England v Scotland:AS RUGBY misdemeanours go, it hardly ranks alongside illegal drug-taking or deliberately kicking opponents in the head. Or, come to that, having England players splashed all over the tabloids for drunken antics in a dwarf-throwing bar.
But yesterday England’s Rugby Football Union was forced to suspend two of its coaching staff after an investigation found they smuggled Jonny Wilkinson’s favourite ball on to the pitch during last weekend’s Pool B match with Romania so he could use it for place-kicks.
Regulations state the ball used to score a try must be used for the subsequent conversion. But during England’s match in Dunedin the team felt one of the eight numbered match balls used during the game was superior to the others for kicking.
Dave Alred, England’s kicking coach, and Paul Stridgeon, the conditioning coach, were duly banned from attending tomorrow’s crucial group game against Scotland for attempting to switch balls twice without the referee’s knowledge.
Under its disciplinary rules, Rugby World Cup officials have the power to expel a player or even a team if they are found guilty of misconduct. Officials said: “We accept the RFU’s assurances that it will abide by both the laws and the spirit of the game going forward. However . . . any similar breaches in future will be dealt with severely.”
England are deep into a World Cup and about to play the biggest game of Martin Johnson’s tenure. Victory over Scotland would put them through to the quarter-finals. But they have now twice made the headlines for the wrong reasons during the tournament.
Officials have already had to defend the conduct of captain Mike Tindall after colourful details of a squad outing to a nightclub in Queenstown emerged.
On the ball-switching incident, Wilkinson insisted his “dignity and integrity” were intact. He has struggled with his kicking game in New Zealand with a success rate of 50 per cent, way below the kind of form that made him the team’s high-scoring talisman in previous tournaments.
Should Wilkinson start missing his kicks against Scotland, the absence of his long-time kicking guru Alred from the sidelines will also be seized upon as one of the possible explanations.
If it were to coincide with England bowing out of the World Cup – which would happen should they lose by eight points or more – Johnson would be doubly furious. His brief statement – “It’s unfortunate that we have had to take this action” – did not sound like that of a man impressed by the way events have unfolded.
The contrast in atmosphere between the Scottish and English camps in Auckland was considerable even before the bans were announced. The Scots were focused and determined but surprisingly relaxed and upbeat. England, based only a couple of blocks away, were edgier and, in one or two cases, visibly frustrated. At least one senior player admitted he is not sleeping well, although the creaking floorboards in the passage outside his room were held primarily to blame.
Luckily for England, there is not always a correlation between happy media conferences and the outcome of a game of rugby. A little bit of pre-match angst, as Johnson keeps saying, is often a good thing. If his players were strolling around like men who already assume they are in the quarter-finals, the management would be far more worried.
Should England win, it is safe to assume Ballgate will barely rate a mention. Go out, and it will be a central plank of evidence for the verdict that this World Cup campaign has been disastrously mismanaged.
GuardianService
