‘It’s a scary time’: Alex Goode on state of Premiership after worrying year

A fter 15 years as a Saracens player, Alex Goode knows Premiership rugby inside out. At the age of 35, he is also among the league’s most respected and perceptive voices. Accordingly, his blunt assessment of the 2022-23 campaign to date has real resonance. “It’s been a worrying season,” Goode says, softly. “When you’re not sure about your livelihood … I think that’s a very scary time.”

Goode, speaking on the eve of his side’s semi-final against Northampton at StoneX Stadium, is referring less to his own club, back in the big time again after their own well-documented salary cap travails, than the domestic game as a whole. There is not a player in the country who has watched the demise of Worcester and Wasps without an involuntary shiver and, with dark financial clouds still hanging over London Irish, even the most thrilling of title run-ins cannot dispel all the gloom.

The players, as so often, find themselves caught in the middle. Take Goode. In the twilight of a fine career, reaching another Twickenham final would mean a lot, but only if the wider game can also extricate itself from its present difficulties. “It’s a shame, because there’s actually been some of the best attacking rugby in the Premiership we’ve ever seen,” says the man who has played more than 350 games in a Sarries jersey. “The to-ing and fro-ing of teams moving up and down the league has been fantastic and should be really exciting but it’s just tinged with real worry.

“Seeing ex-teammates or people you know really suffering … the fear and anxiety so many players have gone through must have been horrendous. You hope that isn’t the case again [with London Irish] but you just don’t know and you fear the worst when you hear this stuff.”

Hence why Goode