The Tipping Point

The uncertainty surrounding the so-called “tip-tackle” needs to be grabbed, lifted and driven into the turf.

One job I had back in the day was as “surveyor” for a gas company. That may sound like a very lucrative technical position, but all it meant was that I was to go round to the houses of people looking to buy a gas fire supposedly to check the dimensions of their fireplace, when in reality I was simply trying to get them to buy more stuff.

I enjoyed it because it had me driving all around Dublin and also I could work my schedule to suit myself. People were quite easy-going about arranging appointments, in fact most would express surprise when I actually showed up on time.

One day my destination address was the (fictional of course for the purposes of this post) “37 Meadowgreen Avenue”. As I drove up the road, which was quite a busy one traffic-wise, I remember cursing the local house-owners for not having numbers displayed on their doors because I couldn't even find a reference point to at least know I was at the right end of the road to find number 37.

By the way, yes, this post is about rugby.

Then I spy a house with a lawn sign in the front garden, a bit like ones you see around election time. To my amazement it had on it, printed in very big characters, “37 (THIRTY-SEVEN) MEADOWGREEN AVENUE”. It really was like some kind of divine intervention and I had to shake my head a few times to make sure I wasn't seeing things.

So I pull into the driveway and go up to ring the doorbell. The lady of the house answered and as she showed me to the fireplace in question I couldn't help but ask her about the sign. The wannabe comedian in me had me wording my query a bit like this : “Your pizzas must always arrive piping hot thanks to that sign!”

A few seconds later, her reply had me eating a very humble pizza pie.

The reason she had the lawn sign was that her 16-year-old son was a quadriplegic and since her neighbours were too conscious of their privacy to have numbers on their front doors, she wanted to be absolutely sure an ambulance could find the house if the need ever arose, and as it turned out it already had a couple of times since the tragedy occurred.

The tragedy in question was her son being injured in a rugby match. I would have assumed it was a scrum, but she definitely said it was a tackle, albeit without specifying what type it was, and I certainly wasn't going to ask for any more information than she was prepared to give me.

This happened back towards the end of the 90s when rugby had begun its slow creaky transition towards professionalism. A decade and a half later, the game is still trying to get to grips with dangerous tackling.

Recently we had an excellent blog-post from Andy McGeady outlining the way scrums are being over-penalised at the highest levels of the game. It certainly seems to be the case that front rows are being targeted by referees and that the game as a spectacle is suffering as a result.

To play devil's advocate for one moment, one of the reasons the IRB is cracking down on front row treachery is that of safety...in order to ensure scrums are being conducted properly right down to the lowest junior/amateur levels, they need the elite pros to be setting the right example. And as a loosehead prop I had my face mashed into the turf enough times to know how dangerous it can be.

Still, despite these motives, I feel they are being taken too far and it will remain a bug-bear with fans for a while ... the “zero-tolerance instant penalty on first offence” approach can be just as frustrating to all involved as a seemingly endless series of resets.

But when it comes to the phenomenon known in the game as a “tip-tackle” I would hold a very different view – zero-tolerance is the only way to go.

Last weekend in a Super-Rugby match the Queensland Reds full-back Jonathon Lance was binned for lifting the Bulls' lock Grant Hattingh and taking him “beyond the horizontal” before bringing him down. The card was only produced after TMO review, thanks to new experimental laws being tried out in the SANZAR competition this season.

When watched in real time, the tackle looked quite harmless. In fact, the whistle had blown for a knock-on just prior to it so if anything Lance took the foot off the pedal a bit. So when the ref flashed the card I noticed several comments on twitter that “common sense” needed to be applied to the situation. I respectfully disagree.

With the TMO in the equation we now get a chance to see the Laws of the Game properly tested. It wasn't down to the referee's instinct...the incident would not only be reviewed by an official but also the millions of TV viewers. In the case of a tip-tackle, we need to examine the meaning behind the phrase “beyond the horizontal”.

The trick in composing laws is not only in finding where to draw the line but also in finding words to describe it. I'm no physicist but I'd like to think that when you grab a big chap by his waist or below and lift him up in the air, as you follow through your control over him decreases as he reaches and then passes a position horizontal to the ground. From then on a combination of his initial momentum, his body weight and of course gravity take over...his journey to the turf may not be taken out of your hands literally, but it certainly is figuratively.

And as all rugby fans will know, different players have different “centres of gravity” - the lower yours may be, the harder it is to get you down. But when it comes to composing a law surrounding a tip-tackle, if we were to take centre of gravity into account it really would be going into the realms of the ridiculous. So it makes perfect sense that the line in the sand must be the horizontal position.

But what of the seemingly harmless nature of a tackle that isn't really carried out with any pure force? In the case of Hattingh there was never going to be any serious injury resulting from the tackle on him.

Again we need to appreciate what we're doing with these laws. We're not simply trying to come up with a way of identifying and punishing the offence. We're trying to get into the head of the would-be tackler BEFORE he or she steps on to the pitch. And by strictly applying the laws at the highest level, we're not just getting into the professional's head, we're also trying to influence all the players watching him as well.

So in many ways it is similar to drink driving, where the safety implications are too great not to do everything we can to stop anyone even considering getting behind the wheel after a pint or two.

In a Leinster School Senior Cup semifinal this season, a Blackrock College player, under 18 of course, was red-carded for a tip-tackle, and absolutely rightly so. We must try to prevent it happening at any level, though of course they are even the more dangerous as you go down the through the rugby levels as the players aren't as physically prepared for such contact with the ground as professionals.

That incident actually involved another aspect that needs to be brought into the equation...what do we do when a perpetrator of a tip-tackle is on OUR team?  Like the example above for me, we can certainly all remember individual incidents that involved our players…be it Warburton on Clerc, Ferris on Evans, Tuilagi on Care in the photo, Moriarty on McGrath at Under 20 level, or the one that inspired this piece, De Luca on Grabham…we’ve all seen it done by “our guys”.

We all know about the need to question a ref who rules against at all levels of the game, it's a part of the sport – just last Saturday I was but a few metres away from Nigel Owens shouting “how many is THAT, Nigel?” when he awarded another breakdown penalty against the Glasgow Warriors.

But there are some areas where it is we - the team-mates, coaching staff and fans – who must be the ones showing the “common sense”. When it is clear a tackled player has been brought beyond the horizontal we need to get fully behind the officials – it's for a reason. 

Whatever about the legal technicalities that led to De Luca’s 13-week ban being reduced, it dismayed me.  I’m not saying there shouldn’t have been an appeal but for me a headline reading “Appeal of ban for tip-tackle is rejected” would have been better for the greater good of the game.

Don’t get me wrong…the so-called “bone-crunching” tackles we see on RugbyDump & YouTube are a great feature of the game for sure, we've all seen & enjoyed the highlight reels.

But I may not be a professional rugby player, a law-maker, a spinal surgeon or a physicist...nonetheless, I most certainly am a father. I want nothing more than to see my kids enjoying sports safely, and if Blackrock College playing a match with 14 men, Leinster having a key player banned for several weeks or even Ireland being denied a Grand Slam is the price that must be paid to help ensure that, then so be it. JLP

Amnesty Interprovincial

The Irish rugby team has work to do, but so do we, the fans.

Of course as Irish fans we will be looking for wins from both our remaining Six Nations matches to make our record look more respectable, but after all that has gone on over the past few weeks I'm starting to wonder if we should also turn our attention on ourselves.

After the defeat to England at the Aviva Stadium, former Munster & Ireland flanker Alan Quinlan bemoaned the poor atmosphere in the ground from the home fans in a newspaper article. I was a bit annoyed at the time as he seemed to be deflecting attention from the performance on the pitch and even in some way putting some of the blame in the hands of fans as well.

But if the amount of opinion on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook is anything to go by, there is definitely something we Irish fans can do when it comes to supporting our team, and that is learning to put away our provincial blinkers and just as Phil Coulter's anthem suggests, stand shoulder to shoulder and support our team.

Instead we have a situation whereby it seems to be non-Munster fans “attacking” either the coach Declan Kidney when results are poor, or Ronan O'Gara when his own form is poor. In response we have Munster fans criticising Jamie Heaslip's captaincy or suggesting Cian Healy deserved a longer ban for what he did against England.

