New EQP and foreign player rules coming for 2024-25 season

[Puja]

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/ ... until-2024

Despite Brexit, the RFU is going to keep Europeans, PI players, and South Africans (and anyone who can scrounge up an EU, PI, or SA passport) as "non-foreign" until 2024/25. After that point, it looks like it's going to be 15 EQP in a matchday squad.

That's a huge change, as it looks like it's English eligible, not just those with a UK passport, meaning that the likes of Tomkins, Harris, Francis, etc will have to think twice about whether they want to take caps from the Celts as it'll make them a foreign player and make them less valuable to English clubs. It'll also be quite big for NZ player agents, as they are the major nationality locked out by the current rules which only allow two "foreign" players in a match day squad.

The question, of course, has to be whether there is sufficient quality English talent to fill 13/14 professional teams (and you all know what Which and my opinion is on this anyway). There's going to be an awful lot of very average English players getting contracts (and gods help the Championship, which will be utterly picked clean).

Puja

[Raggs]

The 15 eqp thing going from "We'll give you extra cash" (which it currently is) to "You have to." is sort of big, but most sides achieve 15 on average across a season. The foreign thing is a lot bigger though.

Currently they're only allowed 2 "foreign" players on the pitch at a time I believe. However, PI/EU etc are covered by Kolpak type agreements, so are non-foreign. Once they are definitely foreign, suddenly they're no longer any more advantageous than any other foreign player. I presume Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland will remain non-foreign.

[Puja]

The 15 eqp thing going from "We'll give you extra cash" (which it currently is) to "You have to." is sort of big, but most sides achieve 15 on average across a season. The foreign thing is a lot bigger though.

Currently they're only allowed 2 "foreign" players on the pitch at a time I believe. However, PI/EU etc are covered by Kolpak type agreements, so are non-foreign. Once they are definitely foreign, suddenly they're no longer any more advantageous than any other foreign player. I presume Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland will remain non-foreign.

As I understand it, it's going from foreign to non EQP. So everyone who isn't qualified to play for England now has to be encompassed in the 8 allowed in a match day squad. Don't know whether it's averaged over the year or each MDS is its own individual unit that has to meet 15/23.

It'll be good for the Drua and Moana Pasifika - a lot of players who had previously been keeping Prem contracts might suddenly be available - the likes of Murimurivalu and Ratuniyarawa will go from luxuries to potentially being released because they can't be played.

Puja

[Tigersman]

IMO it's dumb and short sighted like most things from the RFU and PRL.
The cap going down is more helpful for promising younger England players as teams are now backing their youth as they don't have the cap space for the journeymen.

and honestly is the quality and quantity of players that bad right now? or is the England selections just bad?
Case in point how many promising 9's have we had? and how many get picked. I think nearly (Gloucester/Sarries come to mind as exceptions) every team in the prem has a English 9 starting or back up yet only Youngs has been played the past 7 years

[fivepointer]

We were warned something like this would happen as a result of brexit, so its come as no surprise. As someone who thinks there are too many non EQP's in the Premiership i'm not disappointed to see the numbers likely to fall significantly.
Certain clubs are going to have to review their recruitment plans for sure.

[Which Tyler]

Great - just as Bath join the rest in the South African shoppin mall!


Only kidding, happy to see 15 EQP in every match-day 23. Would, of course, be happier to see fewer teams as well - in case anyone hadn't noticed yet.

[Tigersman]

We were warned something like this would happen as a result of brexit, so its come as no surprise. As someone who thinks there are too many non EQP's in the Premiership i'm not disappointed to see the numbers likely to fall significantly.
Certain clubs are going to have to review their recruitment plans for sure.

TBH the only one that will struggle will be Irish on the whole.
Although not sure what Brexit has to do with RFU enforced EQP numbers?

[Which Tyler]

Although not sure what Brexit has to do with RFU enforced EQP numbers?

Probably something to do with it being illegal to discriminate based on nationality, so long as that nationality was EU, or had a freedom of movement agreement.

Now we're out of the EU, it no longer applies.

