1. Keeping your head whilst all around you are losing theirs
It’s the dying embers of a crunch pool match and all you need is three points to gain a losing bonus point and qualify for the knockout stages and you are awarded a penalty in front of the sticks so surely you go for goal? You would if you knew that was the scenario but between 15 players and a whole coaching staff the message certainly didn’t make it to Morgan Parra on the field, as his quick tap penalty ultimately led to Clermont being knocked out of the Champions Cup.
Parra has come in for a lot of criticism for this decision and it is unjust in the extreme. As a coaching and management team the research should have been undertaken long before kick-off to work out any of the potential connotations of the end result.
The players were clearly not briefed on what the bonus point would have done for their qualification needs and ultimately that was the main failing that has meant they will not be taking part in the quarter finals this season.
2. Never celebrate too soon
It was nowhere near on the same level as Juan Manuel Leguizamon’s showboating antics of 2007 or Christophe Dominici’s howler in 2004 but Owen Farrell joined a not so illustrious list of international players to drop the ball unopposed over the line in the process of scoring a try.
As Farrell crossed the line after a short pop pass he wheeled around to his right with the biggest grin on his face only for the ball to pop mysteriously out of his hands for a knock-on and a lost opportunity.
Fortunately for the England fly-half elect it didn’t affect the result but a blasé attitude when scoring will certainly not have gone down will with his new national coach.
3. PRO12 not invited to the knock out party
After an extremely disappointing 2015 for English rugby it seems that the New Year has brought with it new hope. The Aviva Premiership will contribute five of the eight quarter finalists for the Champions Cup and four in the Challenge Cup. The Top 14 will make up the numbers in the premier competition whilst only two teams in the PRO12 have made the knock out stages of the Challenge Cup.
For the PRO12 hierarchy this may well be the shot in the arm that it requires to help the clubs and provinces get back to the being the forces in Europe that we have been so used to seeing in the past.
It seems that the priority for the governing bodies is the national team and its success but it is now the provinces that are suffering. There have been some outstanding team performances during the pool stages, most notably by the Ospreys but ultimately they have come up short.
Is there a quick fix? Probably not, but it’s clear that something needs to be done to fix the situation for the celtic sides. Answers on a postcard.
4. Elliot Daly has played himself into an England Shirt
One man’s poor form is another man’s gain and Elliot Daly is handsomely capitalising on Jonathan Joseph’s lack of form at Bath. This time last season Joseph and the rest of his back line at Bath were tearing up the Premiership with free-scoring ease but defences seem to have become wise to the way that Joseph plays and his level of success is dwindling with it.
Daly on the other hand impresses more and more as the Six Nations approaches and his try on Saturday was the icing on the cake. His speed to leave the Leinster defence for dust was awe-inspiring but just before he made the break, his awareness to change running line without breaking stride was what really made the try possible.
Daly can also defend and hits above his weight regularly. Add in an astonishing kicking range from the tee and the potential of Daly in an England shirt come become immeasurable.
5. Warriors win should not be underestimated
There wasn’t much to play for in the sense of the group situation at Rugby Park as Glasgow welcomed Racing 92 but an impressive all round performance and a timely, confidence-boosting win for the Warriors may have an overall bearing on their season as a whole.
The Parisian outfit may have travelled without Dan Carter in their ranks but this was predominantly a first choice Racing team that took the field on Kilmarnock’s artificial pitch and the Warriors held them at bay admirably. One try was the only reward for Racing and the series of penalties that Duncan Weir and Finn Russell slotted either side of Stuart Hogg’s tries was evidence of the sort of pressure that the Warriors were exerting on their French counterparts.
It was a satisfying way to bring to an end a four match losing streak and maybe it was also a brief look into the future of how Glasgow will play. They were forced to move the match to Rugby Park’s artificial playing surface due to the waterlogged Scotstoun pitch but it looks as though their home ground itself may be about to become the recipient of such a surface. If they play like they did on Saturday on their new surface week in, week out then travelling teams will find Glasgow a very tricky place to go.
6. A sight for sore eyes
Manu Tuilagi made only his second start in 15 months at the weekend but the 50 minute run-out would have been very pleasing for Tigers and England fans alike.
