs.
Significantly it will allow Borthwick to select up to 25 players into the new enhanced elite player squad to allow for “optimum preparation for key international fixtures”.
It is understood that the England head coach will appoint around 15 players in the first season of the England Player Squad (EPS) deal, which will be announced ahead of the autumn Test series.
England captain Jamie George and Maro Itoje signed contract extensions with Saracens last season after being offered, in principle, enhanced EPS deals, in January.
The players selected will include individual development plans for players to not only focus on conditioning but also skills and game management.
Each player will receive around £160,000 per season, replacing the £20,000 match-fee system. The upfront salary is designed to help keep players in England – and eligible for international selection – in response to the number leaving the Premiership to play in France. The players not in the EPS scheme will continue to receive a match fee.
‘An English solution to the English game’
Critically, Borthwick will also have control over medical decisions over the players on enhanced EPS contracts, which will be seen as a major compromise by the clubs and give real substance to the impact of the deal.
For example, while Borthwick will not have direct control of club selection, it will allow the England head coach to decide when a player might need to go for surgery in order to be fit for the international window rather than manage the injury through club fixtures. He and his coaching staff have already begun visiting directors of rugby and players at Premiership clubs across the country.
“For the enhanced EPS players, Steve has an oversight and say on anything to do with S&C, individual development programmes and he’ll work with the clubs to develop that,” said Bill Sweeney, RFU chief executive.
“There will obviously be occasions where there is a disagreement or an inability to come to a final conclusion but that’s the whole purpose of the men’s professional rugby board and an independent chair, so we’ll take those discussions there and resolve them internally.
“This is an English solution to the English game. We have underperformed massively since 2003. You’d expect more from us and we want to deliver that.
“We believe this [partnership] gives us the mechanism and the collaboration to be able to do that. It’s a completely different look and feel.
“This eight-year commitment will reshape the rugby landscape and reset the professional game to support, showcase and fund our game for the next decade and beyond.
“The England national team benefits by having control over the individual development plans, medical and strength and conditioning of the best players in England at the peak of their form and in the best shape to play for their country.”
Exeter chief’s reservations
Rob Baxter, the Exeter Chiefs director of rugby, speaking at the Gallagher Premiership launch at Twickenham, however said he had concerns about the EPS arrangement.
“The proof of the pudding of this agreement will be down the line,” said Baxter.
“If we look in two or three years and they are all playing England games and not playing club games, the clubs will say that outcome doesn’t work for us. None of us will know until we get down the line.
“It’s for me as a director of rugby to decide when I select a player outside the rest periods which are already in agreement.
“That kind of thing is not an issue, it’s more when a medical intervention is decided and maybe a disagreement between my medical staff and the England medical staff. That’s more when a game will happen or will it not happen for a club player.”
The RFU and Premiership Rugby insist that the greater alignment secured by the deal should prevent any conflict over such decisions, although there is a safety net of any disputes being resolved independently by a new professional rugby board.
‘This has been a genuine collaborative approach’
“The sole purpose of this agreement is to try and get greater collaboration and greater balance in the game. I have been around for a couple of cycles of this,” said Phil Winstanley, rugby director of Premiership Rugby.
“The biggest difference with this one is that for the first time both sides have genuinely recognised that we have to deliver for each other. In previous iterations it was about who controls what, what do you give, what do you not give. This has been a genuine collaborative approach. We have had open conversations with directors of rugby. Clearly there are some concerns. That is the agreement we have outlined. It is us and for the professional rugby board to make it work.”
The deal will also lead to:
The establishment of a beefed up professional rugby board, including an independent chairman and two further independent members. The RFU and Premiership Rugby will each have three voting members, including the RFU’s newly appointed board member, Wayne Barnes. The RPA, co-signatories for the first time to a professional game agreement, will have two seats on the new board (one voting and one observer) to ensure that players are central to decision making.
An overhaul of England’s performance pathway, with a new Under-20s EPS squad expanded to 50 players and lead to up to four England A matches each season. The squads are drawn from the senior and U20 EPS squads, with the opportunity to bring in additional Under-23 players.
A redefining of the academy boundaries have been redefined, aligned to the Premiership clubs alongside a Yorkshire academy which will continue to be RFU operated under authority of the PRB. These academies will work with and utilise central data to establish satellite sites to ensure regional coverage with an ambition for access with reduced travel time for players.
The academies will deliver a “redefined phased approach to the player development system”, starting at Under-15 and encompassing three phases. Each academy will ensure that at least two state school/college partnerships are established, developed, and appropriately resourced to be able to participate in the RFU schools’ competition.
All three parties will establish a player support fund, which will be administered and supported by Restart, the official charity of the RPA. The fund will initially focus on medical support for retiring players, mental wellbeing support for current and retired players, as well as providing a safety net for players and staff affected by unforeseen club situations.
‘Healthy clubs important for rugby eco-system’
The new Professional Game Partnership is fundamental to the next phase of English club rugby,” said Simon Massie-Taylor, Premiership Rugby’s chief executive.
“We have worked hard with the RFU and RPA to provide more financial stability, better governance and a joint high-performance plan that will help make the Men’s England Team and the Premiership clubs as successful as possible.
“What we have learnt from the challenges of the last few years is how important healthy clubs and a successful men’s England team are to the rugby eco-system – and also how important it is to work in partnership with the players, the governing body and other rugby stakeholders.”