Salary cap expected to rise

[InGuinnessVeritas]

According to the Beeb. This is believed to include the allowance of a second marquee overseas player.

[jgriffin]

According to the Beeb. This is believed to include the allowance of a second marquee overseas player.

Does that mean that some clubs can declare true salaries?
I hesitate to support increases - once the lid is off the box, we head towards French cash-buys-cups.

[Will S]

Seems strange that it is only for overseas players. Shouldn't we be doing more to get clubs to invest in young English talent? I would prefer to see an expansion on the benefits within the cap associated with players brought through a clubs academy system.

[4071]

Seems strange that it is only for overseas players. Shouldn't we be doing more to get clubs to invest in young English talent? I would prefer to see an expansion on the benefits within the cap associated with players brought through a clubs academy system.

I heard that one part of the rise is an increase in the Academy credits from 240k to 400k.

It could also be pointed out that having an increase in the allowance for an overseas star does leave more money for investment in English players. Though it's up to the clubs whether they use that freed money for home grown players or EQ players or whether they just use it to bring in more foreign imports, as seems to be the default position in France.

It's not easy to tell clubs what to spend their money on. The RFU does have a system of incentives, though (the Academy Credit scheme and the EQ payment scheme) and I think those are good initiatives. The proposed Academy Credit increase is a good move, but I'd also prefer it if the EQ payment scheme was on a sliding scale. It's silly that all 12 clubs made the 15/23 EQ players last year simply because a couple of teams loaded up their match-day squads for a couple of meaningless games at the end of the season. So a team like London Irish (sneaking in with 65% EQ) gets exactly the same money as Quins (over 90% EQ).

[TigerLad]

Seems strange that it is only for overseas players. Shouldn't we be doing more to get clubs to invest in young English talent? I would prefer to see an expansion on the benefits within the cap associated with players brought through a clubs academy system.

I think this is a great idea. After the World Cup there is going to be a spending spree on Southern Hemisphere players who won't make it to the next World Cup. The French are going to be making the most of this and we will be left behind if we don't as well. 500,000 would get you Matt Giteau or Bryan Habana so we are hardly talking about bad players here. It's exciting and will add star power to the league.

[Noddy555]

It really doesn't matter how much the English Salary cap rises by, there will
always be a French team who can pay more, and if it rises much further then only the top 6 English clubs would be able to afford to pay such high salaries.

[johnthegriff]

Probably only Bath and Saracens will be able to take advantage with their super rich owners, other clubs like ourselves, Saints, Exeter, Gloucester and Harlequins who run as businesses and have to pay via bums on seats and marketing of our grounds will struggle to compete.

[jonnyatom5]

£240k in academy credits, covering players who are under the age of 24, joined the club before their 18th birthday and are earning more than £30k a year

This got me thinking. Who in the squad falls into this category? Does Manu, as he's only 23? What about Javiah Pohe and Harry Thacker?

[MurphysLaw]

[quote="jonnyatom5"][quote]£240k in academy credits, covering players who are under the age of 24, joined the club before their 18th birthday and are earning more than £30k a year[/quote]
This got me thinking. Who in the squad falls into this category? Does Manu, as he's only 23? What about Javiah Pohe and Harry Thacker?[/quote]


Assuming that they were under 18 when they joined, there is also Price, Pasquali and Brugnara as senior squad players now.
I think Sam Harrison might be 24, so he would no longer be eligible.

[RagingBull]

Manu
Pohe
Pasquali
Price
Thacker
Brugnara


I think Balmain may have missed it by a few months not sure.

[Noggs]

The RFU does have a system of incentives, though (the Academy Credit scheme and the EQ payment scheme) and I think those are good initiatives. The proposed Academy Credit increase is a good move, but I'd also prefer it if the EQ payment scheme was on a sliding scale. It's silly that all 12 clubs made the 15/23 EQ players last year simply because a couple of teams loaded up their match-day squads for a couple of meaningless games at the end of the season. So a team like London Irish (sneaking in with 65% EQ) gets exactly the same money as Quins (over 90% EQ).

I would support the suggestion of a sliding scale with respect to the number of EQ players fielded over the season rather than simply hitting a minimum number. This would be a real incentive to all clubs to invest more heavily in bringing through academy players into their senior squads.

[amazing tiger]

this might mean english clubs can compete and go further in the european competiton. which would be nice to see

[4071]

Manu
Pohe
Pasquali
Price
Thacker
Brugnara


I think Balmain may have missed it by a few months not sure.

Balmain did just miss out - he was 18 when he joined us. I'm not sure whether Pasquali got here before he was 18 either - I know Brugnara was playing for the Academy in 2011-12, but I think Pasquali only started playing in 2012-13, making him already 18 when he joined as well.

So we get 150k-180k of the available allowance. If the increase in the allowance relates to an increase in the number of players rather than an increase in the allowance per player, then we are going to be losing out compared to clubs like Quins, Sarries and Saints, all of whom are getting the full 240k and have scope for more.

[tb1]

The 24 age cap thing is being removed so any home grown player will be eligible including Ben Youngs, Tom Croft, Dan Cole and more.

[4071]

The 24 age cap thing is being removed so any home grown player will be eligible including Ben Youngs, Tom Croft, Dan Cole and more.

You have a source for that? It would certainly be benficial for Tigers - we may not have the best recent record of developing home-grown players, but it would be nice if the club were able to take advantage of the good work it's put in over the years in producing players.

I wonder how the rule would work with players who leave a club and then return in the way that Tom Youngs did. He was signed with Nottingham rather than dual-registered, but it was clearly on the understanding that Nottingham would develop him as a hooker and then Tigers would get him back. In that way, Tigers produced a current England international (in cooperation with Notts). Would he still be eligible, as a Leicester academy product? It would be a shame if not.