Loose Pass
This week we will mostly be concerning ourselves with specifics, poor imitations, fantasy rugby and coming in from the cold.
This week we will mostly be concerning ourselves with specifics, poor imitations, fantasy rugby and coming in from the cold.
So, a quick disclaimer before we launch into this one: this is not a defence of Ma'a Nonu and for what it's worth, we were almost of the opinion his charge on Jimmy Cowan was red card-worthy anyway.
But with the yellow card flourishing in rugby more prevalent than the wave of revolution sweeping north Africa and red cards becoming more common as well, we do think at some point a player needs to get a little slack cut if he is guilty of an infraction after a team warning.
While the second yellow was what it was, Nonu's first yellow was a fairly innocuous effort at stealing the ball nowhere near his team's line and not long after a team warning for multiple penalties. Essentially, Nonu paid the price for others' transgressions.
It happens, but when he got his second yellow and left, it did raise the thought that he and his team were paying quite a high price for the first one.
We are…. well, not recommending as such, but we think a debate might be opened on yellow cards: would there be a practical possibility of distinguishing between a team yellow for repeat offences and an individual yellow for a cynical infraction (killing the ball near the line as a last resort etc.)?
A team yellow would mean the player who committed the camel's back-breaking offence should leave for ten minutes, but it would not count against him personally, meaning he would still have to get two personal yellow cards to be sent off, rather than one.
It would distinguish Nonu's case from that of Drew Mitchell last year, whose yellow cards were for a no-arm tackle (we're still yet to see it actually happen) and slapping the ball down to prevent a quick penalty, and it would be one ugly red card fewer in the game.
Your thoughts?
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In the past few weeks we've been all high-horsey about how professional players frequently forget to set the right example. We have, however, steadfastly ignored Chris Ashton's showboat swallow dives for scoring despite, in our opinion, it being a bit OTT and not really in the spirit. To be honest, we are simply waiting for him to get his comeuppance and drop the pill in mid-air.
But one reader has been good enough to write in and inform us that it is this act which has had the most profoundly, physically and mentally harmful effect on a young player.
Writes Chris Capps-Jenner:
Well I have seen it all now, the date: Sunday the 13th of February, the venue: Beccles Rugby Union Football Club.
It was 12pm shortly after the end of an U13 training session, the lads had been preparing for a game against Swaffham in a couple of weeks.
Bearing in mind England had seen Italy off on the Saturday with relative ease and Chris Ashton had been raised to the status of a god overnight we really should have seen the post-training session antics coming a mile off.
Several of the lads headed off towards the try line at speed and a flurry of swallow dives in to the try zone followed; some good, some not so good.
I was talking to my fellow coaches about the training session with one eye on Jimmy Crame (my stepson) who was heading flat out towards the tryline. He took off into the air with all the grace of a gymnast, a good 2 metres off the ground and into a perfect swallow dive.
Now the landing was obviously not Jimmy's main concern on take-off and subsequently his landing was a tad heavy. He took a little time to get to his feet (serves him right I thought a second row should know better) but what a dive! 9.9 it was near-perfect!
Fast forward to the car as we are about to leave the club. Jimmy has water in his eyes – not something you tend see every day he normally has a high tolerance for pain. 'What's up mate?' I ask. 'I'm in agony he replies'; one hour later we are in casualty, two hours later we leave casualty with Jamie nursing a broken arm and a broken finger.
Now I'm not holding Ashton to blame or Johnno for having no control over his winger's try-scoring display. I enjoyed it as much as the next man. But come on guys think about the children!
Yours, can't stop laughing, Chris
And we at PR, in between fits of uncontrollable mirth, rest our case!
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You'd be hard-pushed not to notice the explosion of popularity in fantasy rugby games around the place at the moment, with the Six Nations and Super 15 running strongest of all.
The best one around, in our humble opinion, is the one at www.testrugby.com, which is based on some quite extensive stats, many of them specific to position, and requires either a good in-depth knowledge of all the players and their strengths, or a monster dose of luck (what the bloke who pipped me to the post last year had, obviously).
The ubiquitous score predictor ones and other cheaper imitations where you pick tryscorers and little else are nothing compared to the addictiveness of this one – so even if you're a week late, get cracking. As places to learn about players for the layman go, it's a fascinating place to start.
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Remember Danny Cipriani? That young bloke who dated the supermodel (who seems to have a thing for young rugby studs as she's now shacked up with Thom Evans), got decked by Josh Lewsey, got dropped for being out past curfew and quit the country for Australia with all sorts of rumours of his immaturity and disruptiveness following him around?
OK, the Rebels got nilled at home. But for what it's worth, Cipriani – and former Bath openside Michael Lipman – did not fall short of the pace, fitness or skill that so many southern fans insist is always so much higher in Super Rugby. Cipriani even looked a class act some levels above others in his team at times.
Maybe this sojourn abroad for the young man to find himself could be exactly what he needed – maybe he'll return more seasoned, older, wiser to England's fold, just as Jonny ambles off into retirement in a couple of years…
Loose Pass compiled by Richard Anderson