RFU must learn from Olympic gold rush

THE Paris Olympics should have rammed home an urgent reminder to the RFU that English rugby has to invest in an equivalent of the World Class Programme that has underpinned the significant increase in the number of Olympic medals – especially gold – at the last five games.

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The World Class Programme was first introduced after the low point in Atlanta 1996, when GB won just one gold. It had an immediate impact by giving podium and potential podium athletes not only funding, but also an array of specialist coaching, training, performance, medical, scientific and technological support.

It meant that by Beijing 2008 GB had moved into the top tier of Olympic nations with a fourth place medal table finish, including 19 golds. In London 2012 it was third place with 29 golds, in Rio 2016 it was second place with 27 golds, and in Tokyo 2020/21 it was fourth place with 22 golds.

So far in Paris 2024 GB are in fifth place with 14 golds – which, if you take the range of 14 sports categories in which they are the world’s best, and equated them to the 15 positions on a rugby union field, would give you almost an entire World XV.

Such a team would be unstoppable, because there is a widespread belief among top rugby union coaches that you require six worldclass players in your starting 23 to win a World Cup.