Game caught in a constant state of influx

If football has had a bear market in the transfer business, rugby union has taken the bull by the horns. The majority of clubs in the Zurich Premiership, which starts next Friday when Sale play Northampton, appear to have fallen for the Pamplona effect, beefing up their front rows with specialists from France and Argentina.

Despite the salary cap and investment in an academy system, which is meant to nurture home-grown talent, most teams have gone for an import drive and a quick fix to their problems. The English game speaks with a forked tongue... and many other languages.

Even Leicester, the Midlands model not only of consistency but of family virtues, have succumbed, signing the French prop Franck Tournaire, the Irish scrum-half Tom Tierney and the young Welsh hooker Rhys Williams, recruited not from the valleys but from Kowloon in Hong Kong. "Rhys is a good player, Tom is an international player and Franck is a world-class player," Dean Richards said. Tournaire is the first Frenchman to play for Leicester in their 122-year history.

The perennial question is: who can hit the Tigers with a tranquilliser dart? They have won the last four Premiership titles, are the only side to retain the Heineken Cup – albeit with a notorious helping hand from Neil Back – and have capitalised by taking more than £2 million in sales of season tickets (prices range from £59 to £299), which are edging towards 12,000. Their average home gate of 15,384 is bigger than the average crowd in football's Nationwide First Division.

They have received another £1m from a new sponsor, the landscaping company Bradstone, who have replaced Vauxhall. But will the Premiership landscape change?

Tom Walkinshaw appears to have run into a cul-de-sac with his Formula One Arrows team, and when he retired as chairman of the Premier Rugby Board he obviously had his mind on other things. Maybe Gloucester, Walkinshaw's club, will now benefit from his undivided attention. "To rival Leicester," Walkinshaw said, "we need to create a support structure and fan base. That must come from strong season-ticket sales and I urge all supporters to make this commitment. It's amazing to me that anyone could turn down the opportunity of having a season of top-class Premiership and European rugby for less than it costs to spend a night in a half-decent hotel." Tom's idea of room service may differ from that of the inhabitants of The Shed.

Nigel Melville, lured to the West Country from Wasps, has Dean Ryan, lured from Bristol, as his right-hand man. "People have a hang-up about who is number one, but my job here will be the same as it was at Bristol," Ryan said. "It's to get the maximum out of the players." Gloucester, third in the Premiership last season and winners of the Zurich Championship, have been in a training camp in Natal, which would have made Thinus Delport feel at home. The former Springbok full-back, a proven try-scorer, has joined from Natal Sharks and much is expected of the Gloucester back three.

Paul Turner, however, will no longer be supervising Gloucester's backs. Turner, who has seen more clubs than a pack of cards, has joined the staff at Harlequins. Quins – they in turn have lost Richard Hill to Newport – play Gloucester at the Stoop on Saturday. Andre Vos, the former Springbok captain, joins in November while Dan Luger, who ruptured ligaments in his right knee last April, is not expected back until next February. Quins, who are donating £1 to Oxfam for every season ticket sold, have Keith Wood on a new one-year contract, but his services may be lost to Siberia next month, where Ireland play Russia in a World Cup qualifier.

Leeds, grateful to Rotherham for avoiding relegation, have been training with the Light Dragoons in Norfolk. They have been engaged on an assault course and a stretcher race, which may come in handy considering their first opponents are the Tigers. Jon Callard is the new assistant to the director of rugby, Phil Davies.

Bath, Callard's old club, play London Irish at the Madejski next Sunday in one of the more intriguing matches. Under the inspiring leadership of Brendan Venter, the Irish were tremendously competitive throughout last season and their blitz of Northampton in the final of the Powergen Cup was something else. The biggest mystery is why MG Rover, who signed a one-year contract last season to have their name on the Irish jerseys and had a wonderful run for their money, have not renewed.

The club have had to come to terms with the shocking disclosure that Jarrod Cunningham, who joined them in 1998, has motor neurone disease. A trust fund is to be established and a committee formed to provide physical and financial support.

