RWC RANT NO. 12

Firstly, well done to the Wallabies – another get out of jail free card used up but it was very pleasing to see. What is also nice is the way the Southern Hemisphere is performing on the field and how the Northern Hemisphere is performing well off the field. Other than the annoying time difference watching from Down Under, I think the UK has done a splendid job hosting this year’s Cup, but I guess the best judges of that are all my friends who experienced it first hand – I’m still very envious.

This RWC has proven my long-held theory that authentic innovation in rugby develops in the Southern Hemisphere and those in the north merely try to replicate it. Don’t believe me? The proof is in the pudding; look at the teams in the quarterfinals, NZ, France, SA, Ireland, Argentina, Wales, Scotland and Australia. Every nation in the Rugby Championship made it out of their pool and after last weekend, everyone one of them is still present and account for, but none from the North. Mind you all the teams in the quarters from the north – other than France, who were not only outclassed but humiliated by the All Blacks – did much better than they ever have before and should stand proud and tall. Why did they all do better? A common thread; they all had a Southern Hemisphere coach who transformed they way they approached the game and played the game a la Schmidt, Cotter and Gatland – take a bow gentlemen. Truth be known, it could have gone either way if Ireland weren’t struck as heavily with injuries, if Joubert wasn’t refereeing and if the Boks didn’t lose to Japan – but the would haves, could haves, should haves don’t matter in the end. It is what it is and the Southern Hemisphere is dominating.

Here’s another view I’ve held since 2003. England won’t win another RWC until they move beyond their current position of arrogance and swallow the bitter pill they’ve been avoiding for 12 years and admit they don’t know everything about rugby and teams simply don’t deserve anything in rugby, they have to genuinely earn it. This is why I believe Lancaster should be given another chance and carte blanche to do it all his way. He is not originally from the establishment and I believe it not only makes a huge difference but it allows him to see things differently. I think he was hamstrung by the ex-internationals he had assisting him, however, as soon as they lost his assistants abandoned him and started pointing the fingers and once again the structure imploded. Let Lancaster take a leaf out of Graham Henry’s book and continue to rebuild and at the same time put the broom through and rid the fold of the non-believers – they have nothing more to lose?

Some may be thinking what about RWC 2003. England won it fair and square! I concede, it wasn’t a fluke but it certainly wasn’t based on Woodward’s originality and innovation. Woodward had three things in his favour, Jonny Wilkinson, an enormous unprecedented budget and Rod Macqueen’s blueprint. Wilkinson is a freak, an absolute master of the boot and without Wilkinson no RWC Championship and let’s not forget it was only by a field goal. Here is where Woodward mastery came into play (mastery not innovation). He had a massive amount of money to spend after 1999 and was astute or cunning enough to closely study the Macqueen machine; the way Macqueen approached managing a professional rugby team. How Macqueen took the psychological development of a professional outfit to a new level and how raising the skill set from 1-15 took the team’s capabilities to new world standards. He saw how Macqueen and Co developed patterns of play that cleverly manipulated the opposition and had the time to watch the end-result from the sideline after England was belted out of the quarters by the Boks, which was a second RWC win by 23 points to the colony. Woodward replicated the plan but with his budget it was almost impossible to fail – mind you had he failed I think he would have been lynched – literally. If you don’t believe me read both Macqueen and Woodward’s books. Hats off, England won but they have been riding that wave ever since and under-performing ever since in spite of their enormous pool of talent. This simply reinforces my original theory that since professionalism, Southern Hemisphere coaches whether they choose to stay in the South or take up postings in the north are naturally more innovative than their Northern Hemisphere counterparts.

I’m not saying England should accept the truth and employ a Southern Hemisphere coach. God forbid, that may give them an above-average chance of winning again and we don’t want that. But guys like Woodward and past members of the 2003 winning team need a reality check; they need to back their own team with some constructive comments and humility, and not make dumb statements about other nations that have no basis other than selling newspapers or getting eyeballs on screens. Sadly, they end up being English Rugby’s own worst enemy and every one of them ended up with egg on their face and lost any remaining plaudits and credibility outside of England.

Just get on with it and stop talking about it.

PS: Scotland should be proud of their performance and their previous greats should mind their manners. I’m certainly no fan of Joubert but his unpredictability applied to both sides and going on about how they were robbed is simply ridiculous – it is what it is. I’ll accept the robbed call if someone can explain how Ford and Gray were cleared on appeal to play in this game after lifting a player’s legs beyond horizontal during a clean out and then driving his head into the ground – now that’s robbery and the key-stone cops performance by those that overturned the already weak suspension makes a mockery of the system on so many levels.