Loose Pass: The sound of silence and likely breaches

David Skippers
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This week we will mostly be concerning ourselves with the sound of silence, the limits on player time, a European problem, and the extraordinary TMO call in Australia…

The sound of silence

Watching sport on the screen generally since the Covid-19 pandemic began has been a distinctly unnerving experience. There’s nothing like a Champions League final being played out in near silence to hammer home just what fans bring to the sporting experience. But rugby is suffering still.

It’s laudable of the TV boffins to try and whip up a little atmospheric feeling with some canned background jeers and cheers, yet they are generally mistimed, often vanilla, occasionally disproportionately loud or quiet relative to the home team, and totally at odds with the banks of empty seats around.

Occasionally it’s been revelatory to be able to hear the players’ exhortations echoing around the arenas, but that thrill too is starting to wear off. And the occasional blares of music over loudspeakers to the singalong banks of non-existent banks of fans is simply bizarre.

Rugby is a game that thrives on the emotionally-charged energy that washes down from the stands. It’s physical, tribal, warrior-like nature means that those shouting their encouragement are integral to the ongoing acts of physical courage its players are asked to perform. It makes the spectacle.

That the players are somehow still able to conjure up the intensity without those voices ringing in the ears and stimulating the adrenal gland is to their credit, but the lack of cheering, the absence of the raised arms, clenched fists, screaming mouths and tempestuous terraces has a very dulling effect on the viewer.

We should be grateful that we get rugby of course, and the broadcast revenue will, for now at least, ensure that when all this is over, the clubs involved will still be the same as before the pandemic. But it’s been a joyless return, by and large, without the fans. Maybe, however, the administrators and TV schedulers may reflect upon this when things do get back to normal and start setting things up more fan-friendly.

Exceptional circumstances

Steve Borthwick may perhaps have been mildly relieved that Welford Road was empty after his team’s dismal showing at home to Bath. But looking at the team put out, it was hard to se the match going any other way.

The young Tigers who got their chance will surely have learned a thing or two. Few heavy defeats early in a career are looked back upon as utterly pointless exercises. But – and harking back to the gladness at receiving the broadcasting money – it’s not doing much to increase the value of the league.

Borthwick clearly played this selection hand with one eye on Wednesday’s clash against London Irish, one of series of slots of midweek fixtures in which many a club will be putting out a second-string team to ensure they stay on the right side of the new player playing time guidelines. Some clubs face a game every four days for almost the next four weeks.

Players are not supposed to get more than 160 minutes of game time – basically two and a quarter matches – in any given week, but it’s difficult to see how there will not be breaches. What of the hooker who starts two matches, is on the bench for the third, but is hauled up off the bench when the dirt-tracker breaks a leg?

What of the clubs who find playing stocks stretched thin by injury within a fortnight, with only one specialist left for the final three games?

“It doesn’t take a genius to work out that if you have injuries in a couple of specialist positions any planning about maximum minutes or games can go right out of the window. You’ll be spending every waking minute asking for exceptional circumstances for players to play,” said Exeter boss Rob Baxter. And once one team gets exceptional circumstances, they all can.

Again, the money from the broadcasts will be welcome, and is necessary. But right now, everything surrounding the game and its administration points very clearly to the fact that all the rugby we watch at the moment is played for pretty much one reason only: that money.

A blessing in disguise?

Europe’s competitions are set to conclude in the next few weeks – if ever a tournament was enriched by the fans, it’s those ones – but they are going to need a healthy dollop of good fortune to even happen.

How, for example, will Castres be able to play in Leicester in the Challenge Cup? Anyone arriving from France needs to isolate for 14 days before being able to wander at large in England, not an option for a team that will have two Top 14 matches either side of the match. Does the team get special dispensation? Do Saracens have to do the same to ensure they can play Leinster?

The conclusions to European competition have been so stuffed into the calendar between the Premiership and PRO14 of last season, the Premiership and PRO14 of next season, the Top 14 of next season and the fundraising November international tournament that there is also no chance of gathering the teams in one location for a couple of weeks a la soccer to finish it off.

The pandemic situation in Europe is not improving; it is difficult to see any of the border restrictions or quarantine regulations changing in time. A shame. But perhaps we could well do without the extra games, a fan-less pair of finals and a whole load of extra headaches for now.

How?

We’ve looked three times. Once in real time to listen to the dialogue, once in real time to check the synchronicity, once in slow-motion to see if there was any tiny margin for error.

And in not one of those replays could we find any reason for the decision of TMO Ian Smith’s decision to not call Ryan Lonergan for offside at the Brumbies’ opening try against the Waratahs.

Perhaps there could have been, had it been down to Angus Gardner’s initial wording of “the on-field decision is a try, but can you check the grounding,” but the subsequent check for no clear and obvious offside?

There’s a line on the pitch! The 22 – the grubber is kicked behind the 22, Lonergan starts his run from in front of the 22! How much more clear and obvious can it be? Flabbergasted. Simply flabbergasted.

Loose Pass compiled by Lawrence Nolan

 

Bath