Bristol to sell-out

[SelimNiai]

Source

BATH chief executive Nick Blofeld has opened the door to a possible player-sharing arrangement with Bristol next season.

Nottingham â€" who have a tie-up with Guinness Premiership champions Leicester â€" are one of several Championship sides who sign players on dual-registration agreements with top-flight clubs.

Moseley (Gloucester) and Bedford (Saracens) also take advantage of the system that allows second-tier clubs to bolster their squads with what are effectively season-long loan deals.

The Premiership outfit has the ultimate say in when the dual-registered players can turn out for their affiliated Championship side â€" but Nottingham's team regularly featured a host of Leicester's up-and-coming young talent during the 2009-10 season.

And Blofeld, whose side sent highly-rated flanker Guy Mercer to London Welsh last season, is willing to talk to Bristol over a possible deal for the coming campaign.

Having missed out on promotion back to the Premiership, Bristol have already lost five first-team players and face the prospect of losing a raft of others before the new season starts.

"Having this kind of arrangement with a Championship club is something we have been thinking about for a long time," said Blofeld.

"We have not necessarily always had Bristol in mind, and we have had chats with Plymouth before, and also worked with Newbury and London Welsh.

"One of the issues with having a big squad is that the younger players don't always get game-time for the first-team â€" and this type of arrangement would address that."

Asked whether Bath would be interested in setting up an arrangement specifically with Bristol over the dual registration of certain players next term, Blofeld said: "Absolutely. It is certainly something we would entertain and look at."

It is understood the clubs had been willing to put aside their historical rivalry and work together next season had Bristol been promoted â€" with flamboyant Bath back-rower Jonny Fa'amatuainu lined up for a season-long loan switch to the Memorial Stadium.

That deal has fallen through as a result of Bristol's failure to beat Exeter in the Championship play-off final â€" but there appears to be a willingness on both sides to co-operate in some capacity.

Bristol captain Jason Spice, whose own future remains uncertain after the club's players were last week asked to take a 50 per cent pay-cut, believes a link-up with Bath could prove a positive move.

"It could certainly solve a lot of our short-term problems," said the scrum-half.

"If we are going to have to tread water for a couple of seasons, then I think the most logical thing to do would be to enter into an arrangement with Bath where we have access to some of their younger guys."

What is going on with my club? I just don't know how to take this news. On the one hand I can see the benefits, on the other it's B**h we are talking about, our biggest rivals.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

I was going to say, i thought they were big rivals

Worcestor had/has something similar with Coventry (well, did) - they were sending players who are just out of/nearly at the end of the academy to get more experience there,

I suppose it can go either way, you could get some good players coming across, but at the same time, if they were that good they'd be playing in their squad, not being shipped off elsewhere
Crazy situation

 

[Thingimubob]

this is really random... I guess the whole system isn't a bad one, it's not completly different from what the Welsh regions do with their feeder clubs - using the Premiership clubs to try out their youngsters and give players who are coming back from injuries a run out. Still, it's crazy that such big rivals as Bath and Bristol, who only a couple of seasons ago were both competing in the Heineken Cup, are now considering linking up! Could be good for both clubs I guess, but still, it's very wierd!
It's like two historic rivals like Neath and Swamsea linking up...Oh wait...
(then again the link up of those two big rivals has worked out well I know that creating a new team is a bit different to squad sharing, but still, it's an interesting example)

 

[TRF_Cymro]

Bit of a surprise but the standard of Div 1 rugby in England is not that bad and its a good breeding ground to send youngster out on loan and gain valuable playing experience. If Bristol have an exodus of players then getting players in on loan could serve them well.

 

[Getofmeland]

I guess it ensures the youngsters of the future get competitive rugby each week, which is more than can be said if they were sat on the sidelines... It could do wonders for the English Game, however the downside is that as soon as these players get good they go back to respective clubs, and the team they get promoted has to buy in the talent...

 

[SelimNiai]

I guess it ensures the youngsters of the future get competitive rugby each week, which is more than can be said if they were sat on the sidelines... It could do wonders for the English Game, however the downside is that as soon as these players get good they go back to respective clubs, and the team they get promoted has to buy in the talent...

To avoid that you'd need to work something into the agreement between the player and the clubs to ensure that said player would play for the club he was loaned to for the entirety of the loan deal. I remember we had Chris Malone from B**h for supposedley 3 months, he plays 1 game, wins us the game and as he played better than whoever was 10 for B**h at the time they called him back and he left after 1 game.

 

[Getofmeland]

I agree that the deal should stand for the full term... but I was talking about after the season ends...

 

[tinchy17]

It's understandable that you're angry about sending players to your biggest rivals, but those players probably need more experience