The dog in question in the title is English rugby, as this weekend saw 5 wins out of 7, against tough opposition in the Heineken Cup. A combination of pedigree performances and no little gnawing away at dogged defences saw victories over last year's champions, one of this year's favourites and 3 other difficult sides to no doubt put a smile on interim coach Stuart Lancaster's face.
I didn't really do the 3rd round of Heineken Cup games justice last week, as I tried to squeeze a blog into a hectic schedule in France; Monday night in a dying German steel town sees the distractions a little easier to avoid though, so I can cover the head-to-head weekends in a little more detail and give you a quick thought as to where we are with 2 group rounds to go.
Weeks 3 and 4 of the Heineken Cup traditionally throw up engaging encounters, and stunning performances, and you would have to be mad to say it failed to do that this time around. Where do you look for the star performers? Toulouse started the ball rolling in Week 3 with a stunning victory at previously undefeated, in all competitions I might add, Harlequins. No mistaking the quality in the French champions as they strolled over the Quins at the Stoop. Saracens then finally brought home something to cheer about for the English, as they battered the Ospreys, who still gave as good as they got at Wembley, to show they mean business this year. Not to be outdone, Week 4 saw Leinster pummel Bath into submission with an outstanding attacking performance, running in 52 points against a somewhat hapless traveling English side. For me though, even that was outdone with Harlequins incredible winning performance away at Toulouse. It was a case of lose and go home for Quins, but they stunned the home side into silence with a quite magnificent performance to restore pride and put the wheels back on the track.
There was of course much much more than that to enjoy. London Irish and Racing Metro traded away wins. Biarritz lost in Treviso and almost messed up at home until a headbutt and a deserved red card saw them score 4 second half tries and haul themselves onto Saracens coat-tails. Munster have now won 4 out of 4, the only team to do so, with a total points difference of 14 points. Consecutive wins by 2, 3, 3 and 6 points see them scraping their way to a probable home semi final. Leicester and AS Clermont also took a win apiece in the tricky pool which sees Ulster currently hold the aces after a double over the somewhat lacking Aironi. Edinburgh and Cardiff also went the way of home advantage, and Glasgow failed to keep maximum pressure on Leinster as they conceded a draw in Montpellier.Special mention to Northampton, who walloped Castres 45-0 after losing the weekend before. 42 second half points was a phenomenal effort, and signs of a return to form, too late for the Heineken Cup, are there.
Concentrating on the 2 games I watched this weekend, both saw similar styles take on each other, and both saw fantastic games, which were only decided late on. Leicester did it the hard way against Clermont, 16-7 down at half-time thanks to the realism of Parra and Skrela who dropped and kicked their way to 11 points between them, while Sivivatu and Tuilagi cancelled each other out with tries. Flood struggled against the wind in the first half at a cold Welford Road, but a great second half performance saw the Tigers keep themselves in with a shout as they came through 23-19. Waldrom, Salvi, Castrogiavanni and Manu Tuilagi really showed and left Clermont shaking heads as they dropped to third in the Group of Death (and Aironi).
This all paled into insignificance though when Harlequins and Toulouse took centre stage. A brave first half performance on a pitch that looked more suite to a donkey derby than anything else, saw excellent tries from Brown and Gray, before Maestri pulled one back for the hosts to make it 15-10 at half time. The expected Toulouse fightback continued in the second half as Doussain went over unopposed in the corner to briefly give Toulouse the lead, but it says everything about the Harlequins side that Brown crossed for a second time, and with Nick Evans winning the goalkicking duel of the forgotten All Blacks with Luke McAlister, Quins eventually not only created the exploit of the season by winning on Toulousain territory, but very nearly took away Toulouse's losing bonus point too. A stunning performance from 1 to 15, but I though Nick Easter had one of his best games for many a long month, and in Brown, Quins have the form back in England - just a shame for him that he picked the same day to shine as Ben Foden did for Northampton.
A quick look at the country league table shows us that:
1. Scotland P8, W5, D1, L2, 0.688
2. Ireland P16, W10, D1, L5, 0.656
3. Wales P12, W6, D1, L5, 0.5424. England P28, W14, L14, 0.500
5. France P24, W9, D2, L13, 0.417
6. Italy P8, W1, D1, L6, 0.188
You would get pretty good odds against the 6 Nations table ending up like that.....
If put on the spot, my current feeling for the 8 Quarter Finalists would be Munster, Leinster, Saracens and Cardiff as the 4 seeded home sides, with Leicester and Toulouse the other 2 Group Winners, and with 2 of Edinburgh, Clermont and Harlequins qualifying as runners-up. Though Toulouse have a tough trip to Gloucester to come which could see the Champions come unstuck. It will be fascinating to see.
I hope to do a more detailed take on Jonny Wilkinson's career next week, but for now I just wanted to make a few serious points about the rules and the way I see rugby going.
1. Rugby has always been famed for the respect shown between players and officials, and rightly so when compared with the appalling language dished out by footballers to referees and linesmen. It is disappointing to see increasing evidence of decisions being questioned, and appealing to referees for fouls, rather than just getting on with the game. Nigel Owens had to call captains to him to tell them to stop their men questioning his decisions this weekend. This needs stamping out now.
2. Similarly, the increasing trend of players and officials deliberately touching a ball that goes in to touch to prevent the quick play of a line-out has been getting more prevalent in recent months and seasons. It reached a peak in the Toulouse vs Harlequins game, when it happened twice and Skinner was sent off from the bench for doing it. 2 things need doing: firstly the number of non-involved people on the bench needs diminishing - the dug-out area looks like McDonalds on a Saturday lunch-time there are so many people milling around. Less people on the line, and confined to a technical area too. Secondly, the rule needs changing so that, if the same ball is used for the line-out, it is irrelevant how many people touched it for a quick line-out to be taken.
3. The free kick is an archaic concept that needs either altering or removing from the game completely. The side benefitting from a free kick rarely gets a sizeable advantage. They cannot kick to goal, can kick to touch but lose the throw-in and often end up taking another scrum as generally that is where they won the free kick in the first place. Personally I would redefine freekick offences as either penalties or scrums and be done with the bent arm sanction. Others may say it should stay, and if it does, a minor change need to take place: either allow the kick to touch with line-out to follow, or, if another scrum is taken, the scrum should be moved ten yards upfield so that at last some advantage accrues.
I would really appreciate hearing your thoughts on these three points, either here, by e-mail or on twitter, as these are ways I see of improving this great game even further.
No comments:
Post a Comment