Well there has been drama aplenty this week, but yes sadly it’s officiating and governance that unfortunately take centre stage once more. England Captain Owen Farrell’s time at “tackle school” cleary had no effect and the serial high tackle offender once again found himself in hot water, only to get away scot free in the end – though that could yet change if World Rugby’s appeal is successful. That unfortunately proved to be the main talking point of an utterly tepid contest between England and Wales that, on current form, would seem to indicate that just surviving the Pool stages may be the biggest challenge for both sides.
Meanwhile in France, we were treated to yet another absolute thriller between France and Scotland. It was a fantastic contest which clearly indicated that so far France look a bit undercooked, while Scotland look set to cause supporters, players and Coaches in Ireland and South Africa many sleepless nights between now and when the Pool stages wrap up on October 8th. However, as we so often fear, these warm-up matches usually come with a hefty price tag, and France’s star fly half and playmaker Romain Ntamack picked up an injury which rules him out of the global showpiece completely.
South Africa take on Wales this weekend and like France are nursing some troubling injuries. This weekend sees the first game played by Captain and talisman Siya Kolisi since returning from injury himself back in April. It simply cannot be underestimated how important he is to the success of his squad in their push to claim back to back World Cups, and a game against a demoralised Welsh side has all the makings of an injury crisis in the making for South Africa, especially with influential second rower RG Snyman only recently able to start games as opposed to cameos from the bench. Handre Pollard has now been ruled out of the tournament, and given that South Africa is lacking in depth in the ten jersey, any further injuries on this part of the park could have crippling consequences for their World Cup chances.
Lastly we look at Ireland’s duel with a smarting England side in Dublin this weekend. So far Ireland have managed to stay off the injury radar, but given England’s current scrappy state of play, and general low level of morale and discipline, Irish supporters will no doubt be nervously watching this one from behind the couch with a stiff drink in their hands.
So with only 22 days till kickoff of the greatest show on earth, well in our opinion at least, here’s what kept our pints frothy this week.
England’s serial offender loses the plot – AGAIN!!!!
We don’t even know where to begin on this one. Put aside the issue that Owen Farrell is not one of our favourite players despite his talents. The precedent being set by the decision to rescind the red card for a blatant shoulder tackle and contact to the head of Welsh back rower Taine Basham which caused him to fail an HIA, is beyond dangerous. We have replayed the footage over and over and whichever way you cut it and, ignoring the farcical excuse that a mild push from England Hooker Jamie George caused Basham to “dip” into Farrell’s shoulder, it’s a red card all day, week, month and year long. Watch closely and you can clearly see Farrell brace and rise up into the tackle with his shoulder, while making no attempt at wrapping his arms or trying to adjust to Basham’s falling body position.
We are all for giving players the benefit of the doubt in the heat of the moment. However, the problem is that Farrell has committed such fouls on numerous occasions in his career to the point where the authorities have clearly recognised and made public the fact that he has a dangerous and problematic tackling technique. It’s not like this is his first rodeo on this issue, he’s been banned three times for high tackle offenses, some of which have been horrific. To add insult to injury he has also managed to get away with a few in his time as well.
Furthermore the decision smacks of inconsistency. South Africa’s Pieter Steph du Toit received a much harsher ban when a teammate pushed him from behind causing an unfortunate clash of heads between himself and an opponent last year. Tonga’s George Moala received a ten week ban this week for a messy tip tackle on Canada’s Ben LeSage. A ban was justified but ten weeks while Farrell, as a serial offender, gets away scot free? You can certainly empathise with the view in Tonga that the whole process seems to smack of one set of rules for Tier One countries and another for the rest of the World. Furthermore that the “independent panel” was from Six Nations Rugby (even though it comprised three Australians) also seems to reinforce the point that the new annual competition between SANZAR and Six Nations countries appears to be a drive to create an elite level of competition that seriously puts the brakes on the development of rugby as a global game and favors the wealthy unions.
With the biggest rugby show on earth about to kick off, and one in which all eyes will be on player welfare and safety, this decision sets completely the wrong tone. While World Rugby are appealing the decision and Farrell may still see a ban, the fact that it has come to this in the first place is a seriously bad joke. With this and the kind of abuse being dished out to officials as per the case of Ireland’s Johnny Sexton, the game is in serious danger of falling to a set of lows it has somehow managed to avoid up till now in the professional era. The next two months in France are supposed to be a glorious celebration of our game and its values around the world. On the basis of decisions such as this however, it is in danger of being viewed as a sport bereft of morals and its once cherished values seriously tarnished. We sincerely hope it’s not too late to reverse the rot.
