Just two rounds into the 2025-26 season, PREM Rugby clubs are facing up to a worrying injury crisis which has already forced some teams to ask themselves big questions.
Bristol, Gloucester, Northampton, Saracens and Harlequins all have more than a dozen first-team squad players in the treatment room.
Bristol have been the worst hit by their opening two matches, losing key men Harry Randall, AJ MacGinty and Gabriel Ibitoye for long spells. Wales wing Louis Rees-Zammit has also picked up a toe injury.
Gloucester, who have lost both their opening league games, have 15 men unavailable for Saturday’s daunting trip to defending champions Bath.
Northampton will be boosted by their four returning Lions for the East Midlands derby at Leicester, but the medical team at Saints has also been more than busy.
At such an early stage in the campaign, the worsening situation is a huge concern from a player welfare perspective.
Louis Rees-Zammit is one of more than a dozen Bristol players laid low in the early weeks of the season
Fellow Bristol Bears winger Gabriel Ibitoye is also crocked as part of a brutal injury crisis
Gloucester, who have lost both their opening league games, have a staggering 15 men unavailable for Saturday’s daunting trip to defending champions Bath
‘Every game we see lads coming off,’ said Gloucester director of rugby George Skivington. ‘We love the game because it is brutal. But when it gets you, it gets you – and coaches and systems get tested.’
Skivington’s Northampton counterpart Phil Dowson admitted: ‘We have got a lot of soft-tissue issues and that is something we are looking into from a medical point of view.’
Injuries in the tough, uncompromising world of competitive professional rugby are nothing new. But to have such large numbers already on the sidelines after just two rounds of matches certainly is. So, is there an explanation for it?
On the back of this summer’s Lions tour of Australia, the new top-flight season started a littler later than usual, and the 10 teams warmed up with a small handful of PREM Rugby Cup games.
After round one of the league proper, Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall said the short build-up was not enough time to get his players match fit, especially as Lions players and England internationals who went on the summer tour of the Americas were not permitted to play.
There may well be an element of coincidence that the PREM’s injury rate is so high on the back of a short pre-season. It is true that not all teams are suffering from a cast of casualties. And it is also true to say that a club like Saracens have a number of players out from injuries suffered last season, such as Alex Lozowski.
But history shows the game’s best players are often susceptible to breaking on the back of a Lions tour, where the demands placed on them are so high.
And what is even more worrying is that even non-internationals such as Ibitoye are already in that category before the middle of October. George Martin and Elliot Daly are two leading England internationals currently on the sidelines. But there is a concern in rugby circles more of the country’s leading lights could follow.
Elliot Daly is already sidelined and could be joined by more England stars soon
Saracens are top of the PREM after winning their first two matches, but director of rugby Mark McCall has huge concerns about their fitness levels
Trystan Bevan, a former head of performance with Wasps and Cardiff, told Rugby Confidential: ‘It’s always been the same, even if I go back to 2005 when I was helping work with Wales.
‘The individuals who go with the Lions have always said – to their credit – that the global calendar is going to get to a critical point where the demands being asked of an elite player are going to be more than what you can invest in the player.
‘It’s not just about loading and time off. Every year, the standards rise in professional rugby. I first met Elliot 10 years ago at Wasps. At the time, we couldn’t believe he was running 1,000 high-speed metres per game. Now, everybody does it. So, for someone like Elliot to stay ahead of the game, he needs to train harder as he gets older.
‘There is a physical and skills arms race ongoing constantly and the time for players to recover is getting shorter and shorter. It means injuries are bound to happen. At Wasps, we used to give Joe Launchbury high fives because he would play 2,000 minutes in a season. Now, the amount the top players play is catastrophically high.’
Tommy Freeman, for example, topped 2,500 minutes playing in 34 matches for Northampton, England and the Lions last season.
RFU and PREM regulations state players should be given 10 weeks between seasons unless an exemption is granted. The majority of the league’s Lions stars are set to return to domestic action this weekend after extended mandatory rest periods. Player match limits have also been brought in. Positive welfare steps have been taken.
But the first two rounds of this season shows the system isn’t working perfectly.
‘You can’t just play, play, play,’ Bevan said. ‘Players need the chance to recover and train properly in a pre-season. One of the things that has to be on the menu for rugby is a winter break like they have in European football.
