I was watching one of the Investec Champions Cup rugby matches over the weekend between Leinster (Ireland) and Harlequins (England) which should have been a good close contest. Rugby is a professional sport so the sport needs to deliver on entertainment value if it is going to grow it's audience.
The final score of 62 nil in favor of Leinster tells you all you need to know and Harlequins were outplayed in every department. Outplayed is probably an understatement and was more like thumped. I noticed that the English sides struggled with only Northampton winning their match. Saracens lost 72-42 against Toulon which is a hiding even though a high scoring contest. Still it had entertainment value and Saracens did not just roll over like Harlequins did.
The difference in contrast the English sides facing the other teams is that their national leagues are strength vs strength matches meaning they have to compete due to relegation and promotion. In England this is not the case and can lose every match without fear of dropping down into a lower league.
The sport is professional so the players have chosen this sport as their careers and you have a duty to your employers to deliver. I am still puzzled how a professional team can lose 62 nil.
We I played semi professional rugby before the sport turned professional I have played in matches where we won by 80 points or more and it was too easy. Harlequins have international players earing big money who represent England so you would expect some sort of fight. A team can be out classed, but you do at least score some points. If things are not going to plan you go back to basics which I saw no evidence of that happening.
Going back to the promotion and relegation topic it forces teams to continually invest in players, coaches and new types of training equipment in order to be the best team possible. You may not win the league, but at the same time you are giving it the best chance and will not be relegated. This is clear through the results this is not happening in English club rugby and why the National team is struggling.
Many years ago in South Africa the local club competition was increased in size eliminating the threat of relegation and the standards dropped off drastically. This impacted the national team who had a disastrous 4 or 5 years dropping down the rankings to 9th place. The promotion relegation was reintroduced in 2018 and SA won the World Cup in 2019 and 2023. Having a strongly contested local league raises the standards and why it is important as every match counts due to fear of relegation. Your team could be mid table and have no chance of winning the league so the season is already over except you still have to fight in order to stay up. It is a dangerous mind set as a sporting person to start giving up as it spreads like a cancer through the team and this is where Harlequins find themselves now.