“We were rubbish…”

 

Football managers, mindful of the brittle sensibilities of their charges and the fickle temperaments of their bosses, tend to blame referees when they get beaten. Conor O’Shea’s response to the Quins defeat at Exeter was refreshingly honest. Lucky not to get beaten by more, he said.

Coaches and managers need to talk sense if teams are to improve. If all reverses are due to other people’s incompetence or some malevolent Fate, then athletes will not learn the lessons they need to learn to avoid it happening next time.

With the Heineken campaign just a few days away, this weekend’s Aviva matches are a pretty good illustration of why the powers that be are crying foul over the qualification criteria. As O’Shea noted, none of the top sides can take results for granted. There are just too many good players around. As well as the mighty Quins being given a warm West Country hospitality, the supposedly struggling London Irish side blew the Saints away. Over the border, unfancied Glasgow went to the Arms Park and gave the Blues a lesson in how to scrummage.

Some of these results may well be down to players and coaches having an eye on the European ball. Some of these results reflect some teams learning some harsh lessons. But all of these matches show what all rugby players know, that the mentality goes hand in hand with the physicality in any given game. Get that wrong, and you’re rubbish.

The Stoop to conquer ?

 

Leicester 9 - 22 Harlequins

 

On close examination, this match represents more than two strong sides in a high tempo, high energy encounter at Welford Road. Leicester have made a habit of confounding critics for some time now, but it is tempting to say that the ascendancy of the Quins in the Tigers' den may well give us a glimpse of England's rugby future.

IF they choose to go down that road...which is a big IF...

English rugby has been so risk averse for so long that it is etched into the red rose DNA. When coaches blithely talk about their charges playing "heads up rugby", they mean "Kick it as high and as hard as you can". The secret to the Quins system of recycling is that they don't even look for the supporting ball player. They just hear a call from behind them, then off load the ball into the hole for the next attacker to surge forward. When it works, they flood (sorry Toby...) the opposition midfield, throwing numbers at a weak point, punching holes. All in all, very difficult to defend against. Tacklers are chasing back, not surging forward into the hit. Defence is no longer King.

And that, for English rugby, is a sea change.

It is also great to watch, because Quins play it all at a high tempo.

Stuart Lancaster was at Welford Rd to see it all. He must be wondering how he could replicate the standard of this terrific game at international level. For too long now, English sides have been inferior to the club sides that feed them.

I used to be paranoid, but they’ve stopped following me…

So was the English/French inability to perform at Heineken level a massive conspiracy after all ? Was it just setting us all up for this endgame ?

The story from France and around the Premiership grounds is that they’re hard done by. Since they are the best teams around, playing the best rugby around, there has to be a REASON why they don’t routinely win the Heineken Cup.

And the REASON is devastatingly simple. The Irish have their teams kept out of harm’s way, playing the odd light warm up match against local knitting circles. The PRO 12, the story goes, is a thinly veiled attempt by the Celts to cheat the exceptionally rich French clubs out of much needed euros. In an attempt to keep the wolves from the door, the English Premiership clubs have just signed a deal with BT (honest…) that will guarantee that they accumulate cash at the same rate as their friends across the channel. But like Master Twist, they want some more. And part of the deal has guaranteed rights to Heineken matches, which is a bit like a market trader flogging you stuff off someone else’s stall on the basis that you’ve just bought your spuds from his…

Two (related) thoughts on all this.

1.       How much is this to do with what’s fair, and how much is this to do with suits acting like football executives? . No one is asking the bigger question here – what about the players in all this ? The more the suits rake in the cash, the more the game sells its soul.

2.       The likes of Leinster are not the best because the players are spending all their time on the chez longue, being fed freshly peeled grapes by dusky maidens. It is undeniably true that the Pro12  isn’t as gruelling as the French or English competitions, but much of that is to do with the attritional nature of the Premiership and Top 14 games. To assume that the English and French clubs would beat Leinster on their version of a level playing field (!)  is to deny a fact that is as plain as that ugly scab on the end of Steve Borthwick’s schnozzle – that O’Driscoll’s boys are a gifted outfit, brilliantly coached.

Party over...

With the Closing Ceremony finally over – and without sounding too churlish, can anyone explain why George Michael wasn’t quietly told that one song was quite enough, thanks – the rugby world can look forward to cheering our own Olympians next time round. Rio will have a sevens tournament, as well as a golf championship.

