Loose Pass

This week we will mostly be concerning ourselves with Heineken, relegation battles, cheeky nippers and fun in the sun.

This week we will mostly be concerning ourselves with Heineken, relegation battles, cheeky nippers, fun in the sun and plain and simple good news.

It's flattered to deceive at times this season, but all those who would do down the state of European club rugby in comparison to the Super 15 et al – and yes, we've been guilty of it on occasion too – were given a timely reminder this weekend of the intensity sometimes found to be lacking in the top table tournament down under.

We had four Heineken Cup semi-finals, all four marked with intrigue. We had the perfect chess match in San Sebastian, differing tactics and with the weather turning the tables for the teams. In Perpignan we had another clash of flair and physicality. Leinster and Leicester was a tense grind of structure against structure with tiny margins of execution and accuracy winning the day. And in Northampton, we saw a spectacle of ferocious home support inspire a team to a comeback finished off by perhaps the try of the weekend.

Even in the Amlin Challenge Cup – some might say especially in the Amlin Challenge Cup – there were thrills all weekend. Munster's clash with Brive was a Euro classic. Stade Francais' win over Montpellier and Quins' win over Wasps were both games that accumulated over 50 points.

And thank goodness for it all. It is true that domestic rugby in Europe is in a bit of a rut at the moment, with the sheer length of the season and the constant intrusions of internationals making it a mess. But we have also now been reminded: at the top of their game, Europe's clubs have it all to offer. We can only hope the same goes for the national teams come September down under.
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At the more digesting end of Europe's club ladder is a side that has been one of the flagship sides in professional rugby since the onset of paid players.

Newcastle, officially the world's first-ever professional rugby club, are staring relegation in the face after their loss to Leeds on Saturday, a relegation which would mark the end of a professional rugby story.

The Newcastle club was hardly a household name, but there was a club in the area: Gosforth, which had flown the flag for the north-east for a number of years, including John Player Cup wins in the seventies and a steady stream of players supplied to regional and international sides; Roger Uttley is one of their alumni.

Gosforth was first dubbed Newcastle Gosforth in 1990, then the Gosforth name was cut altogether in 1996 when Sir John Hall lavished millions on the club as a part of his attempt to make the north east a sporting mecca akin to Barcelona. Gosforth rugby club as an amateur entity does still exist, currently playing in the Durham & Northumberland Division 1, but Newcastle Falcons were now the team of the north east.

Newcastle tore into the professional era. They bought Vaiga Tuigamala as the first-ever £1m player among others, while harbouring a host of talented players in age group teams – including one Jonny Wilkinson – and employing Rob Andrew as Director of Rugby. In the first year of professionalism, they got promotion. The following year, they were English champions. Since then, they have claimed two Powergen Cup titles, but never quite reached the levels of those first two years.

The attempt to embed rugby as a major player in soccer-mad north east England has never quite been a roaring success. Hall departed in 1999, handing the club to Dave Thompson, whose generosity cannot be faulted over the years since. Yet attendances have never really been much compared to the other teams in the league and the star turns have slowly trickled away from the club, rarely to be replaced.

There are clubs who drop down – Worcester are one – whom you expect to see surviving the following year merely as a result of being a part of a rugby hotbed. But you have to worry what might happen to the Newcastle Falcons if they do drop. It's not as if there's a vast well of traditional community support, and the cuts that will have to be made may be so deep the club will not recover. It's certainly doubtful they will sustain their full professional status if they do go down.

Either way, they will become the first former champions to be relegated, another first for a club constructed on professionalism's money and now looking destined to be choked by it.
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On a lighter note, Saracens headed off to Miami this week while the rest of us enjoyed our Heineken Cup quarter-finals, to train at the facilities of the Miami Dolphins and hopefully get a little pick-me-up.

But would they get it? Well, it seems an odd choice, heading for inspiration from a team that has made its competition's playoffs only once in the last nine years (coincidentally enough, the same as Saracens), but the real devil might have been in the detail.

Because while Saracens' players are generally happy with their lot and earning some good coin for their toil, the Dolphins – and every single other NFL team – are on strike, disappointed at the new pay deal offered to them by the NFL and the franchise owners.

Inspiring stuff…
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On an even lighter note: A story sent in by a referee taking charge of an U19 match over the weekend, who attempted to introduce a bit of humour into his pre-match chat with the captains by informing them that he would talk to the teams at the rucks and help them keep them clean, indeed, he would talk and shout so much at the start to be clear about what he wanted that the players would probably get sick of hearing him.

“It's already happening,” replied the captain…
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This was this week's good news: the growth of the game. 18 per cent more players in Asia, 22 per cent in South America, 33 per cent in Africa, 22 per cent in Europe and more than 300 per cent in the USA over the past eight years. Rugby's coming for you, soccer!

Loose Pass compiled by Richard Anderson