It's not to say that in all the above cases the criticisms aren't justified, I have made them all to various degrees myself on my blog, I'm just more concerned with the mentality that goes with it, as well as the reactions it can provoke.

All of that negativity has come to a head this morning with the news that Cian Healy is receiving “hate mail” delivered directly to him in the Irish training camp. Now I have no idea where the mail came from and of course it's not the only time it has happened to a professional sportsman, but maybe it can serve as a reality check to the majority of us.

When I started following what was then called the Five Nations Championship in the early 80s, those springtime matches were pretty much the only top-flight rugby Irish fans saw throughout the course of a rugby season. There were inter-provincial matches but they really only served as trials for the full Ireland squad.

Nowadays the season spans from early September all the way to the end of May and although the Six Nations is still Europe's premier tournament, it is buried in a schedule of Pro12 and Heineken Cup fixtures and in some ways it's understandable for fans to find it difficult to appreciate the difference between the players' provincial commitments and their international ones.

But appreciate it we MUST. The words of Ireland's Call send a clear, vital message :

“We have come to answer our country's call from the four proud provinces of Ireland”

We can't merely watch Ireland to see Leinster players doing well, nor can we for Munster, Ulster or Connacht. Rugby is a complex sport that requires players to work well together all over the park, so for the team to succeed we need them to come together for the green jersey. Perhaps we should start doing the same.

Just for a second, forget who is coaching or even playing for Ireland right now. Our immediate future is this : two more matches in a Six Nations Championship where all hopes of a trophy are gone, then in June we go on a tour of the USA & Canada. After that it's two more sets of Autumn Internationals & Six Nations series before the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

Personally, I believe the team needs to use that time to prepare a side for that World Cup – because that is the only tournament where we get to see where we stand compared to all the other nations playing the great game.

Some big names will be retiring between now and then, but as the provincial success in recent times has shown us, there is much talent across the country ready to take their place, all with plenty of time ahead to make themselves the legends of the future.

While they get on with that task, maybe we can set about getting firmly behind them. Sure, we'll all have our opinions on who should be either in the team or running it, and no doubt our provincial allegiances will have something to do with those opinions.

But not only do we need to know where to draw the line, we need to recognise when someone else has crossed it and make it clear that it's not in our name.

Once the whistle blows for kickoff, we are Irish fans first and foremost, and great and all as the trophies have been for the provinces in recent years, we need to do all we can to show them how much we'd dearly love them to repeat that glory more often on the international stage.

So what say wherever you are this Saturday evening shortly before 5pm...be it in the Aviva Stadium, at your local rugby club, in your local pub or at home in your living room, whatever you think of the team selection, the coach, the RTE pundits or even the actual song “Ireland's Call” itself – try singing it with full voice and stand with the boys in green.

And most importantly, whatever the result against France, do it all again the following week before the Italian match. Because that's what following sports is all about. No team can win absolutely every match, but with the right attitude the fans can be winners for ever. JLP

Stuff That Works

Some so-called pundits who should know better need to cop on, writes Brendan Grehan…

WHAT IS IT about pundits and bile?

In the wake of Leinster's hard-fought victory over Exeter Chiefs in Sandy Park, I was astonished to hear that one former player on his Monday night slot with his Lee-side buddy was telling the nation that "Leinster didn't look as fit as a few years ago".

I know that the former player and leading rugby intellectual did play the game at the highest level. He was a highly-talented schools player and by all accounts is a good egg but could he for once stop talking rubbish. Does he have access to Leinster's strength and conditioning programme?

Is he in the gym while the players are practising their powercleans and dead lifts. The thing that really annoys me about the pundit in question is that he seems to have a problem with the normal player who trains hard. Given that he himself was a player with incredible talent, did he ever live up to it. Yes he wore the green jumper with pride but he never won a European Cup or a five or six nations. He never won a grand slam and he never played on a lions tour. Given that he has described the current England coach as "a nobody" and launched streams of vomitous bile at other hard-working players, I think it is time to shout stop.

Any chance you could have an ounce of cop on as a former player who straddled both the amateur and professional era.

To be fair, another former player, who was also on Monday's panel was quick to check on the intellectuals outburst. He is an excellent pundit snd was at the heart of the Leinster team in the late 90's. No surprises that he is a Limerick man. What is about that jewel by the Shannon that produces so many great players and great people. Since I was a child, I have had a deep affection for the county and city as the gateway to Munster, the greatest of the four provinces, the greenest of the four, the most hospitable of the four and the loveliest of the four.

The pints taste sweeter down there too, not like the gold-coloured swill that they are currently serving in the RDS. At €5.80 a pint, one would expect a pilsner of the highest quality served by a Wagnerian maiden with blonde ringlets. What is it about Ireland that we must always stiff the punter. Leinster Rugby should really look into their pricing policies because the last time I checked cans of lager are not being sold in the RDS. There seems to be an awful lot of people drinking them.

Are you allowed to bring cans into the stadium? I come to watch the game, not to drink.

Some former Leinster players do rather make bilious pundits. One in particular, who should know better, spent many a year heaping barbs of bitter vitriol towards his former team. I never understood it. Again, he played the game at the highest level during an era when Ireland weren't very good. After leaving politics, he has gone to the dark side and we seem to hear little of him. He seemed to have a particular problem with Michael Cheika.

Cheika was instrumental in Leinster winning the Heineken Cup and one could argue that there would not now be three stars above the Leinster crest without Cheika's groundwork.

A true servant of the game, Cheika will coach a world-cup winning team. Success breeds success.

Leinster may have bowed out of the Heineken Cup but there is always the Amlin. It is a good cup to win and good teams usually win it. The blue army need to pick themselves up. Real fans support their team through the ups and downs.

As Guy Clark sang in "Stuff that Works":

"I got a pretty good friend who's seen me at my worst. He can't tell if I'm a blessing or a curse. But he always shows up when the chips are down. That's the kind of stuff I like to be around".

Here is Houston's Jack Ingram singing. No protunes, no lipsync. Just one man and a guitar.

Brendan Grehan is a journalist

facebook: Brendan Grehan

Twitter: @brendanxavier

Oh captain my captain

In her latest HoR2 offering, Kate McEvoy explores the Irish captaincy decision and how the media handled it…

I have mixed feelings about Declan Kidney. A graph of his recent popularity would probably resemble the path of a powerful avalanche, but, much like his oft-controversial selection the much-maligned Radge, deciding he's a bad coach is ahistorical. There's no point listing his manifold achievements, feel free to remind yourself of them if you like. He has brought many shiny things to these shores & I thank him for that. However in recent years, his successes, to stick with a theme of mountain-related metaphors have plateaued.

And when he does the things that he does that has everyone manically pointing at the Kidney Clock, I fall more into the “I'm not angry, I'm disappointed” category. Ok, sometimes I'm angry. He often acts like a man who has grown stale & conservative by being kept in a role for too long. Often, I find his selections conservative, his tactics flawed and these great white hope performances in a sea of mediocrity deeply frustrating. However, there are two things that frustrate me more. There appears to be flaws in the overall management structure of the IRFU that are often glossed over in favour of baying for Kidney's blood. The second is the one that's more relevant today – the complicity of the mainstream rugby media, particularly in print, in following the agenda set by Kidney.

I'm not a fan of being contrary for the sake of it, or as my mother would phrase it, looking for a row. This is something pundits such as George Hook, Stephen Jones or Conor George can be guilty of. I'm not looking for grand-standing in my analysis or deliberately generating controversy to increase traffic. I'm not a fan of link-bait. What we seem to be largely missing in this country is a healthy opposition to critique the Irish management & players. Critique does not always mean criticize but we need to move away from this idea of towing to the party line.

However I was extremely surprised at the reaction, or more accurately over-reaction of the media to the announcement the Kidney has chosen to award the Irish captaincy for the upcoming 6 Nations to Jamie Heaslip. The real story is of course that he has chosen to award to to someone who is not Ireland's greatest every rugby player, and by some distance most successful captain, Brian O'Driscoll.

