On Sunday afternoon, the man with the microphone at the Stoop took after the post-match proceedings and directed everyone’s eyes towards Danny Care in the middle of the pitch.
This was Care’s retirement day. There was sorrow about the departure of a Harlequins legend but he bowed out on his own terms and the mood was more one of celebration.
Everyone gathered around their great scrum-half, watching Marcus Smith deliver some fitting praise for the man who has been front and centre throughout his career.
As it all unfolded, I could not help but notice George Hammond, the giant 6ft 5in lock, balling his eyes out on the fringes. There he was being consoled by his old mate Jack Kenningham, realising his time at the club had ground to a shuddering, involuntary halt.
Hammond, 24, joined Harlequins when he was 11 and he is among 45 players in English rugby who are suddenly looking for a new job. The same goes for the likes of Chris Harris (a 2021 British and Irish Lion), Callum Hunter-Hill (a Premiership title winner) and Will Addison (capped by Ireland).
Bath hooker Niall Annett has also featured on that list and admits the market for contracts remains squeezed since the loss of Wasps and London Irish.
Bath hooker Niall Annett admits the market for contracts remains squeezed since the loss of Wasps and London Irish
George Hammond’s time at Harlequins is coming to an end this summer
Danny Care received the fanfare after the Harlequins match but he is not the only one whose time at the Stoop is over
‘The nature of what’s happened in English rugby, with the demise of a couple of teams, meant there were lots of players for fewer teams,’ Annett told Rugby Confidential.
‘It’s put lots of guys in more difficult circumstances. Some people need to make big grown-up decisions around whether they keep playing and some you would advise to just dig in, back yourself and find an opportunity.
‘What’s happened in English rugby has changed the landscape, certainly. The real-life stresses around fixed contract is part and parcel of the game.’
Annett is one of the lucky ones; his future is close to being sorted, thanks in part to Bath’s transparency.
‘I don’t believe that you surprise people – and I don’t like surprises,’ said Bath head coach Johann van Graan, when asked about handling player departures.
‘I’m very comfortable that you can say anything to me – as long as you say it in front of my face in my office. We at the club treat people incredibly well so we tell players early.
‘The players understand that a contract is one, two, three or however many years long. Whether you’ve played no minutes or 1,400 minutes, everybody gets treated the same.
‘If we tell people in December that they’ll be moving on, we’ve got people at the club who can help people to move on. I believe it’s much more important how people exit somewhere than how they enter.
Bath head coach Johann van Graan is one of the good guys when it comes to departing players
Chris Harris was a Lion four years ago but now finds himself without a club
Former Ulster and Ireland man Will Addison is also on the lookout for new employers
‘The entrance it’s easy, it’s, “Ah, look at this amazing player”. The real value of a club is what people say when they’ve left. It comes back to the point of how you treat people.’
Not all clubs operate with Van Graan’s openness. This is the time of year when the Rugby Players’ Association come into action, with chairman Christian Day tasked with picking up players facing an uncertain future. Negotiations stall and player value is driven down as the summer months wind down.
‘It’s a tough professional sport and some players get that awful news that their time is up and they need to move on,’ Day told Rugby Confidential.
‘We’ve currently got around 45 who are without a landing spot and are keen to continue. That doesn’t include guys like Mike Brown or Danny Care who don’t want to continue. I expect that figure of 45 to come down to something like 30 or 35.
‘In terms of the salary cap, we’re seeing the clubs take on more financial responsibility. They’re starting to say that the cap might be X but we’re going to spend a lower number than that.
‘That’s certainly happening this year. With your homegrown credit, your injury credit, your international credit, your marquee signing, you can easily add £2million to the £6.4m cap but a lot of clubs now are just spending more like the £6.4m.
‘Clubs are running slightly tighter. If you look at Northampton Saints, they’ve had a group of young players come through the club who have suddenly become elite internationals. Guys like Fin Smith will have come in at a figure that has probably tripled now.
‘Preparing for that in your cap is really important. What we’re seeing is that senior squads are shrinking by two or three players. The removal of the international crossover has supplemented that.
Northampton star Fin Smith may well have tripled his salary as a result of his England success and Lions call-up
Christian Day, who played for Northampton, Sale and Stade Francais, is now chairman of the Rugby Players’ Association
‘At the other end, we’re seeing academies are getting larger, supplemented by a big cohort of part-time academy players at university. Some academy squads have doubled in size. There will always be room in the cap for the top, top internationals and the academy players who are economically accessible. That leaves your club men – the Niall Annetts of the world – who are going to be squeezed out in the middle.’
Returning from bankruptcy, Worcester have become an unlikely life raft for a number of players facing an uncertain future as the club prepare for life in the Championship next season. As one insider put it, Matt Everard, the man responsible for their rebuild, has become ‘every agent’s best mate’.
‘It’s our role to make sure that landing spots can be found outside the Premiership,’ said Day. ‘I think the Champ has a huge role to play. If the Champ can increasingly improve standards on and off the field then it will become a much more viable competition, where players go for two years to try and win a contract in the Prem.
‘That’s exactly what happens in the PRO D2; there are French internationals who took that route. We want the teams with big aspirations – your Worcesters and Coventrys – to succeed for the good of the game.
‘One of our initiatives was to circulate a free agents list to all the clubs. That supplements the work of player agents and just ensures the visibility of players in front of the directors of rugby. There was one player this year who told us he was directly picked up from that list. We’ve run it since the Worcester situation.
‘As a representative of the players, we want what’s best for the player. We want players to maximise their career and also prepare them for what inevitably every player will face one day; that rugby will no longer pay you to do the job.
‘That’s the reality of professional sport. Rugby will never pay enough for 99 per cent of the players to retire and not need to go to work.’
Let’s hope the Hammonds and Addisons of this world don’t have to go down that route just yet.
Donoghue for England?
Premiership discovery of the season Ciaran Donoghue’s form for Bath could earn him a first England call this summer
Donoghue was unheard of before this season. He had never played age grade international rugby and spent the last three years either injured or on loan at Dings Crusaders
Premiership discovery of the season Ciaran Donoghue’s form for Bath could earn him a first England call this summer.
Donoghue was virtually unheard of before the current campaign. He had never played age grade international rugby and spent the last three years in Bath’s academy either injured or on loan at National 2 side Dings Crusaders.
The 22-year-old also qualifies for Ireland.
England coach Steve Borthwick, who needs back-up to George Ford for the July matches with Argentina and the USA, said: ‘We’ve got three brilliant fly-halves in Fin (Smith), Marcus (Smith) and George. Two of them have been selected for the Lions tour, so we’re clearly looking at who will be the next ones.
‘Charlie Atkinson has been in a number of squads and training programmes and Ciaran is another of those players. (Donoghue) has got exceptional pace.
‘He’s a player I’ve spoken to Lee Blackett about a number of times. He’s coached him at Bath and Lee is going to be part of the England touring party this summer.’
Borthwick’s new gear
England’s new kit deal with Castore has already been activated. Borthwick was first to make a public appearance in the new apparel at Tuesday’s press conference announcing the squad for the summer tour, wearing a new light blue t-shirt.
Castore took over the contract from Umbro, with the new kit going down well with the players.
Lozowski staying at Saracens
Saracens centre Alex Lozowski has activated a clause in his contract to remain at the London club next season
Saracens centre Alex Lowzowski has activated a clause in his contract to remain at the London club next season.
Despite speculation about his future, it is understood the 31-year-old, who is currently sidelined with an achilles injury, has not played his last match for the club.
Lozowski was approached by Leicester Tigers when it became clear he had an option to move on.
