Demise of Wasps leaves English club rugby in dire need of major overhaul

It is less than a month since the Premiership Rugby Limited chief executive, Simon Massie-Taylor, spoke of the doomsday scenario that loomed over club rugby given the widespread financial turmoil. Wasps’ suspension on Wednesday after the admission they are likely to go into administration brings PRL face-to-face with that very scenario and the prospect of finishing the league with 11 teams. What’s worse is that come May there could even be fewer.

Rewind the clock further and it was seven years ago Wasps were being proclaimed as the richest club in the world after the bond scheme that has played such a big part in their undoing. Precisely how they now find themselves set to follow in the path of Worcester will be determined by the independent inquiry, which must surely be set up to examine the failings of domestic club rugby in England. That does not make the blow any more palatable, however, for one of the country’s most successful clubs.

In those seven years they have not lifted the Premiership – though they have reached two finals – but they boast six titles and two European Cups. For all that Lawrence Dallaglio caused upset on Sunday, when he appeared to suggest his former club should treated differently from the Warriors, he was speaking, as he played throughout his Wasps career during their heyday, with heart on sleeve.

There have been some good times in the West Midlands with Charles Piutau, Danny Cipriani and Kurtley Beale lighting up the place, but it is a move that has not worked out. As Wednesday’s announcement confirmed, in the coming days it seems they will be sent to Coventry for a second time. The most depressing aspect is there are no guarantees they will be the last club to fail. Should that be the case