It has taken a while but the penny finally seems to be dropping with those in charge of English club rugby. Perhaps it is simply maturity striking as the professional club top tier reaches its 30th season. Remember how things felt when you began to settle down, look for a proper job and start a family? According to the league’s chief executive, Simon Massie-Taylor, it is a similar story with the Prem.
And maybe he has a point when he says the league, which kicks off this Friday, is entering a new phase. In the rear-view mirror are the toddler tantrums and playground politics that disfigured the early years, the teenage growing pains and the subsequent existential struggle of finding a foothold in a precarious world.
