'Time England had central contracts'

Ben Jaycock talks to former Ireland captain Rob Saunders, who won 12 caps between 1991 and 1994 before venturing into business life in the City, about the state of game in Britain and Ireland

- Ben Jaycock

Ben Jaycock: Premiership rugby finds itself in an extremely difficult time, it’s incredibly sad to see three clubs go isn’t it? 

Rob Saunders: It gives me no pleasure in saying this but I don’t think it gets any better, I think it gets worse. If you look at a game whose revenue hasn’t really developed in the past 20 years yet player wages have gone up in some cases tenfold, it doesn’t take an economic genius to work out that if you have a business where revenues are stagnant and costs are rising at a significant level, you get yourself into a bit of trouble. I’m very happy to be wrong here but London Irish, Wasps and Worcester won’t be the only casualties. I think the game is in a pretty perilous state at the moment.

BJ: What do you think can be done to ease the financial strain?

RS: Mark McCall has gone on record to say England players need to be centrally contracted, that to me is a no brainer. You find yourself in a ridiculous situation where the marquee player who’s an international won’t play club rugby until possibly March next year. Business is business and why would you ever put money on the table for an asset that you’re not going to be able to use for the best part of a season. Seems crazy to me and the only way out of it is for England to centrally contract players and take the pressure off clubs because there’s no doubt the wages are killing them.

BJ: Do you think the league should be ring fenced or would you encourage promotion and relegation to put more meaning in games?