[Tigersman]

Although not sure what Brexit has to do with RFU enforced EQP numbers?

Probably something to do with it being illegal to discriminate based on nationality, so long as that nationality was EU, or had a freedom of movement agreement.

Now we're out of the EU, it no longer applies.

but didn't the RFU already have a quota? it was just the season average

[Which Tyler]

but didn't the RFU already have a quota? it was just the season average

No.
They had a (financial) reward for exceeding, not a minimum requirement.

[Raggs]

The 15 eqp thing going from "We'll give you extra cash" (which it currently is) to "You have to." is sort of big, but most sides achieve 15 on average across a season. The foreign thing is a lot bigger though.

Currently they're only allowed 2 "foreign" players on the pitch at a time I believe. However, PI/EU etc are covered by Kolpak type agreements, so are non-foreign. Once they are definitely foreign, suddenly they're no longer any more advantageous than any other foreign player. I presume Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland will remain non-foreign.

As I understand it, it's going from foreign to non EQP. So everyone who isn't qualified to play for England now has to be encompassed in the 8 allowed in a match day squad. Don't know whether it's averaged over the year or each MDS is its own individual unit that has to meet 15/23.

It'll be good for the Drua and Moana Pasifika - a lot of players who had previously been keeping Prem contracts might suddenly be available - the likes of Murimurivalu and Ratuniyarawa will go from luxuries to potentially being released because they can't be played.

Puja

There were always 2 separate things going on though. There was always the EQP quota, where the RFU gave you extra cash if you hit an average of 15 EQP players over the season in the 23. There's then a completely separate issue about only having 2 foreign players in the 23.

Sorry for the Daily Fail link but it states it here: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/rugby ... quota.html

"Under the existing rules Premiership clubs are limited to having two overseas players in their 23-man match-day squads, and over the course of the 22-match campaign they must have an average of at least 15 English qualified players in their squad to qualify for a bonus paid by the RFU as part of the Professional Game Agreement."

2 separate issues. Whilst Kolpak etc didn't qualify as EQP, they also didn't qualify as foreign, which was huge. Now however, unless that law gets changed, kolpak and eu players will be foreign (though I suspect welsh/scottish etc won't be), so PI players will lose a lot of value. Keeping the XV EQP is nothing new, but clubs are technically going to have to find even more of them now, since they'll need 21 non-foreign players. I'd guess anyone with a british passport classes as non-foreign now.

[Tigersman]

but didn't the RFU already have a quota? it was just the season average

No.
They had a (financial) reward for exceeding, not a minimum requirement.

Ah I got you.

[Stom]

Is it just me who likes this? Finally, Aussies and Kiwis treated the same as Saffas, and 15 EQPs isn't exactly a tough criteria to meet.

Quins have 13 non-English players atm, and of them, I believe 2, or maybe even 3 are EQP. So failing to meet the 15 quota would require a pretty strenuous injury list...

[FKAS]

Is it just me who likes this? Finally, Aussies and Kiwis treated the same as Saffas, and 15 EQPs isn't exactly a tough criteria to meet.

Quins have 13 non-English players atm, and of them, I believe 2, or maybe even 3 are EQP. So failing to meet the 15 quota would require a pretty strenuous injury list...

Or a substantial number of international call ups.

and honestly is the quality and quantity of players that bad right now? or is the England selections just bad?
Case in point how many promising 9's have we had? and how many get picked. I think nearly (Gloucester/Sarries come to mind as exceptions) every team in the prem has a English 9 starting or back up yet only Youngs has been played the past 7 years

Gloucester, Wasps, Quins and Exeter have tended to have EQ scrum halfs getting plenty of game time as well. Youngs was just good at playing the tactics he was told consistently well from several international and club coaches.

[FKAS]

Anyway the whole thing smacks of the type of heavy handed political crap most professional sports have moved past. We already keep our best players in England, the development pathway to first team rugby is well established at nearly every Prem club. Quite frankly the RFU should be looking at grassroots rugby and helping grow the game in non-traditional demographics rather than this pointless shite.