Category: Rugby

Four years in France have refreshed scrum-half’s outlook and he thinks his club can make their mark this season

Most players returning home from the French Top 14 have had a life-enhancing experience and Dan Robson is the latest example. The former England scrum-half spent four seasons in the shadow of the Pyrenees with Pau, mixing it with the likes of Antoine Dupont and Maxime Lucu, before rejoining his first Prem employers, Gloucester, this summer. “No more croissants for breakfast,” he sighs, slightly wistfully. “But it’s good to be back. My waistline is thanking me.”

Ask him how much he would recommend a spell abroad to others, though, and the word “amazing” swiftly follows. Not only were his two young sons, Laker and Roux, born in Pau – “It’s always going to have a special place in our hearts as a family” – but he also much enjoyed his regular meetups with Jack Willis, a close mate at Wasps before the club’s financial collapse forced both to start afresh across the Channel.

Boosted by retaining Henry Pollock, champions are eager to keep improving but a revitalised Saracens and Exeter should push them all the way

It used to be simple. Win the Prem once and people would assume it was just the beginning. At various times no one could dethrone Bath, Leicester or Saracens, serial winners by fair means or foul. And now? It is so long since any club defended their English domestic title that “doubling up” feels almost as quaint as reading a physical newspaper or chatting up a complete stranger in the pub.

Which explains why Northampton’s Phil Dowson, whose side are chasing a third title in four years, is keen to draw a distinct line under what happened last season. Yes, the Saints were unplayably good on occasions and deservedly claimed the trophy in June. But that was then. The last team to win two in a row were Saracens in 2019, shortly before the salary cap small print intervened.

Bath have a point to prove, Newcastle are shy of an A-lister and Aaron Wainwright could prove the signing of the summer at Welford Road

The 2025 champions go into the new campaign with a point to prove after they were humbled on home turf by Exeter in last season’s semi-finals. Successfully defending the title is no easy task – it has not been done since Saracens in 2019 – but last season’s failure to return to Twickenham should stiffen the sinews in Johann van Graan’s squad. There is a World Cup at the end of the campaign and plenty in Bath’s squad also have a point to prove to Steve Borthwick – the centres Ollie Lawrence and Max Ojomoh, and Ted Hill chief among them. Recruitment has been kept to a minimum, but the arrival of Dan du Preez adds some more Springbok beef. Losing Thomas du Toit, who has returned to South Africa, is a huge blow, but Will Stuart’s return after a lengthy layoff due to an achilles injury softens it somewhat. If they finish in the top two Bath would forgo a home semi-final with the Rec finally undergoing much-needed refurbishment, which could ultimately count against them. Expect them to be in the mix.

English club rugby enters its fourth decade determined to meet its challenges with more high-profile investment deals and expansion

It has taken a while but the penny finally seems to be dropping with those in charge of English club rugby. Perhaps it is simply maturity striking as the professional club top tier reaches its 30th season. Remember how things felt when you began to settle down, look for a proper job and start a family? According to the league’s chief executive, Simon Massie-Taylor, it is a similar story with the Prem.

And maybe he has a point when he says the league, which kicks off this Friday, is entering a new phase. In the rear-view mirror are the toddler tantrums and playground politics that disfigured the early years, the teenage growing pains and the subsequent existential struggle of finding a foothold in a precarious world.