The season may be only two weeks old but the pressure is mounting on some coaches, with words such as "crisis" being bandied about in the media already, highlighting the fact that rugby has become a results-driven industry. Last season's top two, Wasps and Bath, are still looking for their first victory of the campaign, with the latter going this Saturday to the new boys Worcester, who on their showing at Saracens last weekend are not likely to be as weak as the team they replaced, Rotherham.
It is too early to tell how Worcester will get on but if they maintain their competitiveness the issue of automatic promotion and relegation will become a contentious one again. The financial consequences of demotion from the Premiership have been graphically highlighted by the examples of the last two clubs to go down, Bristol and Rotherham.
Automatic relegation, subject to the first division champions fulfilling the Premiership's entry criteria, is with us for another four years. Unless it is reviewed I can see more and more foreign players and coaches coming into the Premiership, diluting the English influence which has already been reduced to a level which should be causing alarm.
I am one of five English directors of rugby in the Premiership. As owners look outside England for players they know will be available for an entire season, they are appointing head coaches who have contacts abroad rather than at home.
When Sir Clive Woodward resigned as England's head coach he cited insufficient access to players as one of his reasons. The way things are going, his successor will have fewer players to choose from in the Premiership because, with the threat of relegation, directors of rugby are going to be reluctant to blood young talent from their academies, preferring to import experience.
It will be interesting to see how clubs at the bottom react if they have another couple of blank weekends this month. Rugby has become like football, with performance counting for nothing if the result is wrong. At Gloucester, we have started with a couple of average displays but have got the all-important victories and the pressure is off for the moment.
A couple of weeks ago everyone gathered for the season launch in optimistic mood, but such is the competitive nature of the Premiership that your game only has to dip by a couple of per cent and you end up empty-handed. That Bath and Wasps have each had a couple of blanks shows how small the gap between the teams is. Which is why everyone will be watching Worcester's progress with more than passing interest. The Bath game is a massive opportunity for them after their bonus point at Saracens, though I am not sure that it has come at the right time for the Warriors.
Bath are coached by the experienced John Connolly. His shoulders are broad and experienced enough to react to the pressure he is now under without panicking. They have two big games left this month, with a trip next week to Harlequins, another team yet to win who face high-flying Newcastle on Sunday. Two victories and it will be a case of "Crisis? what crisis?" Two defeats would leave Bath at the bottom of the table with nearly a quarter of the season gone.
Nothing may be won in September but it is a month which sets the tone for the rest of the season. Because we play only 22 league fixtures, no one can afford to have a bad run. It may be a case of finishing in the top three rather than in pole position as far as the title is concerned, but in such an even competition it is the fear of relegation which most concentrates minds.
Until automatic relegation ends there will always be arguments about the number of days players should be released to England and how many matches they should play in a year. The romantics will point to the right of ambitious clubs outside the Premiership to have their chance to dream, but the consequences of going down are so dire that the league system is working against the national side rather than for it. You cannot blame owners who have invested considerably in stadia, pitches, facilities and squads. They will do everything in their power to protect their investments and retain the competitive nature of a league which is the envy of many throughout the rugby world.
The first division did not gain anything when Bristol went down because financial pressure meant they had to disband their entire squad. Rotherham were unable to fulfil their opening first division fixture this month because the club faced collapse with a seven-figure debt and a consortium was trying to put together a business plan.
Our industry is too young to have to go through that every year. Automatic relegation has to end if Woodward's successor is to have the optimum chance of matching Clive's footprints for size. The age of romance has gone: welcome to the real world.
