There are those who have come to relish January, a time of abstemiousness and self-betterment that serves as a necessary reset from that which has come before. There is little reason, of course, to postpone any attempt to improve oneself beyond an arbitrary date, but a fresh page of the calendar can serve as necessary impetus nonetheless.
There will be plenty of figures in the club game hoping to condemn the missteps of 2025 to the past. As the Investec Champions Cup returns, both the Prem and the United Rugby Championship (URC) have reached the halfway mark of their campaigns, with the strata in each beginning to separate. The first week of 2026 has seen both Gloucester and Harlequins release somewhat ambiguous statements nonetheless underlining a need for improvements amid lost seasons – for the pair, and others, the fresh purpose that a new year and new competition can bring may therefore be welcome.
