Kicking the can’t down the road

Look…nobody wants to be Dylan Hartley’s devil’s advocate less than I do.  OK, maybe Stephen Ferris.  Plus anyone who has ever met the hooker.  But other than them, nobody. 

But the reaction to the incident in general has been “Ah, it’s Hartley, he’s trouble, he deserves it, let’s move on” and to be honest that’s pretty much how I felt until I actually saw it for myself.

Sure…he had been warned about talking back to the ref, and he then did it anyway.  In many ways, kudos to Wayne Barnes for the zero tolerance policy.

Still, though…what a shambles that sequence was!!! And we would have said so if it happened in a Junior4 match, let alone a Premiership final.

You can see & hear it for yourself in the above clip, but here’s it spelled out…

George Ford misses with penalty, Saints catch it over the line and touch it down.

Barnes : “22…captain? captain?…ok?…no, it’s gotta restart, the game must restart you can’t kick it straight out….yeah,it will be, but the 22 will take place….you can’t kick it out, yeah? Fine….”

Myler kicks it straight out.  Whistle blows.

Barnes : “You can’t do that I just told you – you can’t kick it straight out! [to Tigers] Option? [to Myler] I just told you you couldn’t kick it directly out, you kicked it directly out" [to Tigers] Option – scrum

From scrum, Tigers win penalty, and from there a very handy extra 3 pts before halftime, and to cap it all, Barnes flashes a red at “poor” Dylan.

Naturally, at this level, everyone should know the rules.  But since Barnes was issuing instructions to Stephen Myler, let’s assume the Saints outhalf wasn’t up to speed on what he was allowed to do with his 22 drop-out.

Is there any possibility he thought the referee said “you CAN kick it straight out?”  With thousands of screaming fans all around, “can” sounds a lot like “can’t”.  The best way to make sure you’re understood is to say CANNOT.

The only reason I ask is that Myler goes ahead and kicks it straight out before becoming Rodney to Barnes’ Dellboy who practically calls him a plonker and then offers options to the Tigers for the restart.

In the meantime, a bunch of kids who were part of the halftime entertainment start running on to the pitch, and the ESPN commentator with lightning quick wit references the famous Wembley 1966 soccer World Cup commentary.  Pure, pure comedy gold.

For all that palaver to cost your side three points before the break in a major final would make a REAL saint swear.

But in actuality it was Hartley and rather than see his red Lions jersey he saw Barnes’ red card and for once the blazers were quick to hand out his additional punishment, which of course was good news for Rory Best.

And I must give credit to coach Mallinder for his restraint as he walked off the pitch. He’d have every right to be visibly furious, either at the officials or Hartley or even both. Given the way his opposite number Richard Cockerill was behaving earlier in the first half I doubt he would have done similar.

If I could go back and change things I’d have had Best on the tour originally as a reward for what was overall a fine season for himself and his province, plus Barnes could carry some chill pills with him as well as his cards – the three points were enough punishment for the Saints’ cock-up, if indeed it was one. 

To see Hartley go for that only for another hooker to stay on the park for throwing a punch the following week is nuts.

Just saying. JLP