Wales remain a train wreck and Australia, Fiji and Georgia are no doubt licking their lips
If you were as unfortunate as we were to suffer through the complete and utter dross served up at Twickenham last Saturday, then it clearly indicated that for the most part neither England or Wales have, on present form, a snowball’s chance in hell of making it out of the Pool stages come the World Cup. However, as dire as England were they did manage to somehow pull off a maul try against all odds with only twelve men, and which Wales with a full complement of 15 were unable to stop. That perhaps is the most glaring aspect of Saturday’s performance from a Welsh point of view. The fact that 15 Welsh players could not turn England’s three players in the sin bin to their advantage beggars belief. If you can’t do that in a mere warm-up match, then there is very little chance you’ll be able to do it in the knockout atmosphere of the World Cup.
Both sides made a plethora of errors, but Wales inability to gain any traction in the set pieces, particularly the lineouts will really get alarm bells ringing at Cardiff HQ. They fared slightly better at scrum time in the win a week earlier against England, but still not well enough, and their lineout work in both games was a disaster. They only managed a 66% success rate across both games at lineout time which is simply unacceptable heading into a World Cup. However, the fact that Wales, who had kept England tryless a week ago, could simply not convert a three man advantage in the English red zone into at least five points is worrying for Coach Warren Gatland, who clearly looks like he is not enjoying having his old job back.
Wales has good players make no mistake, but they look set to frustrate opponents rather than making a lasting impression themselves in the World Cup. Their only saving grace is the fact that fellow Pool C denizens Australia are also at sixes and sevens, and in the past Wales somehow seem to find it in them to rise above the mediocrity they dish out in the buildup to World Cups. That being said though it is also a trait that the Wallabies tend to reserve for the World Cup, though Eddie Jones’ media baiting seems even more unfounded and preposterous this year than it usually is. Perhaps Wales’ biggest stumbling block could be an electric and increasingly physical Fijian side. Fiji’s tussle with France this weekend in Nantes will tell us much as to how tricky Wales’ exit from Pool C may ultimately be.
France dealt a bitter blow in the games that always come with a price
Can we just say we HATE these World Cup warm up games. Yes we know they are a necessary evil, but we invariably spend the entire month of August in a state of complete anxiety about the prospect of critical injuries to our respective sides. For French supporters among us, my son included, the loss of French playmaker and fly half Romain Ntamack is a cruel blow. There are some impressive stand ins for him, but none of them works as effortlessly with scrum half and fellow Toulouse teammate Antoine Dupont, who himself is such a big part of France’s World Cup potential. The Ntamack/Dupont axis has a huge bearing on how well France performs.
So now the question is Dupont and who else? Perhaps the front runner for Ntamack’s jersey is clearly Bordeaux’s Matthieu Jalibert, but although a seriously gifted player his chemistry with Dupont is problematic at times, not helped by a slightly larger ego than Ntamack. He is also prone to some rather rash risk taking, something Ntamack makes look much more controlled and more in the vein of classical “French flair”. As a result we have a sneaking suspicion that France’s front runner in Les Bleus 10 jersey could be La Rochelle’s Antoine Hastoy. Hastoy under the tutelage of Ronan O’Gara has steered La Rochelle to back to back European Championships and is no stranger to the pressures of knockout rugby. He’s also a lot more of a physical ten than Jalibert, and while not as flash there is an assured confidence and degree of sound decision making that comes with Hastoy, as opposed to the more exciting but flamboyant Jalibert.
France clearly struggled to find their feet in both matches against Scotland, and while we tend not to read too much into these warmup games in terms of form, France at this stage look quite a ways off the finished product. Their last two games against Fiji and Australia, will no doubt smooth out the rough edges, but as evidenced by last weekend the question remains as to what the final bill will be in terms of injuries. In both matches against Scotland, the Scots at times ran France off the park and Fiji is a fast, physical and free running side as are Australia. France’s traditional stalwart defence also looked slightly porous with them averaging significantly more missed tackles than the Scots. However, they will take comfort from the fact that particularly in the second match their set piece work was rock solid, and also that under intense pressure they managed to hang onto a narrow win in the second game. It’s this kind of resolve in the face of an opponent that clearly fancies stealing a famous win, that is such superb preparation for the knockout environment of the World Cup. In that second Test against Scotland France got some valuable experience in that regard, which should serve them well mentally for the challenges to come.
