Aviva Premiership preview: Expect an embarrassment of riches and continued claims of salary cap breaches

English top-flight set for its most competitive season yet, but is dogged by financial allegations – and England’s failure

(Left to right) Harlequins’ Nick Evans, Gloucester’s Henry Trinder, Wasps’ Matt Mullan, Worcester’s GJ Van Gelze, Bath’s Stuart Hooper, London Irish’s George Skilvington, Saracens’ Alastair Hargreaves, Leicester’s Ed Slater, Newcastle’s Will Welch, Exeter’s Jack Yeandle, Sale’s Dan Braid, and Lee Dickson, of Northampton (Getty)

This is not a happy moment for Aviva Premiership rugby: the broadcasters have made the top-level club game in England richer than ever before, but the continuing rumpus over alleged salary cap breaches – Saracens and Bath are in the thick of the argument, but they are not alone – means the boardroom consensus at the elite end of the sport is unravelling faster than the red-rose World Cup campaign.

To make matters worse, the most competitive league in Europe is certain to receive both barrels from prominent figures who blame the national team’s recent embarrassments on the claustrophobic nature of the shop-window tournament. If it was reasonable to argue that England won the Webb Ellis Trophy in 2003 because of the Premiership, there are plenty of people out there who argue that the boot is now firmly on the other foot.

Still, the whole thing starts again on Friday night with matches at the Twickenham Stoop in the south-west corner of the capital, at Sixways in Worcester and at Kingston Park in Newcastle. In each and every fixture, significant new signings will be making debut appearances. You can almost hear the Premiership chairmen and chief executives praying that some on-field brilliance will deflect attention from the accusations of off-field chicanery.

The London derby between Harlequins and Wasps should be just as interesting now that it is not a London derby at all. Quins, understandably fed up with fast-tracking their home-grown talent as a way of sticking to the rules on playing budgets and suffering as a consequence, have spent more heavily on recruitment than most of their rivals and may well return to the business end of the table on the back of it. They may not see Jamie Roberts for a while – the Lions Test centre is still on World Cup duty with Wales and also has commitments at Cambridge University – but the Wallaby lock James Horwill is available. So too is Adam Jones, everyone’s favourite tight-head prop. Everyone, that is, except the Wales coach, Warren Gatland.

Even so, Quins cannot match Wasps when it comes to the folding stuff. Last season’s lock-stock-and-barrel move to the outskirts of Coventry not only transformed the north Londoners into West Midlanders, but transfigured their financial affairs into the bargain. The Ricoh Arena, bought for a relative song as a licence to print money, could well challenge Welford Road in Leicester as the most heavily populated Premiership venue over the course of the season.

If they have not splashed the cash with complete abandon in recent months, Wasps have hardly been Scrooge-like in their spending. The All Black wings Charles Piutau and Frank Halai, the veteran Wallaby back-rower George Smith, the Samoan prop James Johnston, the bright young English half-back Dan Robson, the goal-kicking stand-off Jimmy Gopperth – these are far from insignificant signings, and we can anticipate a serious challenge for a play-off place.

Worcester, after promotion from the second tier, could have been granted an easier start: Northampton may have lost Samu Manoa, the highly effective American back-rower, to the European champions Toulon, but they have recruited intelligently. The England tight-head prop Kieran Brookes is a headline signing but tongues are wagging most enthusiastically about J J Hanrahan, the multitasking Irish back.

Up on Tyneside anything could happen. Already an eclectic bunch, they have covered the waterfront in search of fresh talent and come up with some intriguing buys: Marcus Watson, the brother of the England wing Anthony, has joined from the international sevens circuit; the Tongan back-rower Nili Latu and his American peer Todd Clever have pitched up from club rugby in Japan; the Azzurri wing Giovanbattista Venditti has flown in from Italy. Friday night’s meeting with Gloucester, another League of Nations outfit, could be the closest Geordie rugby will ever get to exotic.

With most of the remaining clubs also joining the arms race – only Sale and Saracens have been truly restrained in their squad-building – this season’s Premiership, shoehorned into an uncomfortably tight six and a half months, will not be short of big names. What price the salary cap? Don’t ask.

Union of nations: Big overseas signings

Top five forwards

1 Victor Matfield (lock, South Africa) – Blue Bulls to Northampton

2 James Horwill (lock, Australia) – Queensland Reds to Harlequins

3 Ben Franks (prop, New Zealand) – Hawke’s Bay to London Irish

4 George Smith (flanker, Australia) – Lyons to Wasps

5 Jeremy Thrush (lock, New Zealand) – Wellington to Gloucester

Top five backs

1 Jamie Roberts (centre, Wales) – Racing Metro to Harlequins

2 Charles Piutau (wing, New Zealand) – Auckland to Wasps

3 Niko Matawalu (scrum-half, Fiji) – Glasgow to Bath

4 Michele Campagnaro (centre, Italy) – Treviso to Exeter

5 Rhys Priestland (outside-half, Wales) – Scarlets to Bath