Loose Pass: Future stars and thrilling conclusions

This week we will mostly be concerning ourselves with the stars of the future and a thrilling finish or two…

Youngsters provide a great day of rugby

It may have been a little washed away by the relief at the end of a pointlessly long season, but the stars of the future are still going hard at it in Argentina over the next fortnight.

Day One of the U20 World Championship in Argentina was a terrific few hours of rugby, with the star turn of the day Wales’ back-and-forth 30-25 win over the hosts in Rosario.

The specific mesmeric moment in that match and the day was the solo try from Argentina full-back Ignacio Mendy but, in an interesting twist, Wales’ juniors appear to be building in the mould of their senior countrymen. Mental toughness abounded in their second-half display, with a tight grip on the phases and a nerveless kicking display from fly-half Cai Evans.

But the day really belonged to the underdogs. Fiji looked far from out of place in their first appearance back at the elite section for five years, keeping within arm’s length of reigning champions France until the final 10 minutes. Italy had the beating of Australia but for some poor skills, Ireland demolished perennial finalists England and Georgia had New Zealand on a leash until the final half-hour.

So no shocks. But the one-sided games of yesteryear were also not in attendance. The playing field is becoming ever more level.

Talking of great days of rugby

On a day when the rest of the sporting calendar served up some fairly standard fare, the Premiership final was a classic. Back and forth action, yellow cards used appropriately, both teams willing to try all their tricks, culminating in a superb finale. Four tries apiece in a final is a wonderful advertisement for the game.

It’s hard to escape the feeling that this Saracens team is the greatest club side there’s been in the professional era. The Toulouse squad of yesteryear – Guy Noves’ red and black machine – probably comes close, but with rugby as attritional as it is now and with the speed and pace of the game having noticeably increased, this squad is another level.

We can only hope the salary cap investigation doesn’t spoil it but, whatever has happened off the pitch, on the pitch a European Cup and Premiership double is an extraordinary achievement over the course of this gruelling season, as was the stirring final quarter comeback.

Whatever else happens now in England’s top-flight, we can know that in terms of the top two teams at least, English club rugby is in rude health.

And talking of tight finishes…

Two weeks remain in the USA’s pro rugby experiment, but all the vital signs – the usual rumblings about financial discontent aside – are good. By the end of the regular season, five teams were battling for four play-off spots, separated by only four points in the table and four of them playing against each other.

New Orleans, who had led the table for so long, were the unlucky ones, going down to San Diego, while New York squeaked in by dint of their losing bonus-point in Toronto.

This weekend sees the New Yorkers heading to San Diego for one semi-final, while Toronto are off to Seattle. Neither match is a done deal, although sheer distance and fatigue ensures that the home sides each have a hefty advantage.

Next season sees teams from Boston, Washington and Atlanta joining the fray, with increasing interest from Dallas, Los Angeles and Chicago rumoured. Mathieu Bastareaud is the latest big name to eye up a late-season stint: he’ll be running out in the blue, white and orange of New York next season.

Getting bums on seats has been harder than anticipated despite excellent promotion work in major media outlets. And the impression within a couple of the teams is that the local talent pool needs to deepen. But in a country with so many people and so many athletes, it is not infeasible to see how this could happen with a good scouting network.

The North American sports model runs on franchises in leagues which have no relegation and with leagues set up to allow for expansion, bringing in franchise owners as stakeholders in a collective enterprise. This is the model being used in Major League Rugby and it’s the first time the model has been applied to the game. The stakeholders are bullish about the prospects and with a tight set of finals in the offing, they should be.

Loose Pass compiled by Lawrence Nolan