Lack of relegation is not causing a loss of edge

It’s five weeks since the moratorium on Premiership relegation was announced, and if the doom-mongers were to be believed, some teams would by now be swanning around with their players demonstrating a couldn’t-care-less attitude. We were told that the lack of ‘jeopardy’ would be damaging to the league, and that fans would lose interest, but so far nothing could be further from the truth.

- COLIN BOAG

The classic example was the bottom-of-the-table encounter between Worcester Warriors and Gloucester – eleventh and twelfth in the table, with the threat of relegation removed, they should have been chilled going into the game, but in reality it made not a jot of difference.

Their fans were as edgy as ever and the match itself was no classic, because both teams were clearly nervy and desperate to win! It was, in fact, a typical relegation dogfight, but without the threat of relegation!

Every head coach you speak to totally rejects the idea that the absence of relegation will damage the competitiveness of the league. Gloucester’s George Skivington summed it up: “Rugby players are competitive by nature, and when they put a shirt on, whether it’s in the gym, the training ground, or in a match, they’re going to go for it.