London Wasps will open the defence of their Guinness Premiership title next week on the crest of a commercial wave for the game in England and optimistic that Danny Cipriani, their England fly half, could return to action as soon as November. But there are concerns within the game that the experimental law variations (ELV) introduced this month could be detrimental.

Two club captains at the Premiership launch in London yesterday queried whether the ELV could have a negative impact and Eddie Jones, the Saracens director of rugby and former Australia coach, attacked what he sees as a dumbing down of the game.

The need for rugby in his native country to find more spectators, he said, had led to the Super 14 tournament in the southern hemisphere becoming a “quick-tap motion game”, but not better rugby.

John Mitchell, head coach to Australia's Western Force, who are touring England, has admitted that the introduction of a new free-kick law was for commercial reasons and although most English club coaches are biting this particular bullet, many believe that the best intentions of the IRB in trying out the ELV may not be met. Characteristically, Jones was more outspoken than his Premiership peers.

“To judge the ELV, you have to ask, ‘Have they made the game better?'” he said. “Better doesn't necessarily mean more entertaining. We don't want rugby to be Twenty20 cricket.”

Jones, in the first year of a three-year contract at Watford, said that under Sir Clive Woodward's coaching, England had over a five-year period produced the best rugby programme in the world and had played “sublimely” at times. Last February's Premiership match between Bath and Wasps was, he added, one of the best he had seen.

The proof of that pudding has been in the wave of support for the English game in the present economic downturn. Premier Rugby Ltd (PRL), the clubs' umbrella body, has more than £9million of sponsorship income from partnership and title rights, more than a third of it from new or improved deals this summer, and it has succeeded in finding a better home on terrestrial television for the Premiership.

ITV will present an hour-long highlights programme throughout this season in a prime-time slot on ITV4 on Sundays, repeated on ITV1 on Tuesday nights. PRL has a longstanding and valued relationship with Sky Sports, which will continue, but the BBC last season offered no more than a 30-minute highlights package for half the season.

“If rugby is good for broadcasters, it's good for consumers and if it's good for consumers, it's good for sponsors,” Jon Varney, PRL's commercial director, said. “The foundation of everything is the quality of rugby we are putting out. We are entering a very exciting phase for the club game.”

PRL is discussing the possibility of involving Premiership clubs, perhaps two or three at a time, in structured pre-season visits to the United States, Japan, Hong Kong and possibly Dubai, which would grow the game and increase commercial awareness, while the Magners League will follow the example of the Premiership and France's Top 14 by introducing a title play-off for the top four regions at the end of the 2009-10 season.

The ability of Wasps to retain their title, with one of the smaller squads in the competition, may hinge on keeping their players fit. Cipriani, who suffered an ankle fracture-dislocation last May, is running again and is ahead of the schedule that predicted a comeback before the end of the year.

“All things being equal, you hope he will be thereabouts by November, certainly before Christmas,” Ian McGeechan, the director of rugby, said. “If you listen to Danny, he would want to be considered for England's autumn Tests, but that won't happen.”

Phil Vickery, the former England captain, is also fit again, but for a slight hamstring strain, and Wasps are optimistic about life after Lawrence Dallaglio, their retired icon of the past decade.