Category: Rugby Union

Beneath headline figures of the chief executive’s bumper income, what does the RFU stand for and want to achieve?

There have been suggestions in recent years, little more than rumours – though plenty of them – that the Rugby Football Union’s chief executive, Bill Sweeney, might have been preparing his exit strategy. That finding a replacement for Eddie Jones could be his parting gift, that negotiating the new eight-year agreement with the Premiership could be his intended legacy. Eventually the whispers grew loud enough that Sweeney publicly denied it and, after it emerged on Monday he was paid £1.1m thanks to the maturation of a bonus three years in the making, we appear to have a pretty good idea as to why.

The first thing to say about Sweeney’s eye-watering raise – a performance-based payment of £358,000 on top of a base salary of £742,000 – is that you can hardly blame him for taking it. Admittedly, he will have likely negotiated the details of the long-term incentive plan that has so lined his pockets but would you really expect him to turn it down? The blame lies with the RFU’s board and remuneration committee for signing off on a scheme that has made Sweeney the best-paid chief executive of a UK sports governing body – excluding payouts – at a time when 42 redundancies have just been made and a loss to reserves of £42m has just been announced.

Morale-boosting win over Japan cannot conceal issues facing a coach who could be running out of time

As is standard practice, after one last night together, perhaps sharing a collective sigh of relief at ending their losing streak against Japan, England’s players have returned to their clubs. Less common is that the coaches do so too but Joe El-Abd’s Oyonnax are currently third bottom of the French second division and needs must.

That El-Abd will spend most of the next two months in the foothills of the Jura mountains as part of his job-share arrangement is, to borrow a favourite phrase of the Rugby Football Union, suboptimal. Not least because, after the nine-try win over Japan, the captain Jamie George acknowledged what has been obvious to most observers – that England’s defence, nicknamed “the Hammer”, is their biggest work-on. George reckons it is 80% of the way there, but there has been a significant step backwards since Felix Jones was consigned to video analysis purgatory, running hard drives of information across the Irish sea according to Steve Borthwick, as he sees out his notice.

England eased to a win over Japan to end their losing run

9 mins. The first bit of shape from England has Slade firing a kick in the left corner over the head of Osada, the ball is cleared to touch, but it simply invites the home side back at them. Smith calls a pattern off the lineout via an angled Lawrence run who finds Earl to go over under the posts. A very neat and tidy try.

Smith adds two.