Premier Rugby is drawing up a plan that would see players, rather than their clubs, pay agents' fees from transfer deals and contract extensions. The move will come into effect next season if all 12 sides in the Premiership agree. The issue has been discussed at the last two Premier Rugby Board meetings as clubs look at ways to cut back on costs as the economic downturn starts to bite. The increasingly predatory nature of French clubs is having an inflationary effect on wages at a time income is declining.
Having to pay agents can add 10-20% to the cost of a deal and it is an area where clubs have tightened up on in recent years, although players will look to increase the size of their deals if they face having to pay agents themselves.
The clubs met Rugby Football Union officials this week to discuss ways of boosting income from next season. The governing body's management board will consider a renewed plea from Premier Rugby for six extra matches a season to be added to the league fixture list.
The RFU would prefer a revamped Anglo-Welsh Cup, played largely during the autumn international and Six Nations windows but Wales are resigned to losing out when the EDF Energy Cup finishes this season after four years, having been told that the Premiership sides would prefer a cup competition involving just themselves if their league plan is rejected.
The Northampton owner, Keith Barwell, said that the purchasing power of French clubs was forcing him to look to Argentina and Italy as the Saints try to strengthen their options at forward for next season. ‚"We are looking for two or three excellent players," he said. "We tried to sign Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe from Sale, but Toulon offered him twice as much, and if we finish up with a couple of big Argentines or Italians, it will be because there aren't the English guys filling those places at the moment."
The Celtic unions, exploiting two consecutive Six Nations grand slams, Munster's Heineken Cup success last season when the Ospreys won the EDF, have signed a new two-year deal with Magners, sponsors of the Celtic league for the last three seasons.
The Glasgow and Scotland centre Andrew Henderson joined the exodus to France by signing a three-year contract with Montauban while the former Bath No8 Zak Feaunati has landed a part in a Clint Eastwood film about how Nelson Mandela used rugby to help unite South Africa after the end of Apartheid.
