Loose Pass: Wasps’ woes, the Rugby Championship’s fascinating battle and a ruined surprise for those just waking up

And just when we thought we might all get away with it too. It’s no secret that Covid shaved off any pretence of profitability among England’s Premiership clubs, no understatement to say that the lowering of the salary cap may save a couple of clubs from trying a Barcelona.

Tough times were had, yet it did look as though we might not get any casualties. But now Wasps, one of England’s grandest old names, are looking decidedly ragged. Unable to fulfil financial commitments, under likely legal pressure from their groundshare partners, short of squad depth and without the means to fill the roster, a lean season looms. If they make it that far.

Rumours – unsubstantiated and formally denied – continue to abound about the club going into administration, with a GBP 35m bond issue not being redeemed to investors in time and the club struggling to refinance it. It’s a heck of a lot of money, yet a year ago some creative financial work might have made it look less daunting. Certainly seven years ago, when the bond was issued, the world was a very different place economically. Now though, with base interest rates having risen 1.5 percentage points in the last nine months alone, it looks a far more intimidating liability when it comes to refinancing. Charity is in short supply right now and however grand an old name Wasps are, this is, unfortunately, not soccer.

The bond was issued to finance the purchase of the Coventry Arena, but the Arena business was hammered by the pandemic far more than the club itself, leaving the club as a whole much less valuable. Wasps recently applied for public support for the Arena business on the basis of the negative pandemic effects to the tune of GBP 13m, an application which already has many