2019 : A Rugby Odyssey?

Have to admit I feel a bit strange about the IRB’s decision to hold the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan.

Sure, it looks like it’s incredibly progressive thinking to stage the sport’s biggest event for the first time in a non-6 nations or Tri-nations venue…but I have to ask – will the game have tackled ALL of its traditionalist demons by the time the tournament comes around?

Remember we’re talking about rugby union traditionalists here, so that doesn’t necessarily mean ten years will be enough!!!

Just off the top of my head, I wonder will these be addressed by then…

• Will Argentina finally find themselves in a significant annual tournament? Some may argue they should have gotten an IRB nod before Japan!
• Will the IRB have finally come up with a system which facilitates players to both play for their countries AND earn the market value for their talent at a club no matter which hemisphere?
• Will fans not be left scratching their heads at the length of bans for particular rule infractions?
• Will the European rugby calendar finally make some sense?
• Will video refs have the balls to make a decision after just two or three looks at an incident?
• Will the pointless sport of Rugby Lite (more commonly known as League) still exist?
  
• Will Leinster have a decent jersey by then?
• Will Munster fans find a new song that actually mentions a place in their own province?
• Will there be a prop who’s also a sex symbol?
• Will I be able to mention women’s rugby without making a joke using the word “hooker”?
• Will we read a tweet by @willcarling that’s actually interesting?

I actually began that list trying to be serious, but then things got out of hand…

Springboks-28 All Blacks-19

FOURIE’S A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW 

You’ll forgive me if I don’t exactly put too much care and attention into blogging these TriNations contests.

It may be arguably the most important annual international series in World Rugby, but the European rugby season was just so goddam long I’m just not in the mood for zoning into the intensity of these contests and prefer to sit back and take a light hearted look at things instead.

So whereas most rugger fans in the southern hemisphere were focussing on such things as the kicking battle between Pienaar and Donald or on which pack would gain more possession, this particular blogger was more inclined to chuckle at a spat between Matfield & McCaw (so close to Hatfield & McCoy), or indeed the one-day cricket getup brazenly sported on the sideline by Springbok legend/hairdo/kicking coach Percy Montgomerie.

But although it was a very scrappy contest with way, way too many penalties (what do you expect when you take away the ELVs and appoint Alain Rolland, the Northern Hem’s best referee, to adjudicate), it gradually settled down into an entertaining battle and the result was only clear when Jacques Fourie touched down after a very eventful buildup.

Pierre Spies, who had tried and failed all day to crash his considerable frame through the All Black defence, hacked the ball through into opposition territory and Smith, Weepu and McCaw then conspired to needlessly throw away possession to the grateful Fourie to touch down in virtually the same part of the end zone he had against the Lions in Durban.

I twittered before kickoff that my fresh Lions-inspired Bok-hatred was in conflict with my Lions-inspired All Black-hatred from four years before, but in the end I decided that it would be better for the tournament as a whole if South Africa were to take the points and open things up, so I guess I’m glad they did just that, and I wonder if the bonus point denied their opponents by that late try will be significant.

Next Saturday it’s same teams, same time, same channel, different town, and hopefully there will be just as much going on to amuse me then!  With names involved like Chiliboy, Bakkies, Hore and Rokacoko, there’s bound to be plenty for this blogging punster to work with!

Blood Bin meets Sin Bin

The general shock around the ruggersphere surrounding Tom Williams’ 12-month ban for his shenanigans in the Heineken Cup quarterfinal against Leinster seems to focus on the length, but I’m disappointed for another reason.

Sure, it seems an inconsistent judgement when you compare his FAKING of an injury to Schalk Burger’s potentially CAUSING one and getting only eight weeks.

But here’s my concern – why punish the player and not the team?

I know Harlequins were fined all of £215,000…well, really it’s half of that since the rest is “suspended” (why-in case they do it again?), but SURELY the best way to punish any top level club would be to ban them altogether from European competition for a number of years (I’d say two)???

What’s to stop something similar happening next year, say, by a player who knows they’re retiring? What do you do then? Now there’s precedent, you can’t mete out a different punishment without looking like you don’t know what you’re doing…well, maybe the IRB are doing THAT anyway!

My overall point is, the IRB do not seem to have moved into the professional age along with the players. When it comes to disciplinary punishments, they seem to retreat behind the scenes and do deals in smoke-filled rooms much the way the game was organized back in the day. They need to come up with a set of cast-iron fines and punishments for specific infractions so everyone knows what will happen to them if they stray outside the laws of the game.

This really seems like a no-brainer to me. And if something isn’t done about it soon, things could get out of hand and we’ll see a club and/or individual dragging the sport through a quagmire of embarrassment in a courtroom.

All Blacks-22 Wallabies-16

THE TRI NATIONS KICKOFF

This never-ending rugby season continued yesterday morning with a mouth-watering contest between the age-old Bledisloe Cup rivals at Eden Park.

Sadly although the Wallabies began with a sense of determination to end their long hoodoo on the ground, taking an early ten-point lead, the conditions reduced the game to a test of discipline, one in which they were unable to compete.