That's really the crux of the matter here. Kidney has chosen his captain. This is his right and his responsibility as coach of our national rugby team. A texter into Off The Ball when the news broke this week claimed that it was up to BOD to decide when to relinquish the captaincy, and it would preferably be when he hung up his playing boots for good. That seems to sum up the prevalent mood across the media. People were wading in left, right & centre to put the boot in on Kidney's decision and accuse him of destroying the legacy of one of Ireland's greatest sporting heroes.

Well here's the thing. Despite my deep and abiding love for one of the world's greatest centres (that would be O'Driscoll for those not paying attention at the back) he does not have carte blanche on the Irish captaincy. If anybody did it would be him but, in my opinion, that doesn't apply to anyone. Once more with feeling, nobody has an automatic right to the captaincy of the Irish rugby team. Not even Brian O'Driscoll. He does not decide when to give it up. He does not get to give it back. It is the decision of the man who has been appointed to coach the national side. Part of this package of responsibility is to chose who will skipper his team.

It's safe to say that this was not handled particularly well. In his press conference on the issue, Kidney was evasive even by his standards. He seemed unsure and this sense of blood in the matter seemed to inflame the response by commentators. The usually even-handed Shane Horgan was close to apoplectic, Reggie Corrigan “couldn't think of a worse decision”, Hook used the opportunity to push his “Sexton for captain” agenda. The end of the latter's article had a more sensible suggestion (I know as I'm shocked as you are). Perhaps as a mark of respect this decision could have been separated from the team announcement. Could that have made a difference? Not sure on that front.

Some of the naysayers have played with O'Driscoll, even followed his captaincy themselves. Others, much like ourselves, have invested in an icon, been awed by his skills and dumb-struck by his regenerative capabilities. He's won 3 Heineken Cups in 4 years with Leinster. Funny thing is, he did that after relinquishing the captaincy to Leo Cullen. I don't remember such an execution squad being assembled in 2008. Is Jamie Heaslip being held responsible for not being Leo Cullen, as well as not being Brian O'Driscoll? Seems harsh.

Now, to look at the reasons behind the decision. It would probably be more accurate to say at what I think the reasons behind the decisions might be, since Kidney, and the rest of his team, did a great job of half-articulating them. The general synopsis of much of the media reaction has been “there is no reason for this decision”. I beg to differ.

Firstly, Brian O'Driscoll is 34 tomorrow. (Happy Birthday Bri-Bri! The card's in the post). He has started to look at his life beyond the pitch. He's involved in the Ultimate Rugby app (which is great by the way, highly recommended), IKON Talent Agency and a number of other projects. Surely it would be remiss, even negligent of Kidney not to similarly prepare his house for life without Brian?

I don't necessarily buy this RWC cycle business. I don't think it's necessary Heaslip starts preparing to captain the national side in their top competition two and half years out. There's a lot of life to be lived and playing to be done before that. I do think having a captain who's not Brian O'Driscoll for this 6 Nations while still being able to avail of his leadership and playing skills on the pitch is a positive move for the development of Irish rugby, if not for Brian himself.

Secondly, Brian O'Driscoll is 34 tomorrow. (I got a gift receipt, so you can return the present if you don't like it). As mentioned, we've been amazed by his capability to come back from injury with Wolverine-like speed. This is something that's been cited often in the past few days as evidence of Kidney's foolishness to drop him as captain, despite his injury problems and lack of game-time this season. While I admire the way O'Driscoll can cope physically & mentally with being sidelined and return to playing with unbelievable haste, I've always viewed that was a sort of bonus. I don't think it's something you can or should bank on. It does a disservice to the player and to the team. Even if that player is Brian O'Driscoll.

There's also a lot of outrage that Kidney has damaged Brian O'Driscoll's chances at the Lions' captaincy. A script appears to be doing the rounds that says O'Driscoll is supposed to continue as Irish captain in what is believed to be his final season as a player. He will then captain the Lions and lead them to a tour victory over Australia in what will be the final achievement in a long and storied career. Don't get me wrong, I have precious little objection to this version of events. It sounds great. But at this point, it's just a bed-time story. Or it would be if I had kids. Because I would tell it over and over again.

Alan Quinlan pointed out this week that the issue with decisions, especially key and/or controversial ones is that we don't know how they're going to going to turn out. This may or may not turn out to be a good choice. But there are logical reasons behind it. I find it strange that this is the issue in Kidney's reign that is receiving this kind of scrutiny. That issue is not that Jamie Heaslip is captain, but that Brian O'Driscoll is not. Side-note: I feel Rory Best is a bit hard-done by here. As mentioned I don't think we need to be picking our captain for 2015 now and Heaslip did not wow me at the autumn internationals.

In summary, it is not Kidney's job to protect the legacy of Brian O'Driscoll. It is his job to do what is best for the Irish rugby team. It seems to me that he has done his best to that in this case. He has made a difficult and unpopular decision. That's what he's supposed to do and what he is often criticized for not doing. The needs of the team come above that of an individual player, even our greatest individual player. The idea that he's being insulted and disrespected is inaccurate and frankly, unhelpful.

We need a rugby media that will critique rather than criticize decisions made. There's been balance largely missing from Irish rugby journalism for quite some time, it's just usually with Kidney rather than against him. I'm surprised this is the issue that's swung the balance. And finally, I'm opposed to idea that O'Driscoll's legacy is viewed as needing protecting. For me it's already set in stone.

Kate McEvoy : Munster fan in a sea of Leinster blue. Raised on a strict diet of Bective Rangers. Earliest childhood memory is stud marks in the muck. Former hooker for a father & a mother with an eye for a forward pass bordering on freakish . Often to be found down Monkstown RFC/ A & E on account of the exploits of the better half. Best rugby memory, Toulouse main square, May 24^th 2008. Epitaph will read “Knew a lot about rugby for a girl.” Can be found tweeting optimistically at @ImKateMc

Fan Appreciation

In his maiden HoR2 rant, Leinster fan Conor Cronin has been disappointed by more than just their results of late…

I've waited a few days from the event to write this rant. And somehow I'm no less annoyed for having slept on it. In fact I'm pretty sure I'm a bit worse.

I'm a massive Leinster fan. All my friends know this. I'm at every home game, and I really like to get to away games too. I've enjoyed games in the RDS, Thomond, the Rec, and even Twickenham last year. And I have to say, its great to watch the lads when they're winning.

And we all know that it's tough to watch your team lose. No matter the colour of your jersey you have to agree that it hurts to see your team fail.

I was lucky enough that a very thoughtful and wonderful girlfriend bought me tickets to the match in Ravenhill against Ulster. She went to a huge effort, and booked us a hotel for the weekend and on Friday afternoon, with both of us having a day off we headed up.

I love match day, and the atmosphere and the craic with opposition, and Friday was no exception. But it was tough seeing the lads under perform, and come away with nothing from the match.

Sporting my deadly new lion hat, (the other part of my birthday present)  I had taken funny looks all match from the Ulster fans all around me, because, I'll be honest, I'm loud. I like to be heard supporting and I like to think in spite of being so far back the lads could hear me.

I definitely think the standing fans on the terraces could be heard, as they tried to cheer on the team, to start chants of "Leinster" and rounds of "Come on you boys in blue", and "Molly Malone", attempts that I joined in on, but which were so often drowned out by the rowdy home support.

But try we did, all match, to support, to be heard, to let the lads know we were there.

And what did we get in return?

Forget the points, forget the win. All I was looking for at the end of the game was a little acknowledgment. For the lads to come past, and thank us for the effort we had made. In return for our having cheered and applauded theirs.

We got a moment where after applauding the Ulster players in, 3 or four of the lads stepped out, gave two or three claps from the corner and walked back in. While the Ulster supporters stepped out and spent a few minutes thanking fans. And on my way to get a taxi I saw a few doing autographs before their showers.

And it was worse in the Aviva last week, where we didn't even get a few out to say thanks. While the Clermont fans got their team walking out and over to applaud and thank their fans for the effort.

I don't know about anyone else, but between about 50 euro worth of diesel, 38 euro for each ticket, I have no idea what the hotel was even for that night, a couple of beers, this wasn't a cheap trip for me. Even a day in the RDS isn't cheap, whether you account for the cost of an individual ticket, or the share of your season ticket that goes to that particular match, and if you're not drinking, there's still the cost of getting there (bus, or parking etc).

