There have been some eye-catching additions to the Premiership this summer, even if the clubs have generally avoided splurging as they grapple with mounting debts.
Bristol have recruited the league’s first £1m-a-year player, Charles Piutau, and invested in what is left in the legs of the Wallabies flanker George Smith. Gloucester have fortified themselves with a clutch of signings from the Golden Lions, the former home of their coach, Johan Ackermann; Wasps have replaced Danny Cipriani with the All Black Lima Sopoaga; and Sale will have Chris Ashton watching from the stands for a while. But the most intriguing signing – one that could influence the competition as a whole – looks to be a coach.
Northampton, whose success earlier this decade was based on the staple English diet of set-piece supremacy, gainline domination, power and accurate kicking have hired Chris Boyd, who in 2016 steered the Hurricanes to the Super Rugby title.
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The Saints in their pomp had a fly-half who was comfortable operating in a structured environment, Stephen Myler. Boyd’s pivot in Wellington was Beauden Barrett, a player who revels in chaos. Boyd’s move to Franklin’s Gardens may not quite be equivalent to Pep Guardiola taking over a long-ball team but it amounts to a significant change in direction, one that could have benefits across the Premiership, which last season was slow to react to the change in the game’s zeitgeist from set pieces and possession to the breakdown and turnovers.
Boyd was on Wales’s shortlist to replace Warren Gatland after next year’s World Cup but would not wait that long to make the move to Europe. “I talked to them but I wanted to go straight into a position after finishing with the Hurricanes and I was keen to coach in the Premiership as well, a tournament I have always regarded highly,” he says. “I am a bit of a rugby tragic and have always followed the game in the northern hemisphere closely. The game is different here in the way it is played and refereed, stuff I have to get used to. Having been in Wellington for 30 years or so, apart from a stint with Tonga and a high-performance unit, I wanted to see how I would go working with people who were new to me.
“The biggest mistake you can make as a coach coming in is in trying to impose a blueprint you think is right. There are several new influences here. Dan Biggar [Myler’s replacement] changes the dynamic, as does Sam Vesty [the attack coach]. And I do.
“There is a whole melting point and we have to find the right way to play with the group we have. I would be surprised if the risk and reward did not go up a wee bit from where it has been. It won’t be a traditional Northampton way and it won’t be a traditional Hurricanes way: you would be foolish to dismiss the importance of set pieces in England, where it is more than a means of restarting play as we regard it in New Zealand. Your philosophy must suit the cattle you have. I have not encountered a closed mind here and that is heartening.”
Boyd replaces Jim Mallinder, who was sacked last December after a 10-year career at the club that started when Saints were in the Championship and took in a European Cup final and a Premiership title. As Northampton declined, the board felt he was owed time to get the team back where they were. Misplaced loyalty? “No,” says the Saints’ chief executive, Mark Darbon. “The impact Jim had here was immeasurable and it was right to give him the opportunity to turn results around. It did not happen and we reacted at the right time.
“Chris was at the top of our list to replace him and his impact has been visible. His philosophy is different to Jim’s and I think you will see a slightly different style of play but a new coach always has to be given time.”
Time will be precious. Relegated London Irish have been replaced by Bristol, who look unrecognisable from their last visit to the Premiership two years ago, and not just because they have become the Bears.
I will continue to make top-notch signings like Charles Piutau but we also want to become sustainable
Northampton at one point last season were on course to finish one off the bottom before scrambling to ninth. If they look to have too much experience and pedigree to be sucked into a relegation battle, Worcester look more vulnerable, Harlequins need to tighten up under Paul Gustard and Bath, who will be without the England backs Anthony Watson and Jonathan Joseph for the start of the season, have an underwhelming feel.
Their opening match is at Bristol on Friday, when Ashton Gate will be close to its 26,500 capacity. Bath lost there two seasons ago, their West Country rivals’ last victory in the top flight, and the Bears are a different beast now. “Rebranding puts the club on a new footing,” says Bristol’s owner, Stephen Lansdown, whose £1.7bn fortune has spooked rivals who do not want the lid on wage inflation blown off, just when the salary cap has been frozen at £7m until a review in 2020.
“Things in sport have tended to be done in a certain way but you have to change, as the game and society have. When we were promoted last time, I thought people would come back and watch us but we had been out of the top flight for eight years: people had forgotten what it was like and we did not appreciate what was required. Too often a business rests on its laurels and does not push on, but we are not standing still now.
“I will continue to look to make top-notch signings like Charles Piutau, supplementing them with academy products because we want to become sustainable. There is a lot of excitement around the place.”
There was plenty of excitement last season for Saracens. The champions have only three recruits and Exeter, the runners-up, one, both trusting their academies. The two clubs were some way ahead of the rest last season; it is no coincidence that following Mallinder’s dismissal by Northampton, they have the Premiership’s longest-serving coaches, followed by the other teams who made the play-offs last season: Wasps, Newcastle and Sale.
Leicester, for so long a byword for continuity, reacted to their descent by suddenly hiring and firing two seasons ago. Simon Cohen, their chief executive, says: “I do not think the reason we have not been as competitive over the last few years is down to money. We need to get some stability within our coaching group.”
Leicester remain the Premiership’s best-supported club and have plans to build a hotel and car park on land adjacent to their ground but their construction needs to be on the field in the second half of a year when England have juddered and the Premiership clubs have struggled in Europe.
Boyd’s arrival should prove timely for Eddie Jones as the England coach strives for a high-tempo, reactive game. If the quality of rugby in the Premiership can sometimes be questioned, the effort of players cannot. A hope this season is that the sides prepared to indulge in risk are given more licence by refereeing interpretations. Colour is a way for clubs to get into the black.