New England group will cause uncertainty

SO JUST when we thought that everything was getting sorted between the RFU, the clubs and players, a number of new agreements and a new group raises its head.

- JEFF PROYN

The new Team England Rugby (TER) is a new group led by the current players who want to isolate the England team from all other areas of the game.

They now have control over negotiating the England men's teams fees and commercial deals, which was previously organised by the Rugby Players Association (RPA) who have dealt with all these matters in the professional era since 2004.

Unlike the RPA, the TER are just about the England men's team, appearing to have separated its members from the rest of the game while improving the financial rewards for fewer games by 'managing exemptions' when a player is reaching his new lower level of 30 games, a season limit, which was agreed as part of the new PGP.

England captain Jamie George, below, is on the board of TER that looks as if it covers only current members of the England men's team within its group, so it's not including other Premiership players, A team players, or any of the current successful women's international team.