Am I unreasonable to think that the players should acknowledge our support? Is it wrong to think that after spending over 80 minutes shouting for them they could spend 60 seconds making sure we know that even without the result they appreciate it?

If I could have the poor Ulster couple in front of me give out for being so loud, the group behind me tell me I was wasting my time, surely the lads can appreciate that.

If I could stay and keep cheering even after their third try when things look their worst, surely the lads can acknowledge that.

So there it is, my rant. In a nutshell, I spend enough being a supporter, I think it should be acknowledged by the team, especially when we keep cheering in spite of the result.

What response will the fans get on Saturday after the match? Let's hope it's a positive one!

Any thoughts, or comments, please feel free to get me on Twitter, @ccbooms

Conor Cronin is a Leinster fan cursed with a Munster loving father. You'll regularly find him screaming in the north stand in the RDS. When he's not there, try the theatres around Dublin, he might be on stage, or in the off season, Dublin bay on a boat. He likes writing a rant cos in the bio he can talk about himself in the third person without sounding pretentious.

Blue is the colour

In his latest piece for HoR2, Brendan Grehan is on about provincial jerseys again, only this time wearing them with pride.

A CHAP I know works in a sports shop. Well, I suppose I must stress that Mark isn't "a chap".

A few weeks ago he was telling me that a young boy of 11 or 12 had come in all distraught. There had been a washing accident with his dad's prized Leinster jersey. It wasn't any old jersey though. It was the prized Canterbury Jersey back when Leinster were sponsored by ACC Bank. The boy and his mother thought that they could buy that jersey new and replace it without papa knowing. Maybe they were able to locate one on the internet and I know that Mark would have pointed them in the right direction.

Some of the Leinster faithful wear their first jersey as a badge of honour to prove that they have been supporting the Province since that particular season.

I am not going to grandstand about this but I have been going to Leinster matches since the mid-80’s and it has been a great trip.

If Leinster were playing in Donnybrook, one could make the quick 10 minute dash up the Merrion Road and park on Ailesbury Road. There might have been an odd blue scarf but back then one could not purchase replica jerseys. The players played for the clubs and may have got a day or a half-day to train with their province. As amateurs there was always more of a connect with the communities they represented. It is the same spirit that has driven the GAA to be the finest Amateur sporting body in the world.

Now more than ever Irish rugby, at club level, needs to take a few lessons from their sporting brothers and sisters in the GAA. As the GAA has got the edge on the oval ball in the realm of coaching and conditioning expertise. When a former International tells you that it is common at AIL level for training sessions to be cancelled because it is raining, one knows that there is a problem.

Would Brian Cody or Mick O'Dwyer ever cancel a session because of a few drops of rain, I doubt it. I have digressed but this isn't an issue with the professional game.

It is a source of great pride to this writer that I have seen Leinster transform themselves since our game went open in 1995.

There are few sure things in life - beer always tastes better from a glass or a bottle than from a can, An Irish TV personality of a certain age will always wears a red dress when she's launching some charity do (I hear loike she is actually quite boho in real life), a Fender telecaster will always sound best through a vibrolux turned up to ten, women are always right, and if you want to see a bloody good game of rugby football, then head down to the RDS or Lansdowne when Leinster are playing. After the game you might repair to Mary Mac's or toddle down to Stephen Cooney's fine hostelry, The Bath, and down foaming beakers of Irish craft beer or a MacIvors cider from the MacNeice's family’s orchards in the sainted county of Armagh.

The atmosphere may or may not be electric but the place will be full of parents and kids munching popcorn, eating burgers and enjoying the spectacle.

The hard work that Mick Dawson and his team in Leinster has put in over the last decade has paid off. There may have been a few false starts but the Leinster machine is now one of the new kingpins of World Rugby. Leinster Rugby is now a worldwide brand. The blue Canterbury jumper is now an iconic jersey, like the black of New Zealand, the sky blue and white hoops of Argentina and Williamstown, the light blue of the House of Savoy and Italy and the green of Ireland.

As the blue army gathers, credit must also to Peter Breen and his media team in Leinster HQ. The media match-up with the Evening Herald has been a win-win for both concerns. The Leinster coverage every Friday attracts new readers to a periodical which would not traditionally have a rugby readership but now it does.

So whatever happens on the weekend, Leinster Rugby are winners on every level and long may it continue.

Brendan Grehan is a journalist.

Twitter: @brendanxavier                

Facebook: Brendan Grehan

Fan Foibles

There's plenty that can happen on the pitch that can annoy you, but what about the actions of your fellow fans?

Last week on this blog we had a piece by Brendan Grehan which was mostly about the wearing of provincial attire at international rugby matches.

This drew quite a strong reaction from some quarters, with as much flak taken by myself for publishing the piece as was taken by the man himself for writing it.

On the subject of the post's publication, I reiterate that this blog is intended for “independent opinion”. As much as the sport of rugby union is one for all shapes and sizes, I want this blog to be there for people of all points of view to contribute, whether or not I personally agree with them, so you can expect more posts like that in future as pretty much all posts are welcome once I feel the tone is kept respectful.

Personally I took Brendan's point about the provincial jersey-wearing, but only in the case of certain people attending the game. Clearly there are those who wear their provincial jackets because it is the warmest item of clothing they own, and of course that's fine. But there are also those who go out of their way to wear their own colour jerseys, hats and scarves to make a point that they only care about the players for their particular team. THIS is definitely annoying.

But is it the most annoying thing I ever see at rugby matches? Hells to the no. So what say I go on a mini-rant about what gets the “harrumph” outta me?

Since “top ten lists” on blogs also annoy me, these are in no particular order.

• BOOING When you see a visiting player do something naughty that the ref has missed, it's hard not to let him at least know you saw it. Still, booing a place-kicker is exceptionally shameful – though before we Irish fans get up on our high horses about what the Millennium Stadium crowd did to Nathan Sharpe last weekend, we should remember Croke Park in 2010 as Dan Parks lined up his match-winning kick for Scotland.  Really no place for it at any time, unless it’s some ironic hero-worship like “Luuuuuuuuuke!”
• THE WAVE Most of my fan foibles stem from this question : “why the hell did you bother buying a ticket in the first place if you're just going to do THAT?” The so-called “Mexican Wave” should have stayed south of the Alamo. Essentially what you are doing is proclaiming to the world that you've a pathetic attention span. Sure, there are a lot of stoppages in rugby matches for scrums, lineouts, penalties, injuries, substitutions, but the idea behind a wave is that it goes all the way around the pitch regardless of what's happening on it. Therefore it doesn’t belong.
• CHATTING ABOUT ANYTHING BUT RUGBY Usually not annoying for the entire match if you're paying attention to the action yourself, but these people do get caught out at placekick time. They're so engrossed in their conversations that they haven't even noticed the thousands of other people in the ground have gone quiet. And more often than not, their subject matter is light-hearted enough that one of them lets out a gut-wrenching guffaw.
• ARRIVING LATE/LEAVING EARLY There will always be legitimate excuses for this. But the vast majority of people should know that when a game is due to kickoff at 6pm you need to allow about an hour either side of the time the match is due to be played for crowds & what-not. I mean, just last Saturday evening at the RDS, Leinster had the bonus point wrapped up with ten minutes to go, and thus the exodus began. “It was freezing cold!” doesn't really wash as an excuse for me, because most adults should know what the weather is going to be like on a December evening in Dublin. Now don't get me wrong...it's your life and your money and if you don't want to stay to the end it's your look out (for example those who left early on Saturday missed Fergus McFadden’s 2nd try plus his conversion hitting not one but two pieces of woodwork), I just reserve my right to say harrumph, and never more so than with over five minutes left on the clock in the Leinster v Exeter Heineken Cup match in October, with the score as it was at a perilous 9-6. Maybe THAT'S a good time for booing?

I could go on, but that would deny me the chance to hear more from yourselves - what say you leave a comment here and/or go back to the social media source that led you here and get a debate going?

