Old rivalries bring out the best
With this clash of age-old rivals leading perfectly to the opening round of the Heineken Cup the following week, the new rugby season is about to take off in earnest.
If Saturday’s game is anything like the opening Irish derby of the season when Munster travelled to Ravenhill a few weeks ago to face Ulster, then we could be in for another cracker. That game offered the opportunity for a direct comparison between the influence being exerted by the respective new coaches in each province, former New Zealand domestic coaching rivals Rob Penney and Mark Anscombe. Both have already found favour with the playing squads and are having an immediate impact on the way that their respective sides are going about their business.
The positive vibe one took from that gripping contest was shattered in the most tragic of circumstances within 24 hours when the news emerged of the horrific accident that claimed the young life of Ulster centre Nevin Spence, his brother Graham and father Noel. I was in Ravenhill the previous evening but arrived in Belfast too late to take in the Munster A side’s victory over the Ulster Ravens at Deramore Park, a contest that saw Nevin wear his beloved Ulster shirt for the last time.
Having since spoken to Ulster’s director of rugby, David Humphreys, who handled himself magnificently in the most difficult press conference of his life the day after the tragedy, it is clear that it will take the Ulster squad a long time to come to terms with the depth of their loss. With Nevin’s initials discretely placed under the Ulster crest at the heart of their jersey — where it will stay for the remainder of the season — his fellow players did justice to his memory with a seven-try rout of the Blues in Cardiff last Friday night.
If the spirit of the late Seve Ballesteros was instrumental in Europe’s amazing Ryder Cup comeback at Medinah on Sunday, you can be sure that the impact that Nevin Spence made on his Ulster team-mates in his all too short professional career is also something that will stay with them for a long time to come.
His sad passing also offers a reminder of just how close the professional rugby community is, with the number of heartfelt messages of support that arrived in Belfast from all over the world. The Rugby Club on Sky Sports paid a warm tribute to the Ulster man and the manner in which the minute’s silence was impeccably observed in the televised game from Welford Road, where Leicester Tigers hosted Harlequins on the Saturday after the accident, was admirable.
Over the course of the summer, our friends across the water demonstrated on a number of occasions, both at the Olympics and Paralympics, that they are quick to recognise and acknowledge the efforts and successes of Irish sports people across a number of codes. I am not sure we are so quick to reciprocate.
Closer to home, the quality of rugby produced by Munster up to last weekend’s visit to Swansea has re-ignited the spark amongst the supporters and has offered hope for the coming season.
There is an understanding that Rob Penney does not possess a magic wand and that there are many big challenges to be faced over the coming weeks, starting with the visit to the Heineken Cup champions on Saturday. New Zealand are the kings of the offload and thankfully Penney has brought an understanding of that quality with him. The difficulty arises, however, when the weather conditions deteriorate in the winter months and it will be interesting to see if the players will cope with the extra demands being placed on their skill sets. That said, it rains in New Zealand too, and those conditions have never been a barrier to the ambition of their teams with ball in hand.
However, as Munster found out to their cost last Saturday, if your set piece and go forward is compromised in any way, then it is impossible to play multi-phase rugby. Munster were squeezed badly in the scrum while their defence of the Ospreys maul was non-existent.
That will have to be addressed.
While homegrown prop forwards in the shape of Dave Kilcoyne, Stephen Archer, Alan Cotter and John Ryan have made considerable strides this season, Penney will still be forced to start Wian du Preez and BJ Botha in the big games. Given that both may have to be released next season to satisfy the new criteria regarding non-Irish-eligible players, that is a concern for Penney. With the likelihood that Leinster will field first-choice Irish props in Cian Healy and Mike Ross on Saturday, the battle at the scrum should be very interesting. With the change in the scrum engagement call this season from ‘crouch, touch, pause, engage’ to ‘crouch, touch, set’, early evidence suggests that we are having slightly less resets. That can only be good for the game as a whole, even if things looked as sloppy as ever in this area at the Liberty Stadium.
The other law amendment under trial that hasn’t had an immediate impact but will as the season progresses is the one where the ball has to be used within five seconds of being made available at the back of the ruck. Once the referee says ‘use it’ you have five seconds to clear the ball. Failure to do so will result in a scrum to the opposition.
Once the weather conditions deteriorate, this will put additional pressure on the scrum-half. It may also have been a factor in the closing stages of that RaboDirect game against Ulster, when Conor Murray had less time to deliver the key pass to Ronan O’Gara which might have produced a potential winning drop goal. The defensive line can now take their timing off the referee’s ‘use it’ call to close the space quicker.
The global game is currently operating under three different sets of laws with a variance in some of the trials being conducted at present. Regular watchers of the Aviva Premiership will be aware that the TMO has additional powers at his discretion when it comes to adjudicating on tries scored. The referee can now ask the TMO to rule on any incident between the last stoppage in play and the ball being touched down.
In the Currie Cup in South Africa, the TMO is allowed to review everything that occurred in general play during the two phases before the try-scoring act. A phase includes all scrums, line-outs, rucks and mauls.
The latter seems more practical to me, as can you imagine if Munster’s now historic 41 phases against Northampton in the opening round of last season’s Heineken Cup had resulted in a try rather than O’Gara’s drop goal and the referee suspected a knock on or a forward pass in the build up. It could have taken an age for the TMO to adjudicate on all that activity. On that basis alone, I believe the two phase South African trial looks more manageable and practical.
The Aviva Premiership is also trialling a concussion bin at present, whereby a player will be required to leave the field for five minutes to undergo cognitive tests if the team doctor or referee suspects they may have suffered concussion. If that initial suspicion is confirmed in a pitchside assessment, the concussed player will not be allowed to return and the temporary substitution will be made a permanent one.
And we haven’t even touched on the autumn internationals and the 2013 Lions tour, not to mention Australia’s Quade Cooper. Plenty of time for that over the weeks and months ahead. Good to be back.
