Appleyard unhappy with date clashes

STAFFORDSHIRE head coach Andy Appleyard believes the RFU are ‘stealing opportunities away from quality players’ due to the opening round of the County Championship being played on the same day as the Papa John’s final.

- BEN JAYCOCK

Divisions 2 and 3 of the county competition get underway on Saturday but due to yesterday’s Papa John’s semi-finals, which Staffordshire sides Leek and Stoke competed in, Appleyard, below, will be without both those side’s players after they progressed into next weekend’s Twickenham final.

Both Staffordshire and their opponents on Saturday, Cumbria, whose top domestic side Penrith reached the last four of the Papa John’s, were left in the dark this week as to whether they’d have their best possible players available for their tournament opener.

Appleyard says it’s had a detrimental impact on their preparation in the build up to the tournament and says dates need to be moved to avoid clashes like these in the future.

He told The Rugby Paper: “From a national perspective, the competition dates need looking at because we’ve gone into this week not knowing if we’ll have our players from Leek or Stoke available. That needs looking at by the RFU’s competitions department because you’re stealing opportunities away from quality players. The best teams in the county are most likely to get to the final of the Papa John’s, so it takes away your better players.

“We all want rugby to thrive and if you’re not lining up fixtures and competitions properly then you take away opportunity. Cumbria were in the same position because Leek played Penrith, so the winner of that hurts their counties chances.”

Last year’s finals day at Twickenham saw Kent pip Lancashire 39-37 in an enthralling final, Dorset & Wilts beat Durham 37-15 to hoist up the Division 2 title, while Oxfordshire saw off Essex 42-7 to win Division 3.