What brings out the Peter Griffin in you and grinds your gears at rugby matches when it comes to your fellow patrons? JLP

The “Jersey Unsure” Irish rugby fans

People who go to support Ireland should dress for the occasion, writes journalist Brendan Grehan

A FEW MOONS AGO, I had been ranting on Facebook about Leinster and Munster fans and their supposed "age-old" enmities which are largely a media creation and or the love-child of the new rugby 'fan'.

Like it or love it, with the success of the Irish provincial game, there are a whole load of new 'fans' who wouldn't know one end of Kilgobbin from the other. Have they ever drunk a lemo in the Pav, had their cojones turned to ice in Kilternan. Have they ever froze on the sideline in Birr while their team of jobbing junior counsels, a secondhand car salesman, a tailor and a future High Court judge (watch this space) were dismantled by an XV mainly comprised of former inter-county hurlers. They say that it is the fastest ball-game in the world but let me tell you those hurlers were handy rugby players too.

Imagine if an Eddie Brennan or a Declan Ruth had picked up the oval ball, maybe we would be looking at three grand slams in the trophy cabinet in Lansdowne Road, but that is an argument for a winters evening, in front of a turf fire from the finest West Kerry peat and two balls of malt or even a large balloon glass of Cardenal Mendoza.

The old Cardenal. One of the pleasures of being involved in this old blogging lark is that you can feck off on a tangent, whenever you like, like driving to Mullingar on the N4 via Enfield and Edenderry.

Well Cardenal Mendoza is one of the best Spanish brandies out there on the market. I was raised on Spanish brandy from an early age and there is no finer Brandy De Jerez than the old Cardenal. Named after a famous Castillian Statesman and Cardinal, it also was the favourite tipple of Lee Brilleaux from Dr.Feelgood.

Some of my younger readers (do I have any, sorry does anybody ever read this, I know a few do) may not have heard of the Feelgoods, the legendary pub-rock band from Canvey Island in Essex but Brilleaux was a gourmand and lover of good pubs and eateries. A man after my own heart. Myself and my two brothers and three sisters,it must be pointed out do have a small reputation for sniffing out good nosheries for fellow trenchermen and trencherladies in most locales.

Back to Canvey Island, well Brilleaux while on tour would keep a diary with the best pubs and restaurants he ate and drank in. It was almost like a rock and roll Michelin guide. He alway used to end the night and sometimes start it (i'm sure) with a snifter of the the ol' cardenal as he used to call it.

Sadly Lee passed away from cancer in 1994 but here is a clip of Canvey Island's finest with Brilleaux on lead vocals and showing off some useful chops on slide guitar.

Back to provincial small-mindedness. Oh, the cat is out of the bag. And we should take it out because this phenomenon needs to be discussed because it has no place in our game.

In the bad old days when you went to inter-provincials, there may have been 300 there may have been 1000 but it was understood. It was the rest of Ireland versus the Cork rugby mafia and their cousins up in Ravenhill.

The boys, who sail in the summer months down in Crosshaven, decided how the Irish team was selected and really ran the show.

Now as rugby has embraced professionalism and its little love-child, sports marketing, we have a game that has morphed into a professional game but still retains some of its amateur roots.

But could you tell some of the 'fans' out there that just because a Leinster player is having an off-day while on a much-needed holiday in the Far East and he doesn't pose for photographs with a harem of orange-coated thong-wearing (the sandals) south Dublin witches, it does not make him 'obnoxious'.

He is a professional sportsperson and is entitled to his private life and private time.

Therein lies the problem. The new fan (who supports the professional game through their financial support) doesn't really get it.

Yes if you have to dress from head to toe in blue polyester sportswear and cheer on Leinster tomorrow against Zebre, do it. Down south, wear all those delightful red performance fabrics but because you have a ticket, it does not make you part of the game.

You are just another number. I feel some Bob Seger coming on. He captured man's disconnect with 'the man' in his 1978 classic 'Feel like a number'.

I may be a bit harsh but what really gets me going is that when you head to Lansdowne Road for International games. It is not a sea of green. It is a polycotton mess of blue and red and black and red. In fairness to Connacht, I have a bit of a gra for the men and women from the west. West of the Shannon is the real Ireland, they have suffered from the diaspora (and continue to do so) more than the pale and its dort-accent environs. I won't begrudge a Connacht fan wearing their green jersey to an Irish game but the idiots who wear Leinster jackets and their cousins in Munster and Ulster who do the same.

Are they trying to prove a point, that they have no cop on altogether?

On my way to last Saturday's game, I asked a couple of Ulster fans ( dressed head to mid-riff in Ulster gear): "I didn't know Ulster were playing today".

They scowled back.

Before the South African game, there were a couple of Munster lads wearing some smart branded anoraks. I passed a remark about Munster not playing but to be fair to them they wittily retorted : "Most of them are on the field".

I know that the provincial game has largely trumped its bigger brother. It is sad but there is more of a buzz now about the upcoming European Cup games than there ever was about the Autumn Internationals and that is a challenge for the IRFU.

It is a challenge they and Declan Kidney will meet but rugby fans you don't have to rub it in.

For your own sake, could you ditch the provincial sportswear for the odd time that you hit Lansdowne and wear something green.

Twitter: @brendanxavier

Facebook: Brendan Grehan

Brendan Grehan is a journalist.

We need to talk about David

In her latest post for HoR2, Kate McEvoy examines the current Campese kerfuffle…

Occasionally an issue arises on the internetz that allows me to sigh, dust down the auld soapbox and mouth off to my heart's content. So David Campese, you goose-stepping World Cup hero you, I salute you. My Christmas has come early.

So Campo, may I call you Campo? David, if you insist, let's get this ball rolling. First things first, in case anyone is unaware this week the man himself tweeted the following missive: "Why does the smh get a girl to write about rugby. Growden who was a great jornio and now we have someone who has no idea about the game". The "girl" in question is Georgina Robinson, who has recently replaced the long-serving Greg Growden as the Sydney Morning Herald's rugby correspondent. Unsurprisingly, this comment has attracted worldwide attention and no shortage of derision. David, in the words of former Wallaby winger Wendell Sailor, it's 2012 champ.

Before we continue down this road, let's take a moment to appreciate how great David Pocock is. Rugby fans are aware on his feral skills at the breakdown, his rampant athleticism, and the fact his biceps are roughly the size of baby whales. A finalist for Young Australian of the Year in 2012 he began his ascent to rugby greatness a mere 3 years after escaping from the turmoil of Mugabe's Zimbabwe. In addition to publicly speaking out about his eating disorder and raising awareness on the issue he works tireless for his charitable foundation, Eightytwenty Vision, which works to improve the lives of the sick and the poor in his native country. The projects focus on health care for HIV and AIDS sufferers, education for children, food and water security, and human rights. Furthermore, he and his partner, Emma Palandri have done a Brad & Ange by announcing they would not be getting married until gay people in Australia have the right to do the same. Seriously, if you look out the window in Western Australia, you can probably see him flying by with his cape flapping in the breeze.

So when David Pocock calls out your behaviour, he probably has a point. The erstwhile Wallaby captain has this to say in response to Campese's tweet. “Really sad to see journos attacked based on their gender. Or a grown woman referred to as a ‘girl’ #destroyingthejoint,”. Unsurprisingly, Pocock's hit the nail on the head here, with quite the hashtag to boot. I have no idea what kind of writer Georgina Robinson is. I haven't read her work. I'm not fully immersed in the Australian rugby environment. To paraphrase Evelyn Beatrice Hall, I've no idea what you said but I'll defend to the death your right to say it. Robinson's gender is no more relevant to what she writes than Growden's was. By all means disagree with what she has to say based on fact and opinion not her chromosomal make-up. The same goes for any individual writing on any issue. There's really not a lot else to say on that topic.

That is until Campese came up with his response to being called out on being, in the words of Judi Dench, a sexist, misogynist dinosaur. His clarification was as follows 'I was trying to say is that the coach is under pressure and sometimes males give it to the coach as some females go a lot easier on them." I'm going to move away from the fact that no-one, Campese included, is an authority as to what constitutes typical male & female behavior (Holy Sweeping Generalizations Batman!) and move towards an issue that is becoming more and more prevalent in the rugby media, the pushing of agendas.