The Irish are reinforced with the arrival of wing Pieter Rossouw from South Africa and lock Bob Casey from Ireland. Can they sustain the pace they set last season, and can Bath still be as awful?

Jack Rowell, who created the West Country legends, is back in overall charge of a group of Australian coaches and they have their work cut out. Bath have been relegated from the Heineken Cup to the Shield, the transfer of Mark Connors from Australia has collapsed and the England and Lions hooker Mark Regan has moved to Leeds. "I wanted to get out of the comfort zone," Regan said, which, as daft statements go is up there with Peter Wheeler's criticism of referee Steve Lander for letting Bristol punch Leicester last season.

While Newcastle have been given the go-ahead to develop Kingston Park with three new stands and three pitches, Bath and Sale are handicapped by inferior facilities. The High Court has ruled that the Rec is the subject of a charitable trust, and Sale have abandoned plans to move to Bury FC even though Heywood Road cannot sustain professional rugby in the long term.

Wasps, who have moved to High Wycombe, have sold all their corporate suites. Their owner, Chris Wright, has described new signing Robert Howley as "the best scrum-half in the northern hemisphere." At one time, maybe.

With Peter Deakin restored as chief executive and Wayne Shelford installed as coach, Saracens, who expect to make £100,000 from their pre-season trip to Japan, have been spending a few bob, notably on Christian Califano and Craig Quinnell. The former arrives via Toulouse and Auckland, the latter via Llanelli, Richmond and Cardiff.

Kyran Bracken, rejecting more lucrative offers, has signed a four-year contract. "I live and breathe Saracens," he said. In cosmopolitan England, they are few and far between.

Leading fixtures

AUTUMN INTERNATIONALS
9 Nov: Ireland v Australia, Lansdowne Road
England v New Zealand, Twickenham
16 Nov: Scotland v South Africa, Murrayfield
England v Australia, Twickenham
23 Nov: England v South Africa, Twickenham
Wales v New Zealand, Millennium Stadium

ZURICH PREMIERSHIP
30 Aug: Season starts: Sale v Northampton
31 Aug: Leeds v Leicester
Harlequins v Gloucester
1 Sept: London Irish v Bath
Newcastle v London Wasps
Bristol v Saracens
10 May: Final round – Bath v Newcastle
Gloucester v Leicester
London Irish v Bristol
London Wasps v Harlequins
Northampton v Leeds
Saracens v Sale

HEINEKEN CUP
12 Oct: Season starts: Calvisano v Beziers; Neath v Leicester; Perpignan v Viadana; Gloucester v Munster; Sale v Bourgoin; Llanelli v Glasgow; Leinster v Bristol; Montferrand v Swansea; Toulouse v London Irish
18 Jan: Last round: Beziers v Amatori
Leicester v Neath
Viadana v Perpignan
Munster v Gloucester
Glasgow v Llanelli
Bourgoin v Sale
Swansea v Montferrand
Bristol v Leinster
London Irish v Toulouse
Newport v Edinburgh
Biarritz v Cardiff
Ulster v Northampton

PARKER PEN SHIELD (new format)
11, 12, 13 Oct: First round, first leg
18, 19, 20 Oct: First round, second leg
6, 7, 8 Dec: Second round, first leg
13, 14, 15 Dec: Second round, second leg

SIX NATIONS' CHAMPIONSHIP
15 Feb: Italy v Wales, Rome
England v France, Twickenham
Scotland v Ireland, Murrayfield
22 Feb: Italy v Ireland, Rome
Wales v England, Millennium Stadium
France v Scotland, Stade de France
8 March: Scotland v Wales, Murrayfield
Ireland v France, Lansdowne Road
9 March: England v Italy, Twickenham
22 March: England v Scotland, Twickenham
Wales v Ireland, Millennium Stadium
23 March: Italy v France, Rome
29 March: Scotland v Italy, Murrayfield
France v Wales, Stade de France
Ireland v England, Lansdowne Road