European competitions

Former RFU chief calls for McCafferty to quit

ESPN Staff

'The practical reality is that Mark McCafferty has led the Premiership into the wilderness' © Getty Images Enlarge

Former RFU chairman Martyn Thomas has said it is time for Premiership Rugby's chief executive Mark McCafferty to stand down.

"The practical reality is that McCafferty has led the Premiership into the wilderness," Thomas told the Rugby Paper. "Now he's either got to lead them back from the wilderness, or they've got to find someone else to do it.

"CEOs have to move on, and just as it was right for Francis Baron to move on from the RFU, it's time for Mark to move on. He's been there since 2005, and it probably needs a change of personnel so they can rebuild."

Thomas warned the planned breakaway competition was a doubtful starter when it was first launched and questioned "how could they have misjudged the French position so badly?" adding: "The leadership of Premiership Rugby has got to answer some questions. If they feel ERC and the RFU are dysfunctional, they also stand accused of the same failings."

Thomas then said that McCafferty was guilty of other errors of judgment and that his credibility "was in question even two years ago during the 2011 World Cup when McCafferty and (PRL chairman) Quentin Smith were traipsing around Auckland like Trappist monks in sackcloth and ashes lashing themselves over the conduct of the England players, the vast majority of whom were contracted to Premiership clubs."

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