World Cup-winning head coach Sir Clive Woodward believes rugby needs to cancel international rugby and concentrate on getting club rugby back up and running.
“The sport must build from the bottom upwards, like football is doing,” revealed Woodward to the Mail Online.
“Get the club game going again, get the European Cup up and running in some format and only then think about the Six Nations, summer tours and autumn Tests.
We live in amazing times, I actually agree with something Clive Woodward says.
— Colin Williams (@coolinscarlet) May 22, 2020
“I say this with absolutely no pleasure but the game is in a real mess over attempts to get internationals restarted — it should not even be the priority.
“A full-contact sport like rugby is going to be the last cab off the rank with regards to playing again as we are seeing with the Premiership clubs’ problems just resuming training. I’m struggling to get my head around how and when we will be allowed to play again. It’s surely going to need a massive change of emphasis from the Government in what is and isn’t allowed.
“If there is any meaningful rugby in October it has to be club rugby — Premiership, PRO14, Top14 — because there is a real danger of clubs going out of business if they don’t get some revenue streams going very soon.
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“I think that we should put a lid on the 2020 Six Nations. There is just no way games are going to be staged any time soon. Equally, it is pointless trying to rearrange lost summer tours. They have gone.
“With due respect to the home unions, their borrowing power is greater. They might get horribly stretched but they will not go out of business. The clubs will, though, and without the clubs, Test rugby ceases to exist.
“You must keep the pyramid in place. And from a moral standpoint, the clubs must have the first call on players anyway.”
These are the worst EVER signings by every Gallagher Premiership club
Here are THE WORST ever buys by current Gallagher Premiership clubs. Just don’t think about how much they cost…
Bath Rugby: Sam Burgess
What a corker to start off with. The rugby league superstar was signed for Bath Rugby on huge money, joining in October 2014.
His inclusion and performances at the Rugby World Cup were widely scrutinized, and seen by some pundits as partly to blame for England’s “humiliating” early pool stage exit from the tournament—the worst result for a host nation in the tournament’s history.
And following the disastrous campaign, Burgess quit rugby union after just 12 months, opting to return to South Sydney Rabbitohs, signing a three-year contract.
An absolute flop.
Bristol Bears: Tyrese Johnson-Fisher – Bristol Bears
More disappointing than bad.
The speedster, who went viral as a youngster for his four tries at Twickenham in the NatWest Schools Cup, joined Bristol last summer but left the Premiership side with immediate effect in February.
He’s since revealed he’s taken the decision to pursue other opportunities outside of professional rugby.
Exeter Chiefs: Nemani Nadolo
Signed for the club 11th Jan 2011 but was registered under his Aussie passport and therefore cost the club 2 points and £5000 for fielding too many overseas players.
He was then convicted of drink driving, banned from the road for 18 months, and released by the club in May 2011.
He failed to score a single try in his four appearances for the Chiefs. His career has done nothing but rise ever since so that’s nice.
