MPs are going to ask the governing bodies of rugby union how two Premiership clubs, Worcester Warriors and Wasps, went bankrupt at the same time.
The House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport Committee will host a meeting on Thursday between the heads of the Rugby Football Union and Premiership Rugby.
They will discuss whether the game and club owners require additional financial oversight.
Wasps, co-founders of the Premiership, entered administration on October 17.
That occurred 13 days after Worcester’s WRFC Players Ltd, the club’s arm that pays players and staff, was wound up in the High Court in London.
The Wasps Group had debts of over £100 million, while Warriors’ debts now total more than £30 million, including millions in unpaid taxes.
Wasps Holdings’ most recent set of financial statements, which covered the fiscal year that ended in June 2021, revealed liabilities of £54.7 million and a loss of £18.5 million over a two-year period.
Listen to and subscribe to the Rugby Union Weekly podcast. The RFU has lost £73 million since 2012, and there has already been media speculation that several other Premiership clubs have major financial issues.
MP Robin Walker of Worcester, CEO Carol Hart of the Worcester Warriors Foundation, RFU CEO Bill Sweeney, CEO Simon Massie-Taylor of Premiership Rugby, and CEO Judith Batchelar of the Rugby Players Association are all scheduled to testify before the committee.
The most important questions are whether or not there should be more oversight to prevent financial mismanagement, whether English rugby should follow the French league model, and whether or not Wasps and Worcester will return to the Premiership and keep their “P” shares in the league.
The Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport Committee is a ten-member committee of the House of Commons, not a government committee, and its primary function is to hold ministers accountable.
Both Worcester and Wasps are currently out on suspension and have been relegated from the Premier League.
The outcome of the upcoming season is still unknown to both teams.
Kurt-Lee Arendse moves to the right wing this weekend, and Damian de Allende moves from outside center to inside center, where he teams up with Kriel.
Thomas du Toit (prop), Marco van Staden (flanker), Jaden Hendrikse (scrum-half), Canan Moodie (wing), and others have been added to the bench.
Cheslin Kolbe, Andre Esterhuizen, Cobus Reinach, Jasper Wiese, and Vincent Koch have all returned to their club teams, making them unavailable.
“Every player in this squad has played Test rugby, and our selection strategy throughout the season and the SA “A” games against Munster and Bristol have allowed most of them to play at this level.
“It doesn’t get any bigger for a player than playing England in the final Test of the season at Twickenham in front of a packed house, and you can feel the players’ excitement about this occasion.”
Following their impressive victory over New Zealand, the Springboks coach anticipates an “epic encounter at Twickenham” with England.