Saints sinner Chris Ashton
This week we will mostly be concerning ourselves with insubordinates, injuries and incredibly bad days...
Northampton seems to bring out both the best and the worst in people: remember the Ben Cohen tantrum when, after years of sweating blood and tears for the club, he suddenly flounced off into the distance in protest at not having been appointed captain.
Then there was the fall-out from the South African revolution, a fall-out which ultimately led to relegation as well as several local players leaving in disgust, among them Matt Dawson.
Now there's the Chris Ashton affair - perhaps it's the fact Ashton is off to a club so strongly linked with South Africa that makes this so unpalatable to the locals too.
Ashton has treated Northampton appallingly. The Saints brought him from league, took the same pressure off him that other places allowed to be heaped on the likes of Lesley Vainikolo and Shontayne Hape, and have fostered him well under a game-plan that suited him. He has returned that parentage with an acrimonious process of desertion which has smacked to the public eye of a deep lack of gratitude and respect.
He clearly knows this. Otherwise he might have been more forthright about this move.
As it is, he has created a rod for his own back, raising the ire of his coach, disappointing a passionate fan base and running the risk of alienating himself from his team-mates. He must now play with team-mates who might doubt his commitment to their cause, particularly if the Saints do come up against Sarries at the business end of the season. And when he does move, he has a lot to prove, for the debate is still open as to whether he is actually that good...
And now the Heineken Cup shenanigans is at an end, it's time to turn attentions to the Six Nations. Except what kind of tournament is it going to be this year?
Not only are the teams - with the glorious exception of Wales - deep in a rebuilding process, they are also short any number of first-choicers through injury.
The only team looking vaguely intact is Ireland, and that's a team with a coach heavily under pressure to inject a little more future vision into his selection. They face the Welsh first up, but that's a Wales side lacking several front-liners as well.
Fact is, the Six Nations will be colourful and as passionate as ever, but in a year blotted by a World Cup, followed by the start of the domestic season, it's also looking like it will be somewhat tired and worn-out by the end. Goodness only knows what the June Tours will be like.
It's about time things like this really got looked at closely. We can understand the horror at this suggestion, but something has to give somewhere. Would it not behoove the northern hemisphere teams to do away with the Six Nations in a World Cup year? Or at least find some way of making sure players don't return from a World Cup, mentally and physically shattered and finding themselves required to raise their intensity for the start of a season before heading into another series of body-busting internationals?
SARU press releases were black comedy central this week.
First off, a press release explaining that some shyster somewhere was booking tables for big SARU parties at fancy restaurants and leaving SARU to foot the bill - using the email address theboks@therugby.co.za. Seriously.
Then came a second press release, explaining that a photo agency had erroneously released pictures of Rassie Erasmus, with the former Western Province Technical Director captioned as 'the new Springbok coach'!
As if that wasn't enough, then came the irritated - and entirely justified - criticism from Peter de Villiers about the staggering length of time it has taken the union to get around to naming a new national coach. Barely a month out from a new Super Rugby season and we're still in the dark.
One can probably assume from all of this the following:
1) Peter de Villiers is not going to retain his job.
2) Rassie Erasmus is going to be in the Bok set-up somewhere.
3) The new coach is going to have a tough first year getting his mission statement across this late in the day.
4) SARU = Secrets Are Really Unkeepable.
5) South African shysters are not quite up to speed when it comes to creating plausible email addresses.
Loose pass compiled by Richard Anderson
Comments
melkdave says...
I dont think Ashton has done anything wrong people it looks like fans / people are still thinking its an amatuer game .Its now professional with professional players if they get a better offer from another club of course they are going to take it anyone would to secure their financial future ..As to the 6N this year i think it will be exciting myself Wales will go into it confidant even with their injuries and they do have replacements for the injured players R.Gill / J.Yapp B.Davies ect ect wheather Wales confidance is justified is another matter as has been pointed out they havent beaten anyone really that was in form or playing well The warm up game against England was well Englands fault they lost and a one off at the RWC against a mediocre misfiring Ireland isnt really note worthy .England rebuilding and most probably trying to install a new playing style will be interesting to watch though even as an englishman i dont expect them to win the championship this year.Performances matter more imo for 2012.Scotland and Itlay do seem to be improving every year can they now take the next step and win consistantly is the question for them .Ireland have gone for a settled side and if they can get that Lienster / Munster and now Ulster sprit will be very hard to beat espically at home .France look the strongest atm the question hanging over them is as always temperment and their seming willingous to just give up or not play if PSA can motavatie them well potential winners by a mile. SARU well they cant find anyone who wants the job by the looks of it Rassie Erasmus doesnt for one and as far as i know neither does any other 1st rate coach atm .PDV on a yearly rolling contract lol maybe lol
Posted 18:21 23rd January 2012
NHsaints says...
I hate to say it but my money is on england for 6nats champs again this year...we already have enough to top Scotland, Italy, Australia and Wales on most days, now all we need is that extra flair to beat Ireland, SA, Nz and France regularly...
Posted 18:12 23rd January 2012
jamesliveinhope says...
@fozza well said, this was a fairly detailed character assassination of Ashton based on?
It feels like the writer has taken all of the vitriol written on these threads. added a bit from the Saints forums and then asked Keith Barwell for his opinion. As far as I can see, the only common denominator in any of the rubbish that seems to afflict departing Saints players is Saints.
I admire Mallinder but he shouldn't be questioning loyalty, he left Sharks for an England post and may well yet leave Saints for the same reason, is that OK for him but not Ashton.
To use your tool analogy though, if you know you will be discarding your tool at the end of the job, you may not be as minded to look after it for the long term (for example, squad resting and rotation) and I wonder what the fallout was over.
