ON RUGBY:The Welsh coach's slating of the Premiership certainly got a reaction. It hasn't been the best of seasons for the English league, yet attendances are up, writes BOB CASEY

W ARREN GATLAND is noted for his ability to direct a well- aimed verbal broadside that elicits a reaction. He’s demonstrated this facility quite regularly during his time as coach to the Welsh national side. His latest oral incendiary saw him bemoan the standard of rugby in the Guinness Premiership.

For those that missed his comments, suffice to say it wasn’t complimentary. His argument basically alighted on declining standards and how he felt it was doing nothing for Welsh players based there. It sparked a massive debate; well, debate is probably the wrong word because anyone involved in the Premiership took umbrage with Gatland’s comments.

The Premiership family of clubs take themselves and their league very seriously, viewing it as the best in the Northern Hemisphere. There is naturally a certain amount of subjectivity.

Obviously I play in that league but because of my heritage and friendships I am well aware of those who would claim the Premiership has been overtaken in terms of quality by the Magners League.

I am going to borrow a mantra from London Irish coach Toby Booth who insists on analysing issues based on facts rather than conjecture. He likes to point out that everyone will have an opinion but that the facts of any situation are more important. I donned my white laboratory coat to do a little research into the battle of the tipples – Guinness versus Magners – and cherry-picked a few statistics.

This season to date there have been five draws in the Premiership (12 teams), a figure that in previous years would encompass a whole season. In 42 matches so far (six matches by seven rounds), there have been only five bonus points doled out to clubs who have won matches scoring four or more tries.

This compares to the Magners (10 teams), whose matches have produced eight bonus point (four tries or more) hauls after just 35 games.

Welsh scrumhalf Dwayne Peel offered substance to Gatland’s comments when he suggested this season was the weakest Premiership for years.

What certainly hasn’t helped is the number of matches broadcast on Sky Sports that have degenerated into turgid affairs: games determined by place-kicks, like those involving Wasps and Leeds Carnegie and our own boot-based arm wrestle with the Leicester Tigers.

There is also the statistic that of the 37 players who toured with the Lions in South Africa during the summer only nine now play in the Premiership.

In the Heineken Cup Harlequins and Bath have virtually been eliminated as genuine play-off candidates, so too the Sale Sharks.

One other aside is my young god-daughter, so excited to be at the recent Premiership game against Harlequins, actually fell asleep for the last 20 minutes of the 9-9 draw.

Yet the Premiership is thriving in these recessionary times. Attendances are up, substantiated by our own figures at the Madejski stadium where we have welcomed crowd of 13,500, 14,000 and 16,500 this season.

There can also be no argument that the Premiership is a much more volatile environment for clubs, given the difficulty of Heineken Cup qualification and also the threat of relegation.

It is virtually impossible to rest players at any stage, unlike the Magners League where the rotation system is much more in evidence.

One thing that deserves to be mentioned is the manner in which the IRFU look after their players. The English RFU have only just taken steps to address this issue, having reached agreement with the clubs about the number of matches international players are expected to play: they’re definitely still playing catch-up.

THE NOVEMBER internationals have arrived and after just one weekend it’s already obvious the breakdown is going to be a hugely contentious battleground that will simply come down to one man’s interpretation. I certainly don’t blame the referees.

It’s down to the lawmakers who have made this area of the game open to differing interpretations that alter from one match to the next.

Players and coaches have not got to grips with the demands; that’s for sure.

Now more than ever, the hemisphere a referee comes from is going to have a bearing on the outcome of a match. It simply should not be that way.

ON A lighter statistical note, it appears the Leicester Tigers wing Alesana Tuilagi returned to training following injury carrying a bit of surplus weight. I, for one, know how he feels and the difficult associated with a long lay-off or trying to peddle an excuse of two in explaining away the summer excesses.

At London Irish we have clearly defined individual body fat percentages. For every per cent a player is over the allotted mark – we are weighed continuously – he is fined £150. It’s an incentive not to overdo the food or drink when availing of some time off: nobody likes to hand over £450. We have England nutritionist Matt Lovell at the club so there’s no hiding.

I bought an exercise bike and do fat burners most mornings. Our strength and conditioning coach, Allan Ryan from Terenure, took our body fat measurements and equated them to international Test player standards. He found we were carrying round the equivalent of an extra 85 kilo player with us every time we took to the pitch: we have since managed to reduce that figure to 10 kilos.

I could have done with this advice at the start of my career.

In the old days, at airports and stopovers on the motorway, players would tuck into huge meals but now it is quite funny to see large gentlemen asking for nuts, salads, rice crackers and rice cakes. It’s just not right.

I’m not playing in the EDF over the next couple of weeks, instead doing a mini-pre-season. I’m not sure which I’d prefer.