Campese has been a vocal opponent of Australia coach, the beleagured Robbie "Dingo" Deans. Now David, what's happened here is you've been caught rapid saying something stupid. And while the attention is on you, you are trying to tangentially associate said-stupid thing with your own band wagon. I fail to see what Georgina Robinson's gender has to do with a lack of Wallaby attacking flair you so bemoan. I am interested in what you have to say on that subject, preferably with slightly less comedic flailing about the place. Please try again.

This seems to be a fairly widespread phenomenon at the moment, albeit with less of a knee-jerk reaction as demonstrated by Campese. It appears that Kidney's treatment of Mike Ross both in the media and on the pitch has more to do with sending out a message as to who picks the team rather than a specific issue with the player. Gatland's recent censure of Chris Robshaw and French-based players seems to be setting up English rugby fans for a disappointment, throwing his support behind Sam Warburton and putting the frighteners on the Welsh diaspora, all over 6 months out from the Lions tour. This does not seem to be a sporting way of doing business but in the shifting rugby landscape, where the clamor of voices is getting louder and more fragmented the hypodermic needle model of media distribution doesn't cut it anymore. you're going to say one thing and mean another. In short, you're going to find different ways to disseminate your agenda.

Back to the specific matter at hand. The whole affair throws up some interesting issues, regarding both social media and rugby. Firstly, and pay attention here David, deleting something you have published on a public platform does not make it go away. This is something that has been repeatedly reiterated across a whole spectrum of issues but apparently bears repeating. If you say it you're stuck with it.

This has also got me thinking about a wider issue which ties two of my previous points together - the right to free speech with the indestructible nature of online published opinion. If you are well-known in whatever field, how do you reconcile a desire and a right for free speech with the fact anything you tweet has the potential to follow you around like a bad smell?

In the Twitter age, a whim crosses your mind, you iterate it, it's out there, it's gone. Such is the case for average bears such as you and I. It might be an opinion you subsequently change or is proven to be factually inaccurate. It might be you on a bad day, at a weak moment. You might say something you later regret. And unless it's blatantly illegal or baiting a celebrity you'll probably hear no more about it. However this does not apply equally to all Twitter users.

So from a rugby perspective how do outspoken figures such as Campese, Brian Moore or Nigel Owens balance broadcasting their own opinions with this state of affairs? I don't have an answer for this one but I do think the Twittersphere would be a poorer place without them. Campo, I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it. But if you could find a way of voicing displeasure based on fact rather than prejudice and push your agenda without resorting to sensation I'd have a lot more respect for your opinions. And I hope my gender doesn't preclude you from listening to mine.

Kate McEvoy : Munster fan in a sea of Leinster blue. Raised on a strict diet of Bective Rangers. Earliest childhood memory is stud marks in the muck. Former hooker for a father & a mother with an eye for a forward pass bordering on freakish . Often to be found down Monkstown RFC/ A & E on account of the exploits of the better half. Best rugby memory, Toulouse main square, May 24^th 2008. Epitaph will read “Knew a lot about rugby for a girl.” Can be found tweeting optimistically at @ImKateMc

Keego on…Decisions & December

Enough about the rankings, time to don provincial colours again, writes Keego…

So here we are. The November games are over; it’s back to the blue jersey for me. I thought I would put forward my thoughts on the recent games.

Caution is advised as there is an old man rant coming…

There was this big thing about the new players stepping up. They did against Argentina (I do not count Fiji) which was great to watch. But we have to remember that a long line of luck lead us to this team. With the change in personnel the way we play the game was always going to change, luckily it changed for the better. Gilroy, who was magic, would not be on the pitch if Kidney had his first choice. Same for Zebo. Both of these players excelled, but will they be picked when the 6nations starts?

The media and all of us on twitter made picking Gilroy unavoidable. There was no way that team was going to take the field against Argentina without him starting. Kidney would not have picked him otherwise. Kidney is a great manager, but quite conservative. Taking into account the different level between the Pumas and the ‘Boks, we played a Kidney style against the second best team in the world. Quite conservative and seemed to be wary about using our backline. I think we had 2 line breaks in the whole game against South Africa.

The Fiji game was exactly what we needed, we were always going to win, it was just a matter of by how much. I think there was a lot of criticism on Kidney for picking Ross to start, rumors abounded in the twitter-verse ranging from he was annoyed with Ross for his ‘Boks performance to Michael Bent cant scrum. We found out the Ross is our number one prop forward. Gilroy, McFadden and a few other lads played blinders against Fiji which may have given some complacent players a kick in the arse. This was the best thing to take from the Fiji match.

Then we got to the Pumas. The pressure was on, the selection was right, considering the injuries and the team played a belter. It was great to see. I think it was our best first half in 12 years (excluding the wallabies in the rwc). It was great to see, everyone was firing at 100%, the bounce of the ball went our way and the Pumas where tired after a long season. Captain Heaslip was immense again and is another leader we will have on the pitch for the 6 nations, a huge positive. Sexto was also a man mountain …… of a man. Another leader on the pitch for the 6 nations. With all this luck leading us to this team, we will have a squad full of leaders going forward.

I would put huge importance on this game, it was a seeded team, a big tough team and a team that rarely lies down. The reason they lay down was because we put them down. After the opening kickoff going into touch we owned the game. We didn’t lose one collision on the pitch. We where brave, daring, confident and lethal in finishing. We did the simple things right, the lineout worked perfectly, the scrum was like a tank.A great way to finish and finally we can STOP TALKING ABOUT WORLD RANKINGS!

The last thing I will say on this is that I feel the talk about the rankings has costs us. There was time left thinking about these instead of just concentrating on playing our game and winning. When we win, the rankings take care of themselves.

The winner of the November games is without doubt Craig Gilroy. It was all luck that he ended up on the pitch, but he took advantage of it and has written his name on a starting jersey. The person I feel sorry for is Andrew Trimble, he had a bad game against the ‘Boks, but has not started enough games to be the starting winger. This affects him at Ulster too; Gilroy will have to be starting now.

I promise there will be no more giving out about Kidney…..at least not for a few months ;)

Back to the blue of Leinster.

We played Glasgow. Jaysus it was awful! We won 6-0 (I think, I had bouts of sleep during the game). Glasgow had too many kicks which would have had them winning the game. The worrying thing for me appears to be the lack of top backup/academy players coming through. I understand the injuries are piling up for Leinster, and the players that are injured this year guided the younger players last year. But even saying that, they should be playing better. We usually have a slow start to the season but this year has been alarmingly slow.

One option to fix this is making the AIL relax the rules on the amount of contracted players that can play in a match so that the academy players are getting regular game time in varying conditions. This is something that would help Leinster hugely, it may not suit the AIL though.

We have not had ideal preparation coming up to Clermont. If we show up with the same mentality we had against Glasgow they will eat us for breakfast both home and away.

Lastly, this week I got a bit of flack for giving out about the Glasgow performance and the Leinster season so far. People saying that I am not a ‘real fan’ by questioning how the Leinster season is going. If you want to keep your head under the pillow and pretend everything is ok then by all means please do. Blindly follow if you want to. I will continue to question what is happening this year. It is just not clicking as it should be at this stage of the season. Our slow starts usually end around the time of the first Munster match of the season. We have been getting worse. Me saying this doesn’t mean I am less of a Blue than you, this doesn’t mean that I am more of a blue than you, it means that I see a problem and you don’t.

Can you honestly say that the season so far has been what we would expect? Even taking into account the injuries. The academy is supposed to be providing top level players ready to slot in when the first team are away or injured. They have not been doing that.

I really should end my rant there. As usual I offer myself up on the firing line for you to debate/abuse on twitter @nkeegan. We had some great debates during the week; I look forward to another week of the same.

It is getting so cold I have been wearing my base layer for 4 days.

Until next week…..

Keego (@nkeegan): Newbie blogger, former professional wrestler, sometime attempted rugby player (@TheThirsty3rds), professional procrastinator and attempted musician with a fondness for long walks on the bar, tea and the couch. Opinionated Leinster fan and constant gardener.

Poor Wales, or Wales just poor?