These final two matches will definitely get France in the right headspace for that all important opening encounter with New Zealand, who love loose and fast games. France are unlikely to reveal their full hand until September 8th, so as a result it would be foolish to pass too much judgement on their likelihood of lifting the Webb Ellis trophy on October 28th on the evidence put forward in these warm up games. However, prepared they will be, of that we have little doubt – we just sincerely hope that the stretcher bearers remain on the sidelines for the next 160 minutes.
South Africa arrive on European shores looking slightly fragile
South Africa are a conundrum for us plain and simple. They are a great side and always a genuine World Cup competitor, but something is just not sitting right with us this year in terms of being able to accurately assess their chances. Last World Cup they looked decidedly shaky until the Final, but had a World Class squad to carry them through. This time around injuries could seriously blight their chances.
First up they are without fly half Handre Pollard, which perhaps isn’t quite the end of the world as his form since the last World Cup has been hit and miss at times. However, there is no clearly defined replacement and although Manie Libbok looks set to take up the mantle there is no denying he is still a very green, albeit capable, talent. Goalkicking remains a problem for South Africa with a genuine cast of characters lining up to assist, with perhaps scrum half Faf de Klerk being their best bet.
More pressing is the concern as to how fit their talismanic Captain Siya Kolisi is. He’s been out of action since April with injury, and as impressive as his recovery has been, how much will South Africa be willing to risk him in the early stages? Perhaps the first test of that will be seeing how many minutes he gets on Saturday against Wales in his first game since his return from injury. Also RG Snyman, the ferocious second rower, who has been plagued with injury since the last World Cup and his move to Munster, has gingerly reentered the Test arena but it remains to be seen if he really is clear of injury in the long term.
What concerns us the most regarding South Africa’s chances is the loss of Lukhanyo Am at centre for the entire tournament through injury. The midfielder’s vision and rugby brain is one of the best in the modern game. Sadly the current offering of Damian de Allende and Jesse Kriel just can’t hold a candle to a centre pairing featuring Am. Out wide and at fullback we feel South Africa can compete with the best, but it’s that centre channel that remains South Africa’s weakest link in terms of combinations and creativity given Am’s absence.
We hope we’re proved wrong, as a strong Springbok side really helps make a World Cup special, and that Saturday’s encounter in Cardiff doesn’t create more sleepless nights for South Africa’s coaching staff and their supporters.
Ireland are so far easing themselves gently into their buildup for the World Cup and we think they like it that way
Apart from the ongoing controversy surrounding Ireland Captain Jonathan Sexton and his troubled relationships with officials, Ireland’s most difficult issue would appear to be the general dislike of the design of their World Cup jersey. Ireland have so far managed to stay out of the limelight as a squad, Sexton excepted, and out of the casualty wards. That all may change this weekend when they take on a rather unhappy and slightly persecuted English side with a point to prove in Dublin. One already gets the sense that the term friendly will not be applied to this fixture. As a result we’re regarding this match with a fair degree of trepidation, as we have a hunch Ireland may not emerge with a clean bill of health from this one.
This also raises the issue that of all the sides going into the World Cup, Ireland will have the least amount of games under their belt and apart from their clash with England, not faced any top ten countries in preparation for the tournament. They may be taking comfort in the fact that their first two games of the World Cup are for all intents and purposes warm up games in their own right, with no offence to either Romania or Tonga. The business end of the tournament for Ireland doesn’t really start until September 23rd when they face off against South Africa, followed by the rapidly rising dark horse of Scotland.
They may be the number one side in the World for the moment heading into the tournament, and we very much doubt that Saturday’s proceedings against England will change that, but it is interesting that this month all the talk is for the most part about everyone else, and not Ireland. We’re sure they are more than happy with that as they don’t seem overly comfortable with being rated as the top team in the world. In many ways you almost have the sense that Ireland wish that people would just not mention it. That’s probably the best attitude you could ask for heading into a World Cup as hype can be a crippling burden, and has sunk so many teams in the past before the tournament has even got to the knockout stages.
Ireland are quietly and painfully aware that the world knows they have never made it beyond a quarter final, to the point that it almost seems an insurmountable mental hurdle for the team and its supporters to overcome. Nobody is talking up Ireland’s chances, and that must be a genuine relief for Coach Andy Farrell and his charges. Instead they are being allowed to quietly go about their business with the minimum of fuss and expectation, as in some cases people have almost written them off before the tournament has even gotten underway. They haven’t got an easy road ahead of them, but they may be better prepared than perhaps we’re all giving them credit for. We for one can’t wait to find out!
Well that’s it for now folks, as the tension and excitement are rapidly building towards Friday, September 8th. Enjoy the last of the summer and we’ll hopefully be back next week work permitting!
The Lineout 