RFU red-faced as Grand plan aborted

RUGBY:THE ENGLISH RFU have issued a clarification explaining the dynamics behind a Nike commercial heralding England as Grand Slam champions and the production of 5,000 T-shirts by the American manufacturing giant bearing the same message after both surfaced in the public domain.

The union expressed their dismay that the video, produced by Nike, their official supplier, shot during the Six Nations Championship and showing footage of several players, including Toby Flood, Ben Foden and Chris Ashton in action, was leaked onto the internet.

The embarrassment was further compounded by an e-mail from a Nike executive that also found its way into the public domain. The most pertinent extract reads: “We have commissioned a special limited edition T-shirt to celebrate the England Grand Slam 2011, which we will give to the players when we win against Ireland on Saturday.

“The T-shirt is inspired by the iconic English rose (like the kit) and 5K units will go into retail at the RFU NikeTown London after the game. In the spirit on owning sporting moments, we will also execute a burst of Digital Out-of-Home activity that will start right on the final whistle in over 20 of London’s most prominent underground stations through Digital Escalator Panels and Cross-Track Projections.

“This will be further amplified through large Transvision screens at Waterloo, King’s Cross, Euston and Charing Cross. This will run throughout the weekend until Monday night catching consumers after the game and peak rush hour times for maximum impact. Finally, we have created an AV celebration piece that we will be pushing out to our PR Retail over the weekend and the RFU will be posting it on their sites too.”

Ireland put the kibosh on the best laid plans by beating England 24-8 last Saturday, rendering the advert and the T-shirts in need of some Tipp-ex. The English RFU issued a statement yesterday pointing out that it was necessary to film the advert in advance and denying they underestimated the strength of the challenge that Ireland would pose.

It read: “The RFU works with all its commercial partners on their sponsorship activation. Forward planning is a crucial part of all commercial partnerships and all contingencies, winning or losing, have to be considered.

“It is disappointing that details of Nike’s internal planning has (stet) got into the public domain. In no way did the RFU or the England team underestimate the challenge that the Ireland team would pose. We were well beaten by a team who played better and we have the utmost respect for (Ireland coach) Declan Kidney and the Irish players.”