Loose Pass
This week we will be mostly concerning ourselves with legends of the game and general improvements…
This week we will be mostly concerning ourselves with legends of the game and general improvements…
The Tri-Nations – the fad is to write it Try-Nations at the moment, so good has it been – has come and gone and New Zealand have cleaned up, playing some magnificent rugby.
It's generally unfair to single people out for special praise when reviewing a tournament and a team's performance, but we felt it would also be unfair not to take a minute and simply worship the rugby brilliance that is Richie McCaw.
Generations of players come and go, names are passed down, players are fondly remembered. Only some are lucky enough to witness. I have only hearsay and old video to tell me how good Barry John was, only others' descriptions of David Duckham's steps, only others' fond memories of Doc Craven's innovation and thought. My misfortune that I never got to experience it in real life, I am told.
So in that context, I will stand back and remember that it was a privilege to be an observer of the Richie McCaw era. In a time when officials scrutinise harder than ever before, when laws are changed ostensibly to eradicate McCaw's influence on the breakdown, when teams and players are publicly judged on narrow-mindedly pure barometers of success, McCaw has weathered every disappointment and criticism possible and emerged from the other side of that particular breakdown with credit every single time.
He has led New Zealand through nearly six years of highs and lows, through the bitter disappointment of the last World Cup, through the myriad of law changes and accusations of cheating at breakdowns and appears now to be leading his team to their holy grail.
Once again on Saturday, when New Zealand needed to dig deep and find that extra je ne sais quoi, there was McCaw, popping up with a couple of extra yards of graft at the right moment to bring his team back into the match. Once again it was he who found the right words at the right moment after the game, always gracious, always honest, never afraid to front up.
'Greatest ever' is a tag that is tough to apply to rugby because of all the different positions. But McCaw's name will always be in the ring for such discussions, his is a rugby legacy that has defined a position, a team, and maybe a generation. It's been an honour to witness.
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While on the subject of legends, Jason Robinson made his playing return for Fylde on England's national league two on Saturday.
Looking in fine shape – his muscles rippled so at times that you wondered if his skin had been sprayed on – he had a fine game in a 48-17 win.
But tries? No. That was left to his centre Richard Kenyon who – in a splendid throwback to amateur days – is the owner of the local cheese factory as a full-time job.
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The women's World Cup has also been and gone, those of us lucky enough to catch it would be forgiven for being somewhat agog at the action.
No version of rugby has evolved faster over the past few years than the female version. The last ten years has seen an explosion of genuine athletes onto the scene, ladies with power, pace and depths of perception and skill that would humiliate 90 per cent of male players all over the world.
The tournament culminated in a thrilling finale, with New Zealand clinging onto their crown once again, but the gap between them and the others is now narrower and the 'others' now number significantly more. The next World Cup will be one to look out for.
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Odd decision of the week: the WRU's call on using Gavin Henson as the model for the new kit launch, mere days after his next starting role was confirmed as being centre of attention on the Strictly Come Dancing XV. Homage to the Welsh backs' abilities to side-step? It's the only vaguely logical reason we can think of.
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And finally, our columns have not always been full of praise for the game's administrators. There's been flawed rules, shambolic politics, wholly unmasterful inactivity and some plain and simple ludicrous decision-making at times.
But the decision to hammer home the laws and hand advantage back to the attacking teams this year has been spot on. Rugby is in the best shape it's been in for yonks, merely by dint of a little firm-handedness. Isn't our sport great?
By Richard Anderson