Prem ‘train’ returns with Saracens looking for instant lift at Bath
Remember the Prem? It’s been in hibernation almost as long as your tortoise.The last sighting of England’s elite men’s domestic league was on 24 January but now, finally, it is re-emerging from the shadows of the Six Nations, starting under the Friday night lights at the Rec where second-placed Bath are hosting sixth-placed Saracens.It has certainly felt like a protracted hiatus, even if the lower-profile Prem Cup has taken up some slack.And with only eight regular season rounds remaining every would-be playoff contender has no choice but to hit the ground running.As Bath’s head coach, Johann van Graan, says: “It doesn’t really matter what you’ve done before.
It’s about what you do going forward.”Which, up to a point, is true.The race to make the top four still has six realistic candidates separated by only 11 points.Given the lack of relegation in a 10-team-league, though, the organisers will be praying for a compelling run-in with Sale Sharks, Gloucester, Harlequins and Newcastle Red Bulls already trailing the rest of the peloton.The good news is that a spectacular Six Nations has raised rugby union’s profile at just the right time.
Next week is being billed as the Big Match Bonanza, with a triple-header of games scheduled for Villa Park, Cardiff’s Principality Stadium and Tottenham Hotspur Stadium,By then a few more battered England squad members should be back out on the field, including the national captain, Maro Itoje, and Jamie George,Reducing the number of fallow Six Nations weeks from two to one may have assisted the tournament’s momentum but, inevitably, there is a knock-on effect,Ben Spencer, though, is back to lead Bath six days after playing for England in Paris and Scotland’s Finn Russell, too, is straight in at 10,Guy Pepper and Sam Underhill are on the bench, while Elliot Daly starts for Sarries.
The two clubs, as it happens, are due to face off again at the Rec in the last 16 of the Champions Cup on Easter Saturday, which puts the ball squarely in Sarries’ court.Lose both fixtures plus next week’s league fixture at home to leaders Northampton and their season will be in real danger of petering out.Bath, by contrast, are sitting reasonably pretty with no post-Six Nations injury problems and their finances stabilised by the new ownership alliance of James Dyson and Bruce Craig.Van Graan has been urging his trophy-chasing squad to think of the season like a train journey; no matter which individuals get on and off the important thing is to reach their collective destination.“We’ve got things we want to achieve through the rest of the season but we know we can only do it a week at a time,” stressed the head coach.
“There’s a big chunk of the season lying ahead.”Saracens’ director of rugby, Mark McCall, is preaching a similar mantra, using the nine-try thriller against Bath in November as evidence his side are not too far away.“We’re four points from the playoff positions so there’s everything to play for,” said McCall.“It is a huge test against Bath.They’re a team who have been together for a while now and are very comfortable in their own skin.
”It is a particularly big game for a couple of Bath players.Henry Arundell, dropped by England for the final rounds of the Six Nations, will be looking to get his mojo back beside the River Avon, while Alfie Barbeary will also be keen to impress at No 8 before his move to Saracens in the summer.McCall, for one, seriously rates Barbeary.“Alfie is like Tom Willis in a way.He makes things happen and has big moments on the field.
We’ve talked to him a few times down the years before he went to Bath,I think with Tom going he’ll complement our other back-rowers,”
BoE delivers message Britons don’t want to hear as inflation – and rates – look set to rise
The US-Israel attack on Iran has already driven prices higher and not just at the petrol pumps, the Bank of England said on Thursday in a gloomy assessment of the UK’s economic outlook.An inflation rate that was on track to fall from 3% to the Bank’s 2% target in the coming months is now expected to rise to 3.5%. That is one probable impact of the US and Israel’s war on Iran.Higher transport and energy costs can quickly flow through to higher food prices, ratcheting up the consumer prices index when the previous trajectory was down
Bank of England holds interest rates at 3.75% and signals rise is possible within months
The Bank of England has kept interest rates on hold and signalled it could be forced to increase borrowing costs within the coming months as the US-Israel war on Iran threatens to drive inflation in the UK above 3%.As households brace for a surge in living costs, the Bank’s rate-setting monetary policy committee (MPC) voted unanimously to keep its base rate at the current level of 3.75% amid growing concern over the surge in energy prices triggered by the conflict.It warned that the “new shock” to the economy would lead to higher than previously expected inflation in the short term, putting further pressure on household finances already battered by a cost of living crisis.Andrew Bailey, the Bank’s governor, said: “War in the Middle East has pushed up global energy prices
PwC partners who fail to embrace AI have no future at firm, US CEO warns
The US boss of PricewaterhouseCoopers has warned that partners who do not get to grips with AI have no future at the consulting firm.Paul Griggs said senior staff who were not “paranoid about being AI-first” would probably be replaced by others who were ready to embrace the technology. “I don’t think anyone gets a free pass here. Anyone,” Griggs told the Financial Times.An employee who thinks they have the “opportunity to opt out” of AI is “not going to be here that long”, Griggs added
BP to sell German oil refinery as part of $20bn cost-cutting plan
BP has agreed to sell its giant German oil refinery site in Gelsenkirchen to the investment firm Klesch Group as part of the British oil company’s plan to sell off $20bn (£15bn) worth of assets and cut its costs.The value of the sale was not disclosed but BP said it would save the oil company about $1bn of underlying operating expenditure at the complex, which processes about 12m tonnes of crude oil every year, mainly as fuel for cars and aircraft.The sale has also enabled BP to raise its cost-cutting target to between $6.5bn and $7.5bn by 2027, or almost a third of its cost baseline in 2023
UK pay growth sinks to five-year low as younger workers hit by hiring slowdown
Wage growth slowed sharply in the three months to January, according to the latest snapshot of the jobs market from the Office for National Statistics.Average earnings growth fell to 3.8% in the three months to January, down from 4.2% – a larger fall than forecast by City economists. It was the slowest rate of wage growth in more than five years
UK to double steel tariffs to 50% to save plants from collapse
The UK is to double tariffs on Chinese and other foreign steel in a bid to save its remaining plants from collapse.The new measures came weeks after bosses at Tata Steel in south Wales warned the government they had just two months to be saved.A target of 50% of steel used in the UK will be made domestically, and 50% of that is to be made in Wales, the business secretary, Peter Kyle, said during a visit to Tata Steel in Port Talbot.The new £2.5bn strategy aims to increase domestic production by 30%
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