RUGBY ANALYST: I have a New Year's resolution for the IRB, ERC et al; and that is zero tolerance on eye-gouging, writes LIAM TOLAND
WE’RE HALFWAY in, with nine Magners League games down, four ERC games and three Autumn Series matches. Ireland remain unbeaten. Munster, despite all the damage Perpignan threatened in Thomond Park, are very much in control. Leinster likewise, Ulster are getting there and Connacht have lots to play for.
Over the weeks, Munster’s midfield has exercised our attention. But the statistics tell a different story. They top their ERC Pool One with 15 points. However, it’s the three bonus points along the way that belies the trouble in midfield. Two of those bonus points were earned from four tries scored. Leinster have extraordinarily similar statistics to Munster from their Pool Six standing as they are also on 15 points. Clearly both sides have negotiated their blips well but Leinster’s try differential tells a further story.
Leinster have scored one more try than Munster but they also continue to be very mean in defence. Considering Pool One contains Benetton Treviso, Munster need to wonder why they’ve conceded nine tries thus far compared to six tries by the end of the pool phase last season.
Having been at many Ulster games this season, there are certainly green shoots of growth. Saturday’s match in the RDS was a superb display, against serious opposition. Across the field the Ulster men were very comfortable on the ball, carrying in both hands, attacking weak shoulders and involving their blindside wingers. You have to feel for them and the fiasco that was first Brussels and then Paris. Once the game was in doubt and finally settled back in Stade Jean Bouin the advantage was all Stade Français’.
Reflecting on Ulster’s massive victory in Ravenhill, one felt they needed to control as many of the variables as possible. Stade Français looked a little dozy in Belfast so the return match had great potential. Max Guazzini’s ambition unfortunately pruned Ulster’s green shoots as it forced them into airport life. It is hugely disturbing to the travelling team, loitering around airports not knowing what fate awaits you.
The coming months, to borrow a phrase from our esteemed leader, going forward, are altogether very exciting. The household names will obviously build on the foundation at club and country. Examining the play of Brian O’Driscoll is very telling. In Parc y Scarlets Leinster hammered a lower class Scarlets. However, 46 minutes in, Jon Davies, the big Welsh inside centre. ran over Shaun Berne on his way to a lonely try. If you get a chance to watch it again keep an eye on O’Driscoll. The hunger is very much there. Firstly on his attempt to stop the try his team-mates should have prevented by not giving up on his track back and secondly, by his reaction to a try that made no difference but to the culture of winning. It was sloppy and the best player Ireland has ever produced wants better, he wants more.
How much life remains in the over-30s only time will tell. The evolvement of the game over the decade has brought more controlled violence to the contact zone. The players are bigger, fitter and much more organised, which results in far heftier hits. We all assume the players’ careers will be reduced proportionally but the converse is true. The players’ knowledge of how to manage themselves has also grown at the same pace. John Hayes, for one, doesn’t drink or smoke and plays around 20 games a season. Compare that to a French tighthead who may hit 40 bone-crunchers. Add to their knowledge the best nutritional, medical and recovery people on the island and the players will certainly stretch the best-before date.
There continues to be a league within a league in both the Heineken Cup and Magners League and, for that matter, the Six Nations. So what should we expect in 2010?
At national level, the ever-so-subtle move away from the all-pressure game in the Grand Slam win to the ball-carrying of the Autumn Series must continue. But with it will follow errors and losses. The winning culture takes years to develop and mustn’t be lost during the upcoming Six Nations. It’ll be a very difficult balancing act for Declan Kidney.
If Leinster are to win back-to-back Heineken Cups they’ll need to augment their numbers with more outhalf and hooker options. Injuries can be cruel and untimely and the need for accuracy from both the boot and the touchline will become more necessary as the competition evolves into the play-offs.
Munster need to settle on their best backline as the challenges ahead will not be kind. Ulster’s all-Irish management deserve huge credit and need about five more players to put them into the upper leagues. For Connacht, money is the major stumbling block. Build it and they will come!
As we march into 2010, I have a New Year’s resolution for the IRB, ERC et al; and that is zero tolerance on eye-gouging. Hefty player bans are needed but I wouldn’t necessarily focus on the player. Instead I would hit the clubs very hard. Contrary to what pertains in some quarters, our game is not dirty; in fact it has never been cleaner. Clubs and their coaches must now take responsibility by ensuring the club culture is very strong. But it needs to come from the top down.
To the club presidents and coaches, I give you the concept of command responsibility. This is the doctrine of hierarchical accountability in cases of war crimes, established by the Hague Conventions. It holds a commanding officer, being aware of a human rights violation or a war crime, criminally liable when he does not take action. For instance, Japanese general Tomoyuki Yamashita was prosecuted for atrocities committed by troops under his command in the Philippines in the second World War.
He was charged with unlawfully disregarding and failing to discharge his duty as a commander to control the acts of members of his command by permitting them to commit war crimes.
A little extreme, I know, but outside of accepting player bans what are the professional clubs doing to eradicate this “crime” from our game?