On paper, you’d easily fancy Matt Giteau to out-kick his opposite number Stephen Donald but the referee’s arm must have been worn out shooting up so many times for Australian infractions at the breakdown so when you added his kicks to Richie McCaw’s try before halftime you got an unconvincing win for the home side which must have the Springboks rubbing their hands with anticipation for next Saturday at Vodacom Park.

The Wallaby backs, however, did show some signs that they could be a force, particularly in their backline with impressive displays from the likes or Turner and Ashley-Cooper, so perhaps the bonus point they picked up yesterday could prove valuable in their remaining matches.

Not much more I can say about this game; it wasn’t the most memorable!

Technorati Tags: Wallabies rugby,All Blacks rugby,rugby,Tri Nations rugby

More Details...

It seemed like the right thing to say in my little YouTube promo "check website for details".

But really, there are no more details. I'm planning to do a regular vidcast for the upcoming rugby season, and that info was pretty much covered in the promo!

All that's left now is for time to pass between now and the end of August and I can get on with it!

At least there's the Tri-Nations to keep me occupied in the meantime...

Oh, well there is ONE bit of extra news I guess, I'm now on Twitter for this site, feel free to follow me at www.twitter.com/HarpinOnRugby

LIONS-28 Springboks-9

PRIDE OVER JUSTICE

You know, it’s really hard to play rugby when you have a bee in your scrum cap.

Justice my arse!!! How could they even consider going on their little crusade when the IRB virtually legitimized their eye-gouging???

I mean, I was more than happy to put all that behind me until I saw their pathetic little armband protest, and while before the game I would have had at least a measure of respect for the home side had they completed the whitewash, by kickoff I was praying the tourists could come out on top.

And weren’t they just three of the best tries you’ll ever see in a Test match?

One player I was looking for from a performance standpoint on the day was Jamie Heaslip, since he had been relatively quiet in the first two games, possibly overshadowed by his gargantuan opposite number Pierre Spies (who, by the way, also had a hand in Burger’s misdemeanour, check out the evidence…).

The Leinster Number 8 certainly didn’t let me down, and while predictably the Sky Sports commentators were wetting themselves over the fact that Shane Williams scored the first try, they conveniently ignored the fact that it was Heaslip who made the break and slipped an unbelievable offload into the Welshman’s arms.

And apart from conceding the odd unnecessary penalty, the Newbridge lad was impressive all over the park, no more so than when he went down in a tackle in the second half then got into what can only be described as a “crab position” and scooted along for another ten meters!!!

But if his offload for the first try was “unbelievable”, then the English language doesn’t have a word for Riki Flutey’s shortly afterwards. He was always something of a misfit on this tour, wasn’t he? Everyone’s favourite for the 12 jumper before the squad headed south, a combination of injury and Roberts’ sparkling form sent him tumbling down the pecking order.

Though I was annoyed D’Arcy didn’t make the 22, in some ways it was fitting for Flutey to at least have some part in the series’ highlight reel and his lightning quick hands certainly earned him that. Again S Williams got the touchdown, but again it was a gift.

And last, but certainly not least, we have the “Monye-mental” third try which sealed the deal. Messrs Harrison & Barnes called it “vindication”. I call it opportunism. If this guy is going to score a memorable try for you, this is about the only way he’ll do it. Snag an interception and fire up the rockets. “There’ll be no catching him”, I said as soon I realised there was no infringement. I’m sorry, but I still don’t rate the guy any higher than Premiership standard.

Which leads me to the burning question – who was my player of the series? Well, my heart of course has to go with Rob Kearney, who at least emulated if not surpassed his achievements from Pretoria yesterday. But since he wasn’t picked to start in the first Test, if I was forced to go with someone who began all three, I would have to go with Mike Phillips.

He’s not the world’s most technically gifted scrum-half by any means, but in a Test series like this one where the opponents were going to be physical, he was certainly the right man for the job, as you can see from the above pic. I know I’ll be accused of donning my Leinster cap when I say this, but I honestly don’t think an O’Leary/O’Gara half-back line would have done any better than the two Welshmen did over the three matches.

Plus the Ospreys No 9 was able to spurn the amorous advances of Bakkies Botha who seemingly was hypnotized by his “sexy blue eyes”. That surely must have been tough for him to ignore, so I’ll give him the nod, if for no other reason than to avoid being considered a “one-eyed Irishman”!!!

So that’s it, the series and the tour is over for another four years. FINALLY we can bring the curtain down on the Northern Hemisphere’s season, and thank God it ended on a high note so we won’t be subjected to Sky’s doom and gloom which was trying to make us over on this side of the Irish Sea forget all the amazing things that happened this year.

We also mustn't forget that although South Africa won the series when it came to actual match victories, we can at least claim SOME bragging rights in that we scored more points, more tries, AND had fewer players banned, so THERE!!!

And with the Geech announcing this tour as his swansong, I'd say few could argue if I put the name Declan Kidney forward as presumptive coach of the 2013 tour Down Under...

Though as we all know, from a world standpoint, the rugby season NEVER actually ends, and in just two weeks the Tri-Nations kicks off in Auckland with the first Bledisloe Cup encounter. In previous years I have cheered for the Saffers in this tournament…I think it’s high time I switched allegiance to the Wallabies. That’s what I call justice ;-)