I feel torn on this, and must confess to a feeling of some relief when Chelsea’s Daniel Sturridge missed his penalty, having feared that the national obsession with football would overshadow the genuine Olympian feats that we have witnessed during the past fortnight. The sight of those ridiculously wealthy young men alongside people who have struggled to get any funding at all would have made me gag. I have sympathy for Sturridge in having to live with his miss – but only up to a point. He gets more money in a month than our entire swim team would get in a year. The highly paid pros going out against either completely amateur, or lowly paid part time professionals can be distinctly unedifying. The US “Dream Team” may be great for the sponsors back in the States, but it’s a bit like Tiger Woods sweeping the monthly medals at your local golf club.

Similarly, I was delighted to see Andy Murray produce the goods. (It would have been brilliant to hear a piper knock out “Flower of Scotland” there too. How long before we ditch that dreadful dirge of a “National Anthem” ?) But does the highly professional, highly televised world of tennis need Olympic status ? Do we NEED another golfing tournament ?  

Sevens rugby will, as ever, be great fun, but let’s produce a GB team of our existing sevens players, rather than trying to put together our own “Dream Team”.  And even as a Welshman – can we not sing “Jerusalem” at the medal ceremony ???????

Gavin still hunting for Stacey?

Cynics might say it was inevitable that Gavin Henson should sign up for a team based in the big bad city. After all, they might say, he’s more interested in being in the limelight than he is being under floodlights. London Welsh, they would say, are the latest in a long line of suitors who are destined to have their hearts broken.

But let’s just look at things from our Gav’s point of view.

On a personal level, he gets to work and live near his kids. As they grow, he’ll be more and more aware of the need to build those relationships, and this could represent a major opportunity for Henson to put down some roots. Lyn Jones, his old mentor from the early Ospreys days, knows him well, and will play the role of the wise owl.

In playing terms, the quest to rediscover the Henson who played such a critical role in the Mike Ruddock Grand Slam team may be unrealistic anyway. Henson is now on the wrong side of 30, and his lack of exposure to the fast moving demands of the game in the meantime will make his selection a gamble. On a basic level, the fact that these lost years have been largely self inflicted mean that there remain huge question marks over his desire to play the game.

And the Premiership is no place for someone who wants to play a bit of touch rugby before going home to read bedtime stories to the kids. Henson will feel more wanted at London Welsh, with all his experience, and will not be playing second or third fiddle to the likes of Jamie Roberts, but he will have to be completely committed to battle it out if he is to persuade those around him that this move is the one…

Moving on ?

A glance through these names will be enough to send the average Welsh rugby fan back to chapel on Sunday to start praying. This may be the biggest raid on the reserves of rugbying talent since the dark days when rugby league teams brandished cheques the way Gordon Ramsey wields his chopper.

The glass half full fraternity may just offer the opinion that these movements may allow younger, hungrier players to come through. To which I say - they better ! In the words of the Scottish Sage of BBC punditry, you don't win anything with kids. Young rugby players need experienced players around them to develop. Sam Warburton needed Martyn Williams, Priestland needed Stephen Jones etc etc. If those older players are off (and who can blame them ?), then that precious process simply does not take place.

In national terms, this need not affect the development of what is a pretty young, ambitious set of players. But at club level, I can't see any of our teams managing to challenge for honours in the Heineken Cup. There again...what's really changing ????

And the winner of x factor is...?

Genia, Pocock, Barnes, Higginbotham...or Joubert(again) Not Priestland, who looked laboured at 10, or Adam Jones, whose lack of mobility was constantly targeted by the Aussie half backs. Or Sam Warburton, who came second to David Pocock before his early departure in today's final Test. With only eleven points to separate the two sides after 240 minutes of high intensity rugby, the Welsh have some cause for satisfaction when reflecting on how far they have come under Gatland. This team will challenge the best, even away from the Millenium cauldron. But the overall feeling will be one of a missed opportunity. They let the Australians bite back in the final moments in the decisive second test, and Gatland's team will rue the lack of the killer instinct that did for the French so magnificently in the Grand Slam match. The coaching team will study the videos, perhaps reconfiguring the kick and chase game (do we need someone to do the kind of job Habanna does for the Boks, a fast hustler who may not actually make the tackle on the gathering player, but who stops him scanning all the options?) More than anything, Gatland's team will be thinking about how best to keep this team of players hungry. That, above all else, will be the decisive x factor come 2015.