English rugby is ‘teetering on a precipice’, admits former scrum-half

Ex-Wasps scrum-half Dan Robson admits the Rugby Football Union (RFU) faces an “incredibly tricky” situation as they look to keep their best talent in England.

The 31-year-old, who moved to Top 14 outfit Pau in 2022 after he was released by Wasps after the English club entered administration, is now settled in France.

He was speaking on Le French Rugby Podcast and discussed a variety of topics, which included the RFU possibly changing their overseas policy to allow selection.

Robson understood the complexities of heading down that route and believes keeping the best players in the Premiership is something the RFU feels strongly about.

Finding that balance

“It’s that dilemma of if we change it, will everyone go? For me at the minute, the way people are coming to France, the Top 14 just seems to be getting bigger and bigger and bigger,” he said.

“You’re comparing that to the Premiership, which has 10 teams, it’s not a lot of games, there are teams struggling.

“If you suddenly went, ‘right, we’ll take the English stuff out of it,’ are your big players going to go and sign in France?

“Who’s coming up to watch the Premiership when you lose even more big names? I think it’s finding that balance and it’s incredibly tricky.”

He added: “English rugby at the minute is teetering on a precipice. I know speaking to a lot of the English guys coming over, who were in my situation last year, have loved it.”

One possibility that was floated to Robson on the podcast was for England to follow the same path as Australia, who introduced the Giteau Law that allows established players who had earned a significant number of international caps to play their club rugby overseas whilst still being available for the Wallabies.

Itoje Law?

That would no doubt open the door to the likes of Maro Itoje, who is currently facing a dilemma due to the change in salary cap regulations from next season.

“Potentially,” said Robson on the idea. “It’s definitely something to look at. It’s just about figuring out what’s an acceptable amount of caps and whether if they get to 25 or 26 caps and they’re like, ‘sweet, I’ll go to France now I’ve got there.’

“I know the RFU want as many of their players playing in England, so fans can go and watch them week in, week out in the Premiership.

“If they keep losing more and more, it will be a struggle.”

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