Posted 16:56 23rd January 2012
leinster_goy says...
every year i start counting down the days to when the tedious 6 nations ends and the heineken (a real tournament) starts up again
Posted 16:05 23rd January 2012
lawynd says...
I think Ashton probably owes Northampton a little more gratitude than to fall out with everyone, but at the same time, Mallinder looks a little ungracious, too. That said, I'm never going to like Ashton, he's a mouthy little thug and I'll cheer anyone that smashes him into the turf. He's a decent player and has the potential to be great, but it looks like his talent will always be overshadowed by his dirty shenanigans.
Posted 13:54 23rd January 2012
ThinkingGame says...
I'm finding it hard to get any interest in the 6N this year because Ireland and Scotland are unchanged from last year, Italy lost my casual support with that petulant violence over 60 minutes against Ireland, France are the best team in the NH, have got better by losing Lievremont and adding another 3 or 4 prospects to their squad, and without Martin Johnson, I just feel ambivalent and sympathetic towards this young England squad, instead of the usual hatred. And they've lost their "one to watch" player. Wales have an away game first up, and injury worries over three players they don't have replacements for.
Just seems like the tournament is building towards scrappy rugby, and more mentions for those who are missing than those who are playing. But I'm sure next week Kidney will say something arrogant about old heads and Stuart Lancaster will mention England's natural dominance of the competition and the French will need the police at their training ground and we'll be back to normal.
Posted 13:53 23rd January 2012
Danatthecorner says...
@Fattysock - No disgrace not to be as good as Howlett, that guy was an absolute beast and is still good now.
And to the writer of the article, Cohen did not flounce off because he wasn't made captain, that is libellous. It was a rumour put out there by someone looking to make mischief, probably Keith Barwell, in reaction to Cohens decision to leave. After what he did for the club he was entitled to walk out whenever he wanted to.
Posted 13:01 23rd January 2012
fozza says...
I must not know enough about this case as to why Chris Ashton has done so much wrong. He and his agent have been pretty forthright regarding not accepting a new contract as this was reported during the World Cup. Seems he's been clear about his desire to move on. At no stage has he said "I would stay if" or "It's because of the club" etc. In fact he's given his team plenty of time to find a replacement. Now you say they protected him from the hooplah of Vainikolo etc... They were in the Championship, of course he didn't get any coverage!!! And they built a system around him!? Well, d'uh, of course they did, that's basic! Build systems around your tools!!!
As to how good he is, you can make stats to match as much as you want. He's a good winger and he scores trys, he has the ability and speed to score long range, has the strength and the ability to read the game and score from short range... He's no Doug Howlett, but he's as good as England have.
I'm an England fan, not a saracens or Northampton fan but I see nothing here that Ashton's done particularly wrong.
Posted 12:56 23rd January 2012
crunchfit says...
Nice to see Ashton finally getting the media attention which he actually deserves.
Not sure where the pessimism about the 6N this year is coming. The Welsh national squad are doing well. England appear to have a decent coaching setup for the moment. The Irish provinces are doing exceptionally - hopefully, despite the coach, provincial form might transfer to national form for a change, hopefully. France, well you never know for sure. Scotland, maybe not doing particularly well but not doing too badly either. Italy, well Treviso are doing exceptionally well - this can only be good for Italy. From where I'm standing, I think this looks set to be a decent 6N. Tiredness from the RWC seems to be long gone now. The only thing I want to change are Kidney's selections.
Posted 12:29 23rd January 2012
fattysock says...
I'm interested to see Ashton's career develop. He certainly has the strut of someone who has won it all... despite hardly winning anything so far. Even Quade Cooper comes across as humble compared to this guy.
Undeniably talented, but on the question of whether he's THAT good, so far I'd say "No, not yet".
His international career seems impressive... 15 tries in 18 matches is pretty respectible. But if we take the top 6 countries in teh world (other than England... i.e. NZ, Aus, SA, France, Ireland and Argentina) his record slips to 3 tries in 11 matches. All 3 of those tries are against Aus (3 matches)... thus none in 8 vs the rest. That's just a 0.27 tries per game ratio.
I realise that stats can prove anything (I chose top 6 specifially to exclude Wales who are ranked 8th)... but the term "flat-track bully" (to steal a cricketing term) comes to mind.
12 tries in just 7 matches vs Italy (4t, 1m), Romania (3t, 1m), Wales (2 tries, 1 match), Georgia (2t, 1m), Scotland (1t, 2m) and Samoa (0t, 1m) seems to re-iterate this. Obviously this doesn't make him a BAD player, but it does suggest that, for now, he's a good finisher against average opposition... but struggles to make an impact when the defense is a little more clued up - and make their first up tackles.
Compare that to, say, Doug Howlett. Similar strike rate (49 tries in 62 (55 starts) for NZ).
For Doug, if we take the top 6 teams (other than NZ) he ends up with 26 in 43 (and 4 of those matches were as subs). This is 0.60 tries per game - twice that of Ashton.
I know Howlett had a better team to play behind (in general) than Ashton... and NZ's approach to the game favours wingers more than England's... but still...
Posted 12:22 23rd January 2012
daibok says...
For all you French and English fans out there: it doesnt matter what a shambles you have with your home unions/coach/team spirit etc, SARU will always manage to make you look efficient and professional in comparison.
England have a respected interim coach in place and a squad. France are getting over the Lievremont era. The Boks have nothing. Granted the season hasnt started yet in the SH but surely there should be a plan?
No, didnt think so.
Posted 11:56 23rd January 2012
SanPaolo says...
Get rid of the Six Nations? The most profitable tournament in rugby. Don't see that happening somehow.
Wales still haven't beaten anyone of note apart from Ireland. Don't expect a glorious grand slam. It's probably going to be a boring case of who can stop France again.
Posted 11:25 23rd January 2012