Loose Pass: Cam Roigard punishment after ‘quite clear gamesmanship’ would ‘not go amiss’ while Bath ‘misstep’ a sign of the times
Cam Roigard in action for the Hurricanes and contrasting emotions following Exeter's PREM semi-final victory over Bath.
This week we will mostly be concerning ourselves with the shifting eras, perfect halves, play-acting and France’s play-offs…
Bath for the want of trying
It’s 19 years since Ali Williams famously opened up on the World Cup quarter-final defeat to France by declaring, among other things, that New Zealand “has never taken a drop goal. I think the last time we won a game with a drop goal was 100 years ago.”
To which the obvious retort at that point would have been that it probably felt around that long since New Zealand had last won a World Cup. A more measured retort would be four years later, when Aaron Cruden’s drop goal in a World Cup semi-final against Australia was an important spot of scoreboard pressure, while eight years later, Dan Carter’s drop goal in the final just eased the All Blacks away from a tense finish. There are more famous drop goals than those, of course, but these are indicative of a lesson learned.
It’s a while since we can remember Bath taking a drop goal either; when you’ve got the wiles of Finn Russell at fly-half, that’s clearly not obviously a first-choice play. Yet Bath’s failure to opt for the obvious and easy was indicative not just of a spot of naivety, but also of how the current era in rugby is hitting a little differently. Tries are the currency like never before, with penalties often only used to close out games once the tries are on the board. There was neither a penalty nor a drop goal kicked at Franklin’s Gardens on Friday night. Exeter only kicked one in their win over Bath. Bordeaux’s brace of penalties in the Champions Cup Final was only after they sat on a 28-point lead at half-time. Even while the game was close on Saturday, the Chiefs only had eyes for the try-line as they tore the Crusaders apart. And there were no penalties at all in the Top 14 Match Access.
Fortunately, for the sake of diversity, it’s not all teams. Racing downed Pau despite scoring fewer tries, with the four penalties from Antoine Gibert making the difference. But the option to run a kickable penalty (and score a try from said decision) shortly before the break was a crucial turning point in the game.
So when critics line up to castigate Bath’s collective misstep and lack of thought, it is worth remembering: many teams just don’t play for posts and points any more.
Perfect halves
Sticking to a theme about tries being the new normal and teams favouring ball in hand, viewers over the past few weeks have been treated to some devastatingly good performances over 40 minutes of rugby. Bordeaux set a benchmark in the Champions Cup Final, and the Saints could have matched it were it not for those holes in defence that have occasionally threatened to harpoon their run to the title.
But for sheer dominant brilliance, you won’t find 40 minutes of better rugby this season than the Chiefs‘ opening stanza against the Crusaders. They were better, quicker, stronger, faster and more skilful in every single facet of the game, with passes and interplays at times faster than even the viewer, with a TV camera angle and a lack of people trying to smash him to the ground as an advantage, could see. The Hurricanes brought their own brilliance to the second half of the game against the Blues, but it was not a patch on what Jono Gibbes’ men delivered.
A competition that has barely gone beyond lightly simmering all season looks set for an epic finale.
Citeable offence?
Cam Roigard‘s slightly flippant attempt at defusing what was quite a clear piece of unsightly gamesmanship during the Hurricanes’ win over the Blues demands a bit of a look by the beaks. The sentence, “yeah, well, to be fair, if he [Beauden Barrett] didn’t take me out in the air, I would have nothing to milk,” has got under quite a few skins this week, almost as many as the act of lying still as though seriously (and cranially) injured and taking the genuine concerned checks from opponents before springing nimbly to the feet and setting up a try with a quick tap.
All Blacks greats weigh into Cam Roigard controversy and why Beauden Barrett was ‘fortunate’
Tantamount to admission it certainly is and it begs the question: are we going to ever go down the road that soccer so belatedly did and start dishing out punishments to those who milk, play-act or fake injury in order to gain advantage?
If so, the time is already nigh. Even a penalty on the day would have been the right call, but a little rap on the knuckles by the match commissioner would not go amiss.
Access denied
For the fourth time in five years, it was Perpignan who had to navigate the Top 14 relegation play-off, and for the fourth time in five years, it was Perpignan whose ever-colourful fans had a great day out. So enthusiastic and numerous were they in Provence that you occasionally wondered if the club didn’t put this game as a season target, just to give their fans a big party each season.
But the margin of victory has grown in this match over the past few years as well, while below the Top 14 and Pro D2, the French pyramid has become longer and longer as more and more clubs seek to play – and pay – their way up.
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Below the Pro D2, from 2027, will be the fully professional Nationale, which is about to expand to 16 teams from 14 – and this despite several bankruptcies over the past few seasons (the most recent being Tarbes, and the list also features Dijon, Cognac and Blagnac). Crucially, this will also be a league with stringent regulations about the number of home-grown players being involved.
But it is below that that the most significant change has happened. The former Federale 1 is to become the Nationale 2, featuring four geographical pools of 12 teams at the semi-pro level. Below that is likely to be an amateur Nationale 3, featuring eight pools of 12, and below that, replacing both Federale 3 and regional leagues, a competition known as Promotion Nationale, with 16 pools of 10 clubs each.
So the Federales are no more, from 2027. Au revoir. But it should strike many a rugby nation how much attention and resources are put into making sure that French rugby’s pyramid functions from top to bottom. In an era when most top leagues are becoming a closed shop, it’s nice to still know that there’s a pyramid somewhere that can still be climbed, even if that final play-off is still proving a step too far so often.