OPINION

Soapbox

The Voice From the Stands

Tuesday 09th September 2008

A Sheikh's shopping list: I want Leicester, Northampton and Bath

What happened with Manchester City last week may not be a million years away from happening with rugby clubs soon.

Gloucester owner Tom Walkinshaw was quick to stress his club was not for sale, but soon enough the money will be too tempting - not necessarily for Walkinshaw but for other owners. And then what? Well to start off with it will only be a select few clubs that create an interest, which is why moves need to be taken to prevent such investments.

Whilst every season throws up a few surprises, and ultimately the same clubs are always in the mix, things are a lot more even in the Guinness Premiership than they have ever been. Over the past few years we have seen a huge transformation in the overall quality of rugby and players on display.

See if every club had a mega-rich investor take a liking to them then we would not have a problem, but that is never going to happen. Instead one or two clubs will suddenly become the playthings of various Sheikhs and Russian oil tycoons, creating a monumental gulf in class.

No longer will they boast a small group of the world's finest players on their books, but will have the luxury of picking from the finest players money can buy. We have seen it in football's Premiership, and look what it has done there. I for one would hate to see rugby lose its traditional roots in favour of cash-rich investors, but then we all have our price and soon enough it will happen.

With the Guinness Premiership back in action at the weekend there was a familiar sense of d�j�-vu as Gloucester, full of big talk and early season hope, once again failed to deliver against Leicester. Here is a club who, over the past few seasons, have formed one of the Premiership's finest squads to never deliver.

Head Coach Dean Ryan, who spends more time fuming than smiling, must be questioning why he even bothers. One or two players aside (Olly Morgan take a bow) Gloucester seem to lack any meaningful direction on the field, leaving one questioning the players ability to execute a basic plan.

If it had been a one-off you could look at the new ELVs that came into action this season, but this is a regular occurrence. Twice Gloucester have finished top of the league in the last two years, only to blow it in the play-offs on both occasions. If I was Ryan I would be looking at options further afield, it is clear Gloucester don't have the mentality to win a major tournament.

Heading Down Under and it was interesting to read Stephen Donald's quotes this week, claiming he was more than happy to play second fiddle to Dan Carter. Apparently Donald, in his first season of international rugby, is only to happy to be in a position to learn from arguably the world's finest fly-half.

I wonder how long it will be before he has a change of heart and gets restless riding pine week in week out for the All Blacks. Take Nick Evans for example, a player of even better quality than Donald, who soon got fed up of being second off the rank and ended up packing his bags and heading for England.

There comes a time when, as a player, you just want to play rugby - even if that means sacrificing Test caps. And whilst being involved with the All Blacks may all be new and fun now, soon enough Donald will start questioning himself, by which time Sheikh Ihaveanendlesssupplyofmoney will be ready to snap him up and bring him to England.

For now though he will settle for a place on the bench for Saturday's Tri-Nations showdown with Australia, a game that will see the winners crowned champions for 2008 - and rightly so. They have been the two form teams, a game each aside (Australia's thumping against South Africa, and New Zealand's bad night in Sydney), and rightly deserve to have a chance at glory.

Once again New Zealand's public are bound to be torn, do they root for the All Blacks, or do they get behind the man they wanted as coach, Robbie Deans. With Graham Henry seemingly out of his rotational phase, naming the same side for the third successive Tri-Nations games, my bet is the New Zealand public are starting to find renewed faith in Henry and co.

But all that could change on Saturday, as anything less than a win and Henry will be facing a few tricky weeks.

My money is on the All Blacks, who are you backing?