Using his Guardian blog as a launching pad, Shaun Edwards dishes out some advice from the world of rugby league to those Premiership clubs fretting the cut in the salary cap.
"Rugby has never been a level playing field. Even before the game went professional clubs like Leicester and Northampton always had a strong fan base and with that came financial clout. When the millionaire benefactors arrived that powerbase widened. However, a salary cap was needed to stop the worst excesses and it is even more necessary now.
"If the professional side of the game is to remain vibrant there must be tighter control over the clubs with deep pockets otherwise the powerful will just hoover up the cream of the available talent.
"With rumours whipping around the game about the possible demise of some clubs, there are suggestions that the salary cap of £4.2m should be reduced to £3.5m. If that is what's needed, then fine, bring it in, but it has to be policed. I'm not pointing fingers, but you don't have to be a financial whiz to figure out that the recruiting done by some clubs is either out of kilter with the current cap or they have discovered a way of defying financial gravity."
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