The chief executive of the Aviva Premiership, Mark McCafferty, has defended Premiership rugby in the wake of a disappointing World Cup for England and the rest of the Northern Hemisphere, as none of the teams have managed to make the semi-finals of the World Cup.
As we reported a few days ago, the coach of New Zealand, Steve Hansen has been critical of the way Northern Hemisphere rugby is being run by the governing bodies, as he pointed out the number of foreign players in the top European leagues such as the Top 14 and the Aviva Premiership as the reason for failure.
His All Black team walked over a woeful France in the quarter-finals, trouncing them 62-13, and leaving many wondering what went so very wrong for the northern hemisphere sides. That margin of defeat was the largest France have ever suffered at a Rugby World Cup.
However, Mark McCafferty has hit back at the criticism and according to Pundit Arena has said:
“As far as England is concerned – I’m not worried about what Steve Hansen said about France – there are 75% of players playing each weekend who are English qualifying.”
“That’s gone up and it gives a pool of players to every English coach which is pretty unrivalled around the world. We’ve just got to find the clues and things to unlock the elite level of performance within that…”
