By Keith Jenner
September 13 2004

On Saturday I was listening to the Quins v Northampton match on the internet, whilst keeping an eye on Wasps v Sale on the TV. There was one moment which sticks in my mind. During one of the many breaks in the internet coverage I turned the TV volume up, just as Matt Dawson scored a try for Wasps. On the TV commentary they made a comment about him scoring his first try in front of his new supporters.

This got me to thinking that we were (reportedly) after Dawson over the summer, but he ended up at Wasps. Now, I have my reservations about Dawson, but if rumours can be believed, we were also after Pichot and are currently struggling to find a second row. Once again the thought entered my head “Can Quins attract the best players these days?”

Of course, we don’t know what actually happened over the summer, which players we were after and the reasons why we failed to get them. The stories about trying to sign Dawson and Pichot may have been incorrect. On the other hand, there were probably other players that we were after who us supporters haven’t even considered. All I will say at this point is that in my opinion, if we weren’t trying to sign players of the quality of Dawson and Pichot then it says something about the club’s finances, or the ambition of the club.

So why, for example, are Wasps able to attract two of the front runners for the Lions scrum half spot whilst we appear to be struggling to get a premiership standard player in that key position? I know some people point to the wage cap and say that some other teams must be exceeding the limit. I’m not going to dwell on the point because I just don’t have the information to back up any theories. I will just say that maybe, the clubs like Wasps, Leicester, Northampton and Gloucester don’t have to offer as much in order to get the best players. Perhaps, if for example Quins and Leicester are both after the same player and are offering the same package, they player would go for Leicester because of the perceived benefits of playing for one of the “big clubs”.

Of course every team has a number of proven quality players (i.e. Andre Vos, Will Greenwood), but it does seem that there is a gap opening between the top few clubs and the rest. I believe that there is a risk of this gap increasing over the next few years which surely won’t be good for the game as a whole. However, it may be difficult to stop and if this is the case then Quins must try to ensure that they are in that top group. I have to be honest though and say that I can’t see how we are going to manage it.

If my thoughts are correct, it is success on the field which will determine who are the teams which will pull away from the others. If we (and some other clubs) are already struggling to recruit top quality players then it is difficult to see how this success will be achieved. An injection of cash may possibly help, but one potential effect of the salary cap is to ensure that clubs can all offer similar packages to players, regardless of how much money they have available. This will once again ensure that the top clubs have a bigger attraction to players.

This makes rather depressing reading, and hopefully I am wrong, but I think that we are at a very important stage in the development of professional Rugby Union. In some ways, the damage has already been done (it was probably done before the current management was involved). I don’t think that Mark Evans and his team can be blamed for the current situation. They inherited a club which was in a far worse situation than it is now. My thoughts are also not a knee jerk reaction to a couple of disappointing results. I have been thinking along these lines all summer. Do you agree with me? Let us know on the message board.