The sun is out. The ground is hard. We should see some fantastic rugby in the Premiership play-offs. A new sponsor is on board for next season. Everything looks rosy.

Then you look under the surface at the accounts and a very different picture emerges. Worcester lost £8 million in the last tax year, London Irish £3m. Saracens are something like £45m in the red. There are rumours around Wasps’ long-term financial well-being. With the exception of Exeter, every club seems to be haemorrhaging money.

Nearly all Premiership clubs are backed by at least one very rich owner but as we have seen with Saracens’ South African backers pulling out, there is a point at which even a billionaire feels the pinch. I know that Nigel Wray has stepped up to pick up the shortfall. He is a great rugby man and will invest in Saracens until the day he dies, but not every owner is like Nigel.

If clubs continue in his vein then another one of these owners will inevitably pull the plug and then it could be like a domino effect. In three years the English club game could be bankrupt and so drastic action is needed to curtail the main cost - players’ wages.