‘The RFU Championship has become the wild west of professional rugby’ | Robert Kitson

According to one player they are rugby’s ‘forgotten men’ – plying their trade for a fraction of what their Premiership cousins earn but facing all the same pitfallsIn these pages we recently published a piece on the hidden pressures of professional rugby union. There was a significant response, including one email that should be compulsory reading for the game’s authorities. Ben Hooper is a 28-year-old prop forward plying his trade in the Championship and, on behalf of every player in the second tier of English rugby, he feels compelled to speak out.Hooper is the younger brother of Bath’s rece…