Loose Pass

This week we will mostly be concerning ourselves with the 'all for one' spirit, post-try antics, falls from grace and a lack of grace.

This week we will mostly be concerning ourselves with the 'all for one' spirit, post-try antics, falls from grace and a lack of grace.

With June pretty much out of the way, for many of the World Cup countries there is little competitive rugby left now until the tournament kicks off on September 7.

Those countries include the USA, who spent the past couple of weeks in England scrapping for the Churchill Cup, taking more of a beating than most. But the defeats tell only half the story.

England, as host nation, picked up the tab for the USA staying during the tournament, but didn't extend that tab to things like hotel internet access so the players could stay in touch with family, for example.

Nor were training facilities provided, with a liaison man earning his fee in one day alone after the initial training ground was found to be so rubbish.

All that, and more, can be found here, one of the better features written about the smaller countries we have read over the past few months.

But those two aspects we've mentioned here are pertinent, and begs a question of standards. If you had a guest over from overseas, would you not go a little further out of your way to make them comfortable than merely chucking them into a guest room? Surely a little allowance for a phone call home, or perhaps provision of adequate facilities in which they can do what they need to do?

As Eddie O'Sullivan said: many unions – and we're willing to bet an over-priced five-course meal the RFU is one – would spend what the Eagles needed for internet on a bunch of fancy hors d'oeuvres without even a crease worrying the brow.

Is it not reasonable to hope that the rich unions could at least afford to give their lesser cousins a smoother ride when afforded the opportunity?

So, while we've been on the soapbox about bits and bobs of foul play over the past couple of weeks – headlocks, phantom headbutts and odd refereeing decisions and so on – we figured we'd direct the weekly rant this week at the practice of diving in on a player as, or rather, just after, he's scored a try.

Phil Waugh's little dig into Lachie Munro's ribs could have ended a lot worse than it did, something quite a few people on the sidelines have been mumbling on a weekly basis for ages now.

Even when it doesn't end worse, it's irritating in the extreme – to the same level of irritation things like Sonny Bill Williams' dive at the weekend took us. Real school playground stuff. Tackling someone as they dive is only really necessary in the corners, or if the ball-carrier really is stupid enough to invite contact in the in-zone. Otherwise, it's just one of those petulant things modern pros do to try and wind others up.

It's worth saying: late hits after someone has scored is punishable with a penalty at the restart. A couple of those, which could easily be worth three points these days, would quickly get it out of the game. Beyond reality?

The crisis in Paris is one to watch as we go to print, as it will have enormous repercussions for the game in France and beyond.

While success has been at a premium the past couple of years, nobody will dispute the effect the Stade Français phenomenon has had on French and European rugby.

Club matches with 80,000 fans in attendance, pink kit, press conferences in halls adorned with can-can dancers and a team with fifteen international starting players… nothing has been beyond the realms of dreams since Max Guazzini took on a little third division club in 1992 and rolled it onto a national title six years later.

Yet it seems that in the scrap to rediscover that title-winning mojo, Messrs Guazzini and Bernard Laporte have backed the wrong financial horse, with Canadian company FACEM now under investigation for fraud.

Read more here. But a couple of questions remain: a Canadian company? Was there really nobody in France who would have taken on such a significant brand? Was there not something odd about that from the start?

Back to the question of foul play: it took a while to get round to watching the TV highlights of the Bulls-Sharks game last week, but it has not taken as long as it has SANZAR, or even SARU, or even the Bulls themselves, to get around to addressing the issue of the Bulls fans who were shining the lasers in Pat Lambie's eyes while he was lining up kicks at goal.

Lambie even had to complain to the referee at one point, as three pricks – we choose the word carefully – of red light danced all over Lambie's face while he was setting the ball.

Will nothing be done there either? Probably not. After all, this is the same local disciplinary that suspended Butch James for four weeks but zero meaningful matches for a dangerous tackle. Maybe they think it's a part of the Loftus effect.

Finally, and in the wake of a lot of moaning this week, we'll end on a positive: how enthralling was the Junior World Championship? Rugby's future looks rosy indeed if the young athletes such as Christian Wade and Charlie Piutau are looked after…

Loose Pass compiled by Richard Anderson