It has been 20 months since the Samoan-born centre crossed the white wash but his try at the weekend showed that he hasn’t lost any of his pace and power as he shook off two Stade players to dive under the posts.
Tuilagi isn’t available for the first two matches in the Six Nations but with every game he plays he is looking like heading back to his best which could well give Eddie Jones a painful selection headache if England are successful in their opening matches.
Andy Daniel (@scrum5ive)
Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images
8 replies on “6 things we learned from the weekend’s rugby”
3 – Answers on a postcard:
a – solve the crap coaches problem. Ospreys coached by 2 amateurs with a patchy record, Muns/Leins being sacrificed with the long term aim of developing homegrown coaches. Cardiff moving in the right direction now we finally have a decent coach.
b – give the new sense of harmony in Wales time to bed in. It’s not hyperbole to say the regions and the WRU have been at war for the best part of a decade and this has stifled investment. Less than a year since Woger leaves and Cardiff for example are announcing big signings, JD back to Llanelli, etc.
c – don’t base too much on a world cup year. As you said, the pro12 sides are partly seen as dev for national sides, rightly or wrongly. They had stacks of players missing before/during/after the tournament and the before/after was longer for Welsh/Irish/Scottish players due to rests, etc. The top14/AP sides less proportionally hit.
d – money. This is the big one. The increased cap/tv moneys in Fra/Eng are attracting more players, more of the bigger names, bigger squads are winning. I think Bath’s lacklustre performance, despite apparently being one of the better Eng sides, is due to their focus on quality over quantity – they have the balance over to the extreme left of that and suffered when a large squad was needed. Wal/Ire/Sco need to sort out how they are going to improve their finances.
e – it’s too soon to bang the death bell. Wal have been noncompetitive at this level for some time (see point b), now Ire are (see point a).
An interesting analysis Brighty. Your point c suggests you think the English and French clubs were right in their contention that the Pro 12 clubs held a significant advantage under the old ‘Heineken’ structure because of their ability to rest players. I was never totally convinced by that argument myself. The Scotts and Welsh may be at a financial disadvantage but not Ireland.
I can’t see how you’ve drawn that conclusion Ray. The pro12 teams have a disproportionate amount of Wel/Ire/Sco players in them who then are forced to suffer rest weekends imposed by their unions – this meant players not available for early champ cup rounds or not played enough so I don’t extend this to mean that in other years they were able to rest players. I never bought that idea as a reason for HC success of Irish sides – the players are rested to suit the Int fixtures, not the HC ones.
The Irish are at a financial disadvantage now. They were not before but they definitely are now.
As I understand it Brighty the argument was that the Irish provinces rested players during the none ‘Heineken’ fixtures i.e. the Pro 12 and hence had fresher squads for the Heineken as well as the internationals. Interestingly I see that the Pro 12 squads are also on average 20% larger than are the Aviva squads giving them at least a theoretical advantage.
Why do you think the Irish are now disadvantaged where they weren’t previously? apart of course from the ‘success fees’ for the European knockout stages.
Ok, that wasn’t the argument I was making. I don’t believe there is any truth in that argument – it was just sour grapes from the losing English teams.
They’re at a disadvantage now as their funding has remained relatively similar, Eng and Fra funding has increased significantly.
Whilst I am excited about Daly, I do worry about his propensity to gift intercepts. Twice on Saturday Leinster players got finger tips to two of Daly’s more riskier passes and I would hate to gift Scotland a win on that basis!
The Ospreys been doing this for years.
Personally I blame my mate who still goes to these away matches.
Every time he goes to an away game like the Exeter one, the Ospreys screw up.
He is like Banquo’s Ghost at the Feast or the dead albatross around neck of the Ancient Mariner.
I just wish he’d stop spooking the team like this.
It is like watching Death arrive with his scythe in the changing room b 4 kick off or seeing vultures circling over the Ospreys team bus as goes it down the M4.
Verily I say unto thee he is an ill omen…..
This time I even sacrificed 10 head of Oxen before the game and could not find the heart or liver in any of the corpses.
I was therefore unable to present a burnt offering to Zeus and the Lord of Olympus cursed the Swansea-based side yet again.
I would suggest that you source your cattle from a different farm if you can’t find any hearts or livers.
Ospreys aren’t the only team to find playing at Sandy Park hard. Exeter have made it quite a fortress.