All Black fan Tim Cronin from RugbyShirts.net reckons Andrew Hore will get what he deserves, but with the match result, so did Wales…

While I was contemplating how to open my article this week I stumbled across a post on Facebook from a friend, a fellow Kiwi living in the UK, which pretty much summed up what I was thinking.

Said Hayden – “OK, Hore is a moron and should be suspended, but that doesn’t change the fact that Wales were [rubbish]”.

Andrew Hore did New Zealand a huge disservice on the weekend. As is always the way when you dominate a sport, the rest of the rugby world has for some time now been throwing accusations at the Kiwis about the tactics of their captain, the attitude of officials towards the men in black, and, in general, a perceived idea that the All Blacks in some way ‘cheat’.

I accept that those barbs are just part and parcel of being the number one ranked side in the world, and it’s never bothered me personally. While some countries have a history of eye gouging, biting and testicle grabbing, the All Blacks have never been a dirty team, and I don’t think they are now. But Andrew Hore was out of line, and his timing could not have been worse.

With that said, Hore’s act of foul play didn’t cost the Welsh the game, nor did any of the refereeing decisions. The referee wasn’t the one who was incapable of tackling Julian Savea or failed to scramble on defence, and the referee wasn’t the one who couldn’t catch when try scoring opportunities presented themselves or who kicked it dead from a penalty.

The attitude from the Welsh players as they narrowed the losing margin to just 23 points was telling. The crowd who went in to raptures, the players who celebrated that last try, and the coach afterwards, who said he was proud of his players, signalled to me that the Welsh believe they are just a ‘middle-of-the-road side. None of the top 4 or 5 nations would find anything whatsoever to be happy about in a 33-10 loss. The All Blacks, along with the Australians, the South Africans, the English, and probably the French, would be disgusted at themselves for being blown off the park in such resounding fashion, but that’s because they set high standards and expectations for themselves.

Wales clearly lack any self-belief or confidence at the moment, which was in evidence early in the match. Their decision to kick for touch, instead of taking the points when they were on offer, smacked of desperation. The idea of ‘taking it to the All Blacks’ is an admirable one, but you still need to be intelligent enough to make the right decisions at the right time; to rip in to all-out attack when the opportunity presents itself, but to collect points and play with tactical nous when the time calls for a more solid approach.

That decision early in the game reminded me of a cricketer who has determined which shot they will play before the ball is bowled. It was like they had made a commitment prior to stepping out on the field that when they received their first penalty, no matter where it might be, they’d have a crack. Wales traditionally employ a good balance of relatively conservative, tactical rugby combined with an ability to attack with flair given the right opening, and I’m sure those chances would have presented themselves as the match unfolded. But such is their lack of confidence at the moment they felt it necessary to try to re-invent the wheel, an interesting option when you’re facing the world champions on rampant form, having yourselves lost your last five tests in a row!

The Welsh can make up as many excuses as they want, but they were still thumped 33-10 by a team that ‘buttoned off’ for the last quarter. As New Zealanders we all agree that Hore was out of line, but we’d have a lot more respect if Welsh fans, players and media could simply say ‘sure, the Hore incident was poor, but on the day we were outplayed’.

At the end of the day, any loss falls on the shoulders of the players. Sides that are successful recognise this, and use it as a tool to learn from and improve. Teams that fail to recognise this and constantly play the ‘victim card’ stay where they are, in the middle-of-the-road.

Tim Cronin is a Rugby fan and full time writer based in the rubble of the Canterbury Crusaders’ home town, Christchurch. Tim is a part of the Pukeko Sportsteam, where his role is watching, writing, and complaining about all things rugby.

Residency–the game of beggars & choosers

Recently we published an excellent article by Kate McEvoy on rugby & nationalism.  I don’t want to tread on her toes, but I also would like to give my take on it as I’m in a ranty mood this morning.

I went to a big rugby school but unless it was actual organized training for a cup team, when it came to break time activities, we were more likely to play soccer.

And so there would be a game in the schoolyard every day.  Only thing we needed to do first was pick teams.  How we did that would come down to two choices…

(1) A draft. Two “captains” were nominated, who would then take turns choosing players.  If you’re one of those who value kids’ self-esteem, this probably wasn’t the best way of doing things, as invariably the same boys would always be chosen last.  But I’m not sure if anyone is going to try to enforce a law banning kids from taking turns picking teams for lunch-break football.

(2) Class v Class. Trash-talking between classes is inevitable, and what better way to settle bragging rights than in the sporting arena.  It also makes picking the teams much easier, as everyone knows which class they are in.  Only problem here at lunchtime is if your school year has more than two classes and only one pitch.

In top-level sport, the above two methods of choosing teams, tried and tested as they were on the schoolyard, are re-created, particularly in what you could call “European” sports like soccer, rugby (I know they’re better in the southern hemisphere I’m talking about the game’s origins people!) and cricket.

First, we have club level. The week-in, week-out, bread and butter.  In the most part, this is like the “draft” system in that where possible the players are distributed around the clubs; maybe not by an actual draft like the Americans do, but in a sort of “free-market economics” kind of way. 

The top clubs will choose players from their locality if and when they can, but with a decent amount of revenue they can invest in the best players from around the world, affording as they can to not only pay them but also offer them a decent set-up near the stadium and training facilities.  These choices of top players are generally based on needs in a certain position…for example, Leinster rugby would hardly splash out on a player like Dan Carter when they already have Jonathan Sexton.

Then, of course, we also have international level, where in an ideal scenario, selection is a lot more straightforward.  In what country were you born?  Right – that’s who you play for.  A bit like the class v class example above, the decision of who you play for has already been made by a higher power (only this time MUCH higher!).

But then we must factor in the complications that the wonderful sport of rugby union throws into the mix, two in particular.

First, although it is  growing in popularity worldwide every year (over 50k at a match in Madagascar?) it is really only considered “seriously” by ten so-called “top-tier” nations.  The rights and wrongs of that are a debate for another day, and I have written about them before…for this article we can just see it as a fact.

And second, we have the extreme specialist nature of pretty much every position on a rugby field.  Once a player signs a professional contract as a prop for example, there is very little chance he is going to get work at any club in a different position, John Smit being a glaring exception that proves the rule.  The strength and conditioning regime of a prop virtually guarantees he must always be one.

Now it is true, there is some scope for flexibility in other positions…second rows can be flankers, wingers can be full-backs, out-halves can be inside centres.  But generally when a player makes it to the top he is best known for wearing one jersey number in particular.

As I said earlier, rugby clubs at the highest level can be selective on the players they bring in based on the positions they already have covered.  However, the higher power that determines birthplace doesn’t seem to be too concerned with an even spread of rugby union positions around the top tier nations!

So it kind of goes without saying that there will be some countries where there are an abundance of players gifted at a particular position, and there will be others where there is a scarcity.

For examples, we have New Zealand, who won the World Cup last year with four different out-halves, and at the other end of the scale we have Italy, who can’t put out a number ten whose name ends in “i” no matter how hard they try.

And so this dilemma leads to the oft-debated residency rules.  Well, here’s my take on it.

The only way to take all arguments out of the equation is with zero tolerance.  Where you were born is where you must play.  Leave it up to the Gods. 

Of course, we know this cannot work.  I’m pretty sure Jamie Heaslip, ready to proudly lead Ireland out for the first time later today, wouldn’t be too happy with such a system, because under it his next international appearance would be for Israel against Latvia next April.  Jamie may have been born in Tiberias, but he went to Newbridge College and togged out for Naas RFC & Trinity before joining Leinster.  Besides, his family is Irish.  So he is.

All this means a line has to be drawn somewhere.  Exceptions have to be made.  What has to be up for debate is what priorities we use when coming up with those rules.

For me, the rules have to benefit the player.  Every schoolkid playing at lunchtime dreams of one day playing for their country.  But as they get older and choose a career, they surely also have dreams of taking their career as far as they possibly can.  Why should this be any different for professional sports?

I wish Richardt Strauss all the best today for Ireland.  It couldn’t have been an easy decision for him to move to Ireland and abandon all hope of donning the Bok green.  Who’s to say South Africa wouldn’t ever suffer an injury crisis at his position similar to the All-Blacks did at 10 last year?  But emigrate he did, as many people do for the sake of their careers.  Here in Ireland, we should know about that more than most.

