THE top tier clubs wield a vastly disproportionate influence over English rugby by virtue of their monopoly over England Academies and their legal entitlement, under the Professional Game Agreement, to RFU funding.
Hopefully, this is soon to be significantly reduced under the PGA’s break clause.
It would, surely, be inconceivable that any such situation could be allowed to continue, were PRL’s recent proposals – effectively to remove themselves from the pinnacle of the RFU league system by ending automatic annual promotions and relegations and making entry to their privile...