Sir Clive Woodward has revealed he believes the level of intensity in the Gallagher must step up if England are to be serious contenders at next years Rugby World Cup.
He believes England’s best players must now start raising their levels again and hopes that will start with the first round of European matches this weekend
The World Cup-winning coach wrote: “Like many of you I spent an instructive weekend at home channel hopping between the Gallagher Premiership and the final Rugby Championship games and what a churn of thoughts and emotions that resulted in.
“First, up here in the north we had better start smelling the coffee because much of the rugby in the Championship has been of an entirely different level and intensity to what we are seeing every week in our league.
“England’s best players must now start raising their levels again, starting hopefully with the first round of European matches this weekend.”
He then went onto suggest two teams dominating the league is not good for England.
“It is clear that Saracens and Exeter are in a completely different class to the rest of the league, which I would suggest is slightly worrying. Leicester, Wasps, Bath and Gloucester must find a way of closing that gap.