You could argue that Sean Cronin also dreamed of playing for his country.  There is no doubt that the residency rule has hurt him.  But as I said earlier, a line must be drawn, and drawing that line will always produce consequences.  Besides, when Strauss was making his decision to come to Ireland, it was far from sure that Cronin would make the grade. 

As for Michael Bent, well, perhaps we’re stretching the rules a bit.  OK, a lot.   But we’re certainly not breaking them.  The Irish coaching staff is under heaps of pressure this November for results, and tight-head prop is certainly not a position you can afford to take any chances on.  They had to make a call…and with Declan Fitzpatrick seemingly not ready to return to the test arena it came down to Bent v Loughney and the Kiwi-born prop got the nod. 

I actually think the coaching brains trust have shown themselves to be taking decisive action on a definite problem here.  Something had to be done about the Twickenham disaster, and this is what they have chosen to do.  How it pans out remains to be seen.

One thing I will say…the grandparent rule doesn’t sit well with me.  Parents, fine, but the way we have it is one generation too many.  Were it down to me, Bent would have to follow Strauss’ path to wear an Irish jersey.

But the rules are there, and Ireland have used them.  Plus, compared to other countries above us in the rankings, we haved use them relatively sparingly.  So what say we get behind them.

Notice how I’ve given all these points without so much as mentioning that, although I was born in California and still have the accent, I consider myself Irish having lived here for 35 years and seen all my children born here?  Funny that. JLP

Rugby and Nationalism

A level-headed examination of the issue by Kate McEvoy

Nationality is a hot button topic in Irish, and indeed international rugby these days. Michael Bent, the former Hurricanes tighthead, has been whisked from the airport to an Ireland training squad before he has donned the blue of Leinster, leading to much debate on the topic. He's got an Irish granny, a sister who's competed in the Rose of Tralee and has already been photographed with a hurl in hand (pic). The questions in all quarters has been does he “deserve” to don the green of Ireland?

This is an issue that rears its head time & again. I started to have a serious think about the topic when an article on the topic from The Crooked Feed, Planet Rugby's newsletter, rubbed me up thoroughly the wrong way. On subsequent perusals, it's not quite as inflammatory as it first appeared but words such as “mercenary” vs “purist” and casting doubt over a “foreigner” coach's ability to “defend the integrity of that country's national identity” did not sit well with me.

When I started to read a little more around the subject headline such as “Born here to play there: RWC 2011 squads chocker with 'Kiwis'” and “This is an unlovely England side of mixed nationality that does not deserve your support” abound. It's easy to get hot under the collar it seems, with a rather nasty xenophobic, or at best, rampantly traditionalist, streak running through many articles on the subject. Inspired by the arrival of the front row from The Land of the Long White Cloud, I've decided to take a look at the debate surrounding nationality from both an Irish and an international perspective. And I've tried to keep it nice.

First things first, nationality in sport matters. Nationality in rugby matters. There's no point pretending otherwise. One look at John Hayes bawling his eyes out during the rendition of Amhrán na bhFiann at Croker tells you that. It gives players something additional to spur them on, creates an extra sense of identity and connection for fans. Rugby is a sport deeply steeped in history and tradition, and this is something to be valued.

But the world is getting smaller. People don't always grow up where they're born. (Does Jamie Heaslip consider himself Israeli rather than Irish? Probably not.) We don't work our whole lives in the same town and live next door to our parents. We cross continents for our livelihood, for the adventure of it. We raise families of mixed nationality a thousand miles from our birthplace. Nationality has become a fluid concept. Notions of the 1930s style exclusive nationality are out-dated and an unrealistic reflection of today's world, rugby playing and otherwise.

I'm not for one moment advocating some sort of Rent-a-Ruchie system when world class players can jump from team to team for whomever pays top dollar. We've got Japanese club rugby for that! However another important aspect of this issue is to acknowledge that rugby is a minority sport, however loathe we might be to admit it. Residency laws are important for the development of the game.

Firstly, players like Tim Visser who's skills have outgrown the rugby scene in his native Holland can blossom on the global stage with the Flying Dutchman donning the navy blue of Scotland. In other words, players can develop beyond the ceiling their birthplace might put on their rugby career. I fail to see this as a negative, for an individual or for the sport. Although ask me again if Edinburgh's favourite son crosses the whitewash against us come Six Nations Time and you might get a slightly different (and unprintable) reply.

Secondly, free movement of players who have not successfully broken into their native rugby side to developing rugby countries is essential for the growth of the game on the global scale. Ideally, this is done tantamount to the development of a grass roots structure which allows indigenous playing talent to come through alongside the more established players. Furthermore, I support the right of professional rugby players to earn a living and this sometimes means playing for a country not of your birth.

Moving onto another facet of the debate, the 3 year residency rule vs the unearthing of an Irish granny. George Hook recently said on Newstalk that if it came to a choice between selecting a player qualified through residency or through Irish ancestry he would go for the latter. I'm afraid that's where George and I part company. Although I don't think ancestry is an invalid option, surely someone who commits a minimum of 3 years to living and playing here has invested a lot into Irish Rugby? This week Neil Francis reminisced over the case of his former team-mate, the Australian outhalf Brian Smith who played 9 times for Ireland on account of his imaginary Irish grandmother. Compare that to the contribution Richardt Strauss has made to Irish rugby over the past three years.

But it is the ancestry rule that had us casting our eyes to Michael Bent in the first place. However the crux of this issue relates to one of the stickiest aspects of the import of players. Irish rugby is in dire straits regarding the lack of depth at tighthead. We all saw what happened when Mike Ross was forced to leave the field at Twickenham. Now let us never speak of it again. Bent has been parachuted directly in to fulfill a specific role. This offends people's sensibilities and leads to cries of “mercenary”!

For me it is not so much at the expense of any particular Irish player, but more symptomatic of the lack of development at the front row provincially and at underage level. People are quick to cite the over-reliance of the provinces on props from overseas, and this is an issue, but it's important to remember that Mike Ross didn't get near the Irish set-up until he came home. A native of Cork, Ross played for 4 years at Harlequins without being blooded into the international side.

Michael Bent is currently a quick-fix solution to a deep-seated problem. He is qualified and, to my mind, deserves a shot. The fact that he hasn't earned his way into a green jersey could be considered unsettling. As Keith Wood says “It can't be that easy to play for your country, to play for Ireland as to get on a flight & fly into the country. It can't be.” This is a valid viewpoint. I view the situation as symptomatic of a failure on the part of development in this country. The real question is how have we reached this point. It's easy to wrap it up in a green jersey and hot-blooded patriotism but this is a ten year problem that's come to a head this week. This is the real problem at the heart of the Michael Bent debate, not whether he as an individual is entitled to play for Ireland. Much like all of our injury related problems, this is not an ideal situation. But it is the situation we have to deal with, and as it stands, it's Bent for the bench. Let's see what he has to offer.

Finally, The Crooked Feed site South Africa as the ideal example, who insist all of their players, giving the notable example of Zimbabwean Tendai “Beast” Mtawarira become South African citizens. At the end of the day, I would welcome any player who pulls on a green shirt, whether through residency or ancestry and leaves it all out on the pitch for Ireland. I'm not sure how relevant what it says on the front of his passport is. I fail to see how that will improve his game. However, when it comes at the expense of, or as a symptom of, national development, it is part of a larger rugby issue. As Alan Quinlan says in The Irish Times, put patriotism to one side for a minute. There's no long-term benefit in hiding behind the thorny topic of nationality when the real issue here is a lack of youth development. Michael Bent looks like the right player who is in this position for the wrong reasons. Time will tell how he, and this debate, plays out.

Kate McEvoy : Munster fan in a sea of Leinster blue. Raised on a strict diet of Bective Rangers. Earliest childhood memory is stud marks in the muck. Former hooker for a father & a mother with an eye for a forward pass bordering on freakish . Often to be found down Monkstown RFC/ A & E on account of the exploits of the better half. Best rugby memory, Toulouse main square, May 24^th 2008. Epitaph will read “Knew a lot about rugby for a girl.” Can be found tweeting optimistically at @ImKateMc