Loose Pass

This week we will mostly be concerning ourselves with softies, selection panels, misbehaviour and defenders of old traditions…

This week we will mostly be concerning ourselves with softies, selection panels, misbehaviour and defenders of old traditions…

The end of Mike Brewer's short reign at Sale continues to produce drips and drabs of acrimony, with the Kiwi's no-nonsense approach to hiring, firing and feedback having won him few friends in the north-west of England.

Brewer has returned whence he came with the ire of Charlie Hodgson, among others, echoing in his wake after six tempestuous months in charge culminated in a sacking for 'not having turned the club's fortunes round quickly enough' – as lame a cover-up for internal discord between club and coach as can be. I mean, would you not give a coach at least a couple of seasons? It's not like Sale are an international-studded pedigree team who ought to be top of the pile…

But Sale's own quickfire sacking response has drawn criticism from quarters other than Brewer, with pundit dignitaries such as Stuart Barnes and Sean Fitzpatrick sticking the boot in and accusing Sale – and the rest of Europe's teams – of being soft.

“Sure Brewer was probably a bit tough on some of the players and demanded a lot but that is his way,” said Fitzpatrick, alluding to his All Black experiences under Laurie Mains.

“Six months is just not long enough for a coach to change the way a club is… it took maybe three years before I understood where (Mains) was coming from.”

Barnes went a step further, suggesting something that was becoming slowly manifestly apparent during November.

“I have just been listening to Sean and he is talking about a perfectionist and standard of excellence and wanting to be a winner. I think the truth of the matter is that sometimes in the northern hemisphere we just don't push ourselves hard enough,” he said.

“The reason these boys in the south have been top of the world for all bar a couple of years in rugby's history is because they are prepared to hurt themselves and go a little bit further. Maybe we are just a little bit soft.”

Northern softies? We'll see come September/October…
________________________________________________________________________

Hosea Gear's accession to the All Blacks squad took some time coming in the eyes of most, but it took a selection meeting of a most unusual kind to finally give him the crack his 2010 form had deserved.

“…my mother asked me why he wasn't in the All Blacks,” revealed Henry while on the November tour.

“My mum is more important than the rest of them but then my wife said I should pick him as well so it was a foregone conclusion.”

Mother always knows best. We're wondering how much other countries will offer Henry's old lady to text Henry towards the end of a tight match and recommend sending Stephen Donald on…
________________________________________________________________________

Ugly moment of the weekend: Ben Youngs' try against the Scarlets.

Not the try itself of course, that was a scorcher. But was it really necessary for Youngs to turn to the Scarlets fans, taunt them with gestures and then shout, presumably at some significant volume, 'F*** off'?

This kind of thing was mentioned quite a while ago in this column, with a few respondents explaining that we should forgive such exuberance as a release of steam from a young man full of adrenaline under heavy pressure.

Drivel. Professionals, real true professionals, do not behave this way. They can control themselves at even the most pressure-cooker of moments.

You can forgive cheering, running around arms raised, shouting 'YEEEEEESSSSS' until the veins pop, all positive energy steam-blowing, but not screaming such obscenities at a crowd in which there are presumably a number of children – and arguments that children know curses much worse than this already does not make this right.

What goes on the pitch between players stays there, but once a player crosses the line between playing arena and spectator stands like that, he needs to remember himself and his obligations as a role model. There's too many forgetting this and behaving like soccer players.
________________________________________________________________________

Finally, a survey commissioned by Premier Rugby has found that the sharp rise in the fan base over the past few years has flattened significantly this year, despite the efforts of many clubs to create all manner of contrived grand occasions and play matches in bigger stadia.

But Premiership new boys Exeter remind us why rugby's message is struggling to get across: namely that the rugby atmosphere is difficult to create in a soccer stadium where all the bars shut an hour after no-side, where children are not always looked after and where things like Youngs' misdemeanour would be severely frowned upon. In fact, rugby is struggling because it has got closer to soccer in some ways.

“I'm still getting letters from new members who have brought family and friends along and are delighted that no one swears,” said Exeter Chief Executive Tony Rowe.

“I've been to football grounds hosting rugby clubs where the game has finished at 4.45pm, yet by 5.30pm they've closed all the bars and kicked everyone out. If you've got a proper rugby club such as Leicester, Northampton, Worcester, Gloucester, Harlequins, and I'd include ourselves in that list, after the game there's a cracking atmosphere with live bands and the like.

“We also went out and bought a caravan which we've converted into a sweet shop for the kids. All it sells is sweets and pop. We copied the idea from Northampton and on a good day the shop will turn over £1,000. Do you want your six year-old queuing up at a bar to get his pop and sweets? You don't, do you? But I bet you'd be quite happy for him or her to go to a dedicated sweet shop. Things like that make a difference.

“Proper rugby people want to come down, have a sing-song and enjoy themselves. Those traditions are still alive if you provide the facilities for them.”

Absolutely. And you'd get all the new people joining in – how many of us have joined up to club that provided us with the most fun?

Flip side: how many of us would go again to a club where the players do their stuff and then swear at the fans – or even go again to the sport?

Loose Pass compiled by Richard Anderson