‘If they want to keep the quality of the games high and the players fit, I think that would be a good move.’
Bristol fly-half AJ MacGinty limps out of their opening-weekend clash with Leicester
Bath flanker Ted Hill receives treatment during their win over Sale last week
Dowson has urged rugby not to come to any quick conclusions and he is right to say that the medical data needs to be analysed in detail. But the initial signs aren’t positive.
Skivington added: ‘When I look at our injuries, the first thing you do is look at what you have done in pre-season. Have you prepared the players well enough or overdone it?
‘A couple of years ago we had a lot of similar muscle injuries, so we changed the programme. This year, ours have been quite random and unlucky.
‘But there is certainly something in not being able to have a proper pre-season, a lot of boys not being allowed to play and having two PREM Cup games.’
Brits outshine the French again…
French rugby’s glittering annual awards evening La Nuit du Rugby took place in Paris on Monday with England flanker Jack Willis taking the gong for Top14 player of the year.
The event reflects the booming state of French rugby, with the great and the good of the country’s game attending and a champagne and canapes reception following.
But in order to make sure the event (which is broadcast live on Canal+) doesn’t get too out of hand, French rugby organisers closed the venue’s bar half an hour before the awards began.
The majority of attendees, top players like Willis, Thomas Ramos and Louis Bielle-Biarrey aside, more than made up for the brief alcohol interlude at the reception afterwards.
The English journalists in attendance stood out, predominantly due to not wearing a suit with trainers – a popular trend for so-called ‘smart’ events in France.
English flanker Jack Willis claims the top prize for player of the year at the Top14 awards this week
First cricket, then rugby, now horse racing?
PREM Rugby chief growth officer Rob Calder’s work in developing the English club game’s top league has now been recognised by another sport – horse racing.
Calder, who previously helped create cricket’s The Hundred, has brought in a younger audience to the PREM after a troubled few years.
His work caught the attention of racing’s top bosses and he appeared as a keynote speaker at the industry’s Racing Foundation Conference in York.
Like rugby, racing’s traditional audience is middle-aged and the sport has been slow to change. But Calder urged the sport of kings to move with the times, something he has brought to the PREM with a marketing rebrand and increased digital innovation.
Will Willis stay?
England and Saracens No 8 Tom Willis is a player in demand after 18 months of impressive performances for club and country – but his club boss McCall hopes the giant ball-carrier will stay in north London and bid to be a star at the 2027 World Cup.
Willis was one of 25 players handed an enhanced elite player squad contract by the RFU at the start of the season, reflecting his impressive development.
‘Tom is out of contract at the end of the year and of course we want to keep him. We’d love him to stay here and hopefully that’s the case,’ McCall said. ‘He’s had a brilliant 15 months. He was probably slightly on the outside of that England squad last year.
‘He obviously does a lot of eye-catching carries and that’s his point of difference. But to be honest, he’s improved every area of his game. He’s full of confidence at the moment.’
Toulouse head coach Ugo Mola has ruled out signing Willis, who has eight caps for his country, to play alongside his brother Jack.
‘I like him a lot but there is the salary cap in France,’ Mola said. ‘If I had a little more money, I would have liked to bring Jack and his brother together. Tom is a very good player with a really different profile.’
Tom Willis has been in brilliant form for England and Saracens this year, but is out of contract at the north London club at the end of the season
The countries where R360 IS getting big support
Rugby’s breakaway league was dealt a hammer blow when the game’s established unions came together this week to say players who sign R360 contracts won’t be able to also feature internationally. But the sport’s new proposal does have support from smaller nations.
Qais Al Dhalai, the president of Asia Rugby and a World Rugby council member, said: ‘It ticks multiple boxes to make rugby more inclusive, efficient, accessible and innovative.
‘This outside-the-box concept will unlock the sport’s full potential in massive markets like Asia and Africa and showcase to the global audience that rugby isn’t restricted to the traditional 10 unions. It’s for everyone.’
An Osprey error
A small section of Ospreys fans thought Christmas had come early when an online glitch allowed them to buy tickets to watch the Welsh side for free.
But although the supporters were able to go through with their purchases at no cost, the error was soon realised and the tickets were subsequently withdrawn.