Loose Pass: Springboks and Ireland ‘tempers to boil over’ and ‘rugby is poorer’ without retiring legend
The Springboks and Ireland kick off their two-Test series this weekend.
This week we will mostly be concerning ourselves with the Top 14 Final, the July Tests and the retirement of one of the greats…
When it really all goes wrong
‘A belting finale’ was what Loose Pass promised for the Top 14 Final last week. Belting it certainly was, a belting good performance from Toulouse and a simple belting meted out to the hapless Bordeaux-Begles.
Anti-climactic it all was, but the tone was set for the game with a brace of decisions that went against the losers which we found both questionable and symptomatic of how the flow of the evening went.
The portents of doom were strong when Toulouse scored their first try, stronger still when UBB number eight Tevita Tatafu was sin-binned for the heinous crime of having his arm slip up into the chin of Pita Ahki. Tatafu’s tackle ended up higher than it should have been, but the initial contact was nowhere near the danger zone. It was a rough call.
Later in the first half, Juan Cruz Mallia made a cover tackle on Louis Bielle-Biarrey. The contact from the former on the latter was slight, but it was there. Crucially, the tackle technique was poor; upright and head up. That there was no yellow card was perhaps acceptable in light of the minimal contact – although perhaps not if you are going to be serious about the whole tackle-technique head contact thing – but not acceptable given that the technique was considerably poorer than Tatafu’s.
The whole night seemed to go against UBB. Toulouse got every marginal call, won every 50-50 ball, got all the good bounces. They made their own luck on many occasions, not least with the sumptuous third try which noticeably killed the game off as a contest, but even the uncontrollables seemed firmly within their control during the match.
Certainly they were not in UBB’s sphere of influence. Beaten and shell-shocked, the team was scheduled to fly back to Bordeaux that evening. The flight took off fine, but headed straight into the band of weather that subsequently cut a swathe of destruction across southern France, Switzerland and Germany over the weekend. It got diverted to… Toulouse. When your luck is out it’s out.
As intriguing a July (!) as could be
The June – sorry, July – Tests are not always the highlight of the calendar, frequently featuring tired northern hemisphere teams up against mid-season southern hemisphere teams in peak condition and warming up for the Rugby Championship.
Recent years have been better, not least Ireland’s triumph in New Zealand or England’s epic against Australia in the early Jones era.
This year promises to be the best for decades though. Ireland have plenty to prove against South Africa, whose tenacious hold on the mantle of ‘best team in the world’ is about to undergo as stern a test as can be on home soil.
The war of words has already been spectacular, drawing in pundits from other nations (whether they wanted it or not) and bringing with it some particularly unedifying put-downs as well as the usual unfounded accusations of lack of respect. It would be a shame for the games themselves to become as shirty as the media mud-slinging, but with players also being vocal about their opponents’ attitudes rather than skills, it seems the chances for boilover are high.
🍿 Grab the popcorn and settle in because this weekend is PACKED with rugby! pic.twitter.com/K1weal5pZe
— Planet Rugby (@PlanetRugby) July 1, 2024
Meanwhile, England head to New Zealand, for only the second meeting between the two since New Zealand’s untimely exit from the 2019 World Cup in Japan; given that the 2022 clash at Twickenham ended in a draw, it means New Zealand have not beaten England for almost six years.
Lies and damned lies, New Zealand have clearly been better than England in general for much of that time. But a new-look England blending experience and emergent talent, and likely far fresher than usual because of the truncated Premiership, can fancy its chances against an All Black side playing its first game under a new coach/skipper combination and against the backdrop of a simmering administrative civil war.
Wales’ learning curve continues against Australia while France coach Fabien Galthie takes an experimental squad to Argentina which will go a long way to benchmarking and expanding the depth to the already-impressive talent pool in French rugby. Sit back and enjoy the next fortnight.
Hooperman hangs up his cape
It’s probably little secret to regular readers that Michael Hooper is one of Loose Pass’ most-admired players. Rarely can there have been a player who emerged so regularly as a ceaselessly optimistic, impressive and skilled leader of a team regularly nowhere near the top of its bracket; comparable to perhaps Juan Smith at the Cheetahs, or Jonny Wilkinson at Newcastle.
Nicknamed the ‘Energizer Bunny’ on account of his extraordinary work-rate, Hooper has broken a number of Australia records in a career sadly far shorter on silverware than it should have been. More John Eales Medals for Australia Player of the Year than anybody else, youngest-ever Wallaby to hit 100 Tests, highest number of captaincies in Tests for Australia are all testaments to his individual ability and leadership skills, far, far more than anything he could get from playing for a brilliant team.
The undistinguished omission from the 2023 World Cup squad was widely-seen as one of Eddie Jones’ biggest mis-steps; surely his presence would have helped Australia in a time when the team was facing a huge rebuild.
Rugby is poorer without him and we wish him all the best in his international retirement.
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