Dan Carter and John Hayes have a lot in common...
There were 60 press photographers there to record it. Every time he went near the ball, all you could hear was the click of cameras. I’ve had big press gatherings for Ireland and the Lions, but this wasn’t for a team or a match, this was for one man. Racing has been a circus this week. Fellas everywhere, around every corner, pretending they have a job to be doing just to get a glimpse of Dan.
I think Dan is only starting to realise what he achieved over the last couple of months. It’s been fascinating chatting and hearing how he started believing what the press were saying about him, that he was finished, that his body wasn’t up to it. It definitely affected him in the early stage of the World Cup, he said. But then he started putting his game back together. He didn’t say it, but I said to him, what he did in the final... it’s one thing winning the World Cup, but another entirely to have such an influence over how they won it. He couldn’t contain his smile.
.@hugosouthwell says @DanCarter is just who #Top14 title contenders @racing92 need right now https://t.co/05hJU7JR4L https://t.co/svu0hFSKBD
— Sky Sports Rugby Union (@SkySportsRugby) December 3, 2015
Early impressions linger. Carter’s humble, down to earth. The key point you get from him, even in the past four or five days, is that the collective force will always be more powerful than the dazzling individual. Success has to be player driven. That’s the key to New Zealand.
The word humility means nothing by itself. But the actions are powerful. Casey Lualala would be cut from the same cloth, and from the same Crusaders background. Every Racing away game, he has the sweeping brush out, cleans up the dressing room and puts everyone’s leftovers into a big bin — you wouldn’t see that too often in professional sport.
In Llanelli, when our players were drifting out of the dressing room, there was strapping, 60 or 70 bottles flung around the place, bread rolls, banana skins, muffins. He likes to leave it the way he found it before the game. That’s his motto.
Dan won’t travel to Pau this weekend, but he will be involved in some capacity against Northampton in the Champions Cup next week in Colombes. That might be an occasion.
Dan Carter https://t.co/li3z9eJw6l
— コンスタント桒村 (@stevie6556) November 30, 2015
I’ve been remiss in not addressing the Connacht surge this season and for that, I apologise. I will make good on that. They are the standout story in Irish rugby, in every sense of the word. Leinster, Munster and Ulster are all struggling for momentum. Some think it’s a post World Cup problem, especially in Leinster. Maybe it’s a World Cup disappointment issue.
I was thinking about John Hayes the other day. About the calibre of player he really was and I was struggling to think of someone like him at the minute. And he was much maligned at times when he played himself. In a lot of scribes’ minds, he wasn’t a great player, but he had to be a great player for what he did, week in, week out. At the time it wasn’t appreciated, which is crazy.
We can get rose-tinted about nostalgia, but sometimes the facts are there for everyone to see — if they want to see them. CJ Stander obviously had potential but for his first two years at Munster he hardly got a look in because there were better players there.
It’s like media grappling with the online dilemma, and how to monetise it. The key in sport is when you are successful, do everything you can recruitment-wise to remain so, because when it goes the other way, it can spiral out of control very quickly. The good and the great have a succession plan, but it is mighty difficult to achieve. It is nigh impossible to avoid a cyclical dip at times but that dip has to be “still in contention” rather than disappearing over a cliff for a few years. That is in danger of happening to the so-called big three of Irish rugby.
The upside is Munster are always better with backs against the wall. But with no Peter O’Mahony, and Conor Murray struggling, a pair of Leicester fixtures and a visit to Stade is a daunting schedule. There are clear dangers signs for Irish provincial rugby. Connacht notwithstanding, has it been at such a low ebb over the past 15 or 16 years?
Leinster have capabilities. The head says their group is finished, they’re gone. But with a fully fit squad, they are a different team — Sexton, Teo, Fitzgerald, Nacewa, McFadden, and Kearney offer backline options capable of matching the very best in Europe. But here’s the problem. They’ve lost two and have a brace of games against the best side in Europe, Toulon, approaching.
Anyone who caught a glimpse of their 35-6 demolition job at Clermont Auvergne might have been forgiven for thinking they live in a different world to the rest of European rugby. They are a daunting sight.
But for the IRFU, the minimum standard has to be two provinces qualifying for the Champions Cup quarter-finals. A lot of provincial players in Ireland need to be bringing something to the party. It was the same as Munster from 2000-2006. We needed to frank progress with a trophy. The current crop need to be winning something, maybe not a Champions Cup but certainly a Pro 12. Munster were in a final last year but it wasn’t memorable for any good reason.
Pat Lam and his western force are putting a smile on everyone’s faces. Anyone who studies rugby and looks at Connacht’s stats for line breaks, possession, controlling the ball will see they have a very impressive set of figures. And they’re backed up with the most impressive stats of all — results. But the bean counters in Lansdowne Road are wearing furrowed brows at the moment.
How far off the pace are the Irish provinces? Not that far. Three quality signings to complement what’s there already would make a substantial difference. And that opens up the question of private investment in the game in Ireland. The English Premiership is gone that way with two players outside the salary cap. The Irish system is going to have to be tweaked but not to the point of throwing the baby out with the bath water. It’s always been our greatest strength, the heart of the team being local. That’s a massive strength of Irish rugby, you can’t put a price on that and you don’t meddle with that. But I would use Charles Piutau going to Ulster as an example. A great coup.
The IRFU model was the envy of the world for many years but maybe now with the money sloshing around in the game, we are a little bit behind. It needs to be tweaked. Simple as that.
