Opinions in rugby clubs are like pint pots, everyone seems to have one, or indeed two, three, four or five, and the owners don’t mind sharing.
Some issues, such as the officiating of the scrum and breakdown, tend to inspire a chorus of consensual irritation, which leads to the conclusion that the laws and their enforcers militate against a decent spectacle.
However, the odd crank aside, the subject of dual registration is one that usually prompts a positive response. The scheme, introduced a few years ago to give the oxygen of first-team rugby to upwardly-mobile youngsters, who would otherwise be suffocated in a Premiership academy, has been quite successful.
In Moseley’s experience that has certainly been the case, if not for the long-term development of the Mose squad, then certainly for individuals like Jonny May, Charlie Sharples, Henry Trinder, Glyn Hughes and Ryan Glynn, who have benefitted massively from exposure to Championship rugby.
And when the system first came in I was a strong supporter, largely on the basis that any game time a young player could get had to be good.
There were, however, those who feared for the integrity of the Championship, even after Premier Rugby decided to limit the number of dual registrees to five per club.
And whilst I applaud the notion of regular rugby for young players I am also coming around to that way of thinking and now believe the current situation to be too fluid.
Particularly in the current format where sides, even those with their own RFU-funded academies, can bring in dual-registered talents for the crucial end-of-season matches.
It was vexatious enough seeing George Ford lead the Moseley midfield a merry dance in his only start for Leeds in January, without contemplating the possibility that a team might go up or down depending on which academy players they had or face from one week to the next.
To my mind the system does not need dispensing with but definitely needs a rethink. Ending the relegation play-off system, where someone like Charlie Walker can rip a team to pieces in a crucial game and then disappear off to England Sevens for the next five, will reduce the risk of inequity. But 22 regular-season matches is still a small number and another Ford-esque cameo could still be magnified in its importance.
What we really need is more commitment from the Premiership academies to send their players on longer-term loans rather than airlifting them in and out quite so pragmatically. In that way everyone will benefit and fewer will lose out.
