Bath and Gloucester, two of the bigger spenders in the Premiership, say they favour retaining the salary cap, thus undermining the campaign by Saracens to free up the market in players after next year’s World Cup.
Saracens and their chief executive, Eddie Griffiths, want the £5.5m ceiling agreed only in July removed, claiming the support of six other clubs. However, the directors of rugby of Bath and Gloucester, Mike Ford and David Humphreys, were unambiguous in their support after Saturday’s West Country derby.
“We agree with the salary cap. We support the salary cap,” said Ford when questioned on reports that both Bath and Saracens are being investigated by Twickenham about their spending levels.
“Mine and the club’s view is that it is a huge issue which is not for public debate,” said Humphreys, who was signed from Ulster in the summer along with a raft of players including the Wales fly-half James Hook, Scotland’s scrum-half Greig Laidlaw and one of the more expensive buys, the former All Blacks prop John Afoa.
“It goes to the core of the game here,” said Humphreys. “From someone who was involved in the Pro12 [Celtic League], one of the big things talked about here was the competitiveness of it and that any team can beat anyone else. So I think it is a fantastic league to be part of and the salary cap is something we support and certainly going forward, we will be supporting it.”
With Leicester also falling into line, it is difficult to find the six clubs who might support Saracens when the issue is next raised, even though Griffiths has suggested the salary cap, which also includes provision for two marquee signings, could breach European competition law.
One of those signings, Sam Burgess, got on to the field for the final 11 minutes at Kingsholm on Saturday, far too late to influence a game which failed to match the passions of previous West Country derbies. Back in April, when Bath last visited, two red cards and five yellows were shown, but on Saturday it was their professionalism which strangled the game.
As Ford said, it was no oil painting but neither did the scoreline reflect a game dogged by penalties. “I think we wore them down in the end, but that was not a true reflection of what went on out there,” said Ford. “It looks as though we gave them a good hiding, but it wasn’t like that. It was a lot closer than the score suggests.”
In fact the game was won before the first try – a penalty try – was conceded, with George Ford, the England fly-half and son of the director of rugby, putting on a flawless kicking display to dismay the packed 16,000 crowd. He landed five penalties before half-time when Afoa was replaced suffering from a tightening calf muscle, and the Gloucester scrum fell apart – in the eyes of the referee Greg Garner.
In April it was Tim Wigglesworth who angered Kingsholm, reducing the Gloucester side to 11 at the final whistle. On Saturday it was Garner who frustrated the home faithful, who are left to reflect that this record defeat was the third successive occasion on which the side from 40 miles down the A46 have claimed bragging rights. “Our defence won it today,” said Mike Ford, revelling in Bath’s professionalism at weathering a torrid opening to silence the normally vocal Gloucester crowd. “They had 28 phases in the first half and we were very disciplined. That took the sting out of the first half and it was similar in the second.”
Gloucester McColl (Halaifonua, 52); Sharples, Purdy (Atkinson, 51), Twelvetrees (capt), May; Hook, Laidlaw (Robson, 69); Y Thomas (Wood, 46), Hibbard (Dawidiuk, 66), Afoa (Puafisi, h-t), Savage, Palmer (Hudson, 56), Kalamafoni, Kvesic, Moriarty (Stooke, 66).
Try Robson. Con Hook. Pens Laidlaw 3. Sin-bin Puafisi 56.
Bath Watson; Rokoduguni (Burgess, 69), Joseph, Eastmond (Devoto, 53), Banahan; Ford, Cook (Young, 54); James (Auterac, 59), Batty (Webber, 61), Wilson (H Thomas, 52), Hooper (capt; Garvey, 61), Day, Fa’osiliva (Fearns, 46), Louw, Houston.
Tries Penalty, Fearns 2. Cons Ford 3. Pens Ford 6.
Referee G Garner. Att 16,000.
