New era puts Spice in the hot seat

Following the creation of England Rugby Ltd there is no longer any excuse for failure

Picture it now: Twickenham, 2007. Jonny Wilkinson at 28 years old, hero and inspiration to thousands of rugby-playing youngsters, climbs the steps towards a beaming King Charles III to lift the Rugby World Cup for England for the first time.

The Rugby Football Union have promised to win the 2007 World Cup – they also plan to be the hosts – and now, after this week's peace pact with the Premiership clubs and the creation of a joint venture company between the Union, the clubs and their players, there will be no excuse for failure.

The 113-page agreement that brings England Rugby Ltd into being dovetails with the Union's eight-year strategic plan, launched earlier this year. Decades of archaic practice that allowed England's southern hemisphere cousins to hold sway should now be at an end.

The key victory for the clubs is that they can now share in Twickenham's profits without the rump of the RFU having a right of veto over how they do their business. The clubs had not been able to accept that the joint commission envisaged in last year's aborted Rob Andrew Plan would have to refer its decisions back to the grass roots. Not that the 50-50 nature of England Rugby Ltd's board – five men from the Union, five from the clubs plus a non- voting chairman – entirely precludes an impasse over contentious issues.

Unsurprisingly, much is being made of looking after Wilkinson and his fellow players, financially and physically. A maximum of 32 matches a year has been set although that, according to the chief executive of the players' union, Damien Hopley, is only a recommendation. "Some players will play more than 32, I'm sure," Hopley said. "Our ideal figure would be more like 25 but that is simply not practical given the current fixture list. But the point of this is not about enforcing a limit, but to increase co- operation on equally important issues like rest periods."

With a player permitted eight internationals in the domestic season, it is the clubs who will have to give most ground on the "burn-out" issue. Even in a moderately successful season, a team like Leicester would expect to play around 35 fixtures.

The square pegs that are World Cups and Lions tours have been coaxed into round holes by a formula that makes each equivalent to two matches. The man responsible for that rather odd piece of mathematics – and, more importantly, the nurture of England's present and future stars – is the RFU's performance director, Chris Spice. He will work closely with club coaches to manage the players' time more efficiently, and will join the Union's chief executive, Francis Baron, on the England Rugby Ltd board.

Among Spice's first tasks is the identification of a 60-strong elite squad. He also has a cool £8m coming from Sport England over the next three years to spend on youth academies. "The money was contingent on having a deal with the clubs," said Spice. "Each of the 12 Premiership clubs has the opportunity to tender for an academy, but there may be others to make sure that all the regions are covered."

It is Spice's aim to create a pool of 300 England-qualified players. So far he has identified only about half that number, hence the accent on youth development which, after all, is more likely to address the shortfall than the occasional high-profile raid on rugby league for the likes of Jason Robinson and Henry Paul.

The Sport England funding is the basis of rugby league's complaint about the RFU using government money to harm their sport, but it is dog eat dog in the professional era.

Meanwhile, Paul MacKinnon, the director of Newcastle Falcons' successful academy, has noticed a welcome shift in the RFU's attitude. "Things have changed in the last three months," said MacKinnon. "I had wondered what might happen to us but the RFU are coming at it from wanting to assist what we currently do. We have filled out a bidding document to create the Newcastle Falcons-England Rugby Academy, and the figures are being finalised by David Shaw [Spice's RFU colleague] and the Lottery people. Everybody will have a share, and that means everybody is accountable."

Peter Deakin, the chief executive of Sale Sharks, was at Twickenham for the launch of England Rugby Ltd on Tuesday (the final green light was a vote in favour of 47 to one by the RFU Council on Friday). He hopes to claim his £330,000 or so for Sale from the Union's £4m bridging loan next week. Manna from heaven, and not a moment too soon. "If things go well with sponsorship and TV contracts, we could repay the loan earlier than the two-year limit," Deakin said.

Overall, the RFU have undertaken to pay the Premiership clubs a minimum of £31.6m over eight years. Clearly, they expect the new television contract for club rugby and England's non-Six Nations matches, which is due to be unveiled next month, to show a marked increase on the previous £87.5m deal with Sky TV.

English rugby is not out of the woods yet. The RFU have promised increased funding for the grass roots, partly on the back of as yet unrealised schemes such as a Twickenham TV production company, a travel firm and a leisure complex in a redeveloped South Stand. But all those hours of head-scratching, pencil-chewing and no little back-stabbing over the last six years since the game went open has led to this point. As Baron put it: "We're all going to live or die together."