1. Strength in depth
After two rounds of Europe, the biggest thing we’ve learnt is that to fight on more than one front, you need immense strength in depth. At the weekend both Bath and Wasps proved that their lack of strength in depth – relative to the biggest names in the tournament, it must be said – is the reason why they won’t feature at the business end of the tournament. Bath are decimated with injuries in the back-row, while Wasps, not immune to injury problems themselves, looked tired from a tough run in the Premiership this year. Contrast that with a side like Toulon, who, as an example, were able to bring on Juan Smith for Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe when the latter got injured early on, and you begin to get a feel for the imbalance between those sides at the very top, and those just below them. Toulon have international class running through their entire squad, not just their first team, which will allow them to compete for the Top 14 and have a good go at winning an unprecedented third straight European Cup. Those standing in their way will be the likes of Clermont, Leinster and Saracens – essentially, the sides with the biggest rosters who can keep the ship steady if (or when) injuries bite.
2. Round peg, square hole
Becoming Brian O’Driscoll’s successor was always going to be a poisoned chalice; how do you replace one of the game’s greatest ever centres? For a while now, Jared Payne has been earmarked as the man for the job, which seemed like a good idea in principle – he qualifies for Ireland this year and is an immensely talented player. The problem is that he has just not settled into the outside centre role of this season, having played most of his rugby previously in Ulster’s 15 shirt. At fullback, he was able to use his innate sense of timing to join the line at the perfect moment, and showcase his brilliant decision making when allowed time on the ball to counter-attack. In the 13 shirt both of those skills are rather negated, and against Toulon he proved as much when he looked instantly more effective when moved to fullback, making a break with a superbly cut line. Sooner or later someone’s going to have to hold their hands up and say this was an experiment that didn’t work; Jared Payne is an obscenely good player and at the moment his talents are just being wasted.
3. Individual bonus point
To score four tries in a game is an astonishing feat, but to do it in a game where your side alone only scores four – instead of, say, a 10 try romp – is almost unheard of. The first was a walk-in, the second a precise finish with a defence-debilitating sidestep, the third a showcase of power, but the best was saved until last – stripping the ball from an unsuspecting Ospreys forward with an awesome, jerking show of strength, he tore into the opposition half, chipped behind the fullback before outpacing three defenders and swotting away their efforts to stop him to dot down with an outstretched left arm. If Julian Savea is currently the best finisher in the world, North is not far behind. There is talk of moving him into the centres for Wales this autumn – such an idea is madness. Leave him on the wing, where he doesn’t have to worry about defensive alignment and other such things centres have to worry about, and just give him the ball.
4. Normal service resumed
It is a tired old tale, but Munster have defied some average domestic form and are two wins from two games in Europe. Their game against Saracens was a proper European arm-wrestle, and played out on a Friday night in front of a packed out Thomond Park it is the sort of occasion that they live for. They were aided by a senseless yellow card for Rhys Gill, but you could feel them building to Kilcoyne’s 60th minute try even before the Welsh prop took a break, and in the end they should have won more comfortably had last week’s hero, Ian Keatley, not been uncharacteristically wayward from the tee. Their back-to-back matches with Clermont on consecutive December weekends will both truly be occasions to savour, and if the results of both matches could go either way there’s one thing of which you can be absolutely certain: regardless of what happens between now and then elsewhere, they will be bang up for those games.
5. What’s the Italian for irony?
The final word this week goes to Zebre, who got their first win ever in Europe, and at a ground that is not an easy place to win – the Amadée Domenech in Brive. It was a heated affair with both sides receiving two yellow cards, but ultimately it was fly-half Edoardo Padovani who held his nerve to kick his side to victory. With Treviso struggling so badly this year, after their mass exodus over the summer, it is great to see Zebre taking up the mantle of the competitive Italian side. Having beaten Ulster already in this year’s PRO12, they would certainly offer greater competition in the Champions Cup than Treviso are at the moment. How ironic, then, that the very ruling that was supposed to make the top tournament more competitive is keeping them out of it, eh?
By Jamie Hosie
Follow Jamie on Twitter: @jhosie43
Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images
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Que? George North prospered while playing at centre. Why would it be ‘madness’ to play him there?
When was that Tony? For the life of me I cannot think how much he’s played there
Well the game where he scored 4 tries I believe…
I didn’t see the game but I know he started on the wing. Did he end up in the centre after some injuries then?
Has he played there internationally?
“How ironic, then, that the very ruling that was supposed to make the top tournament more competitive is keeping them out of it, eh?” …. Ummm …. Bath? Sale? All of this more competitive nonsense was and still is utter tosh. It was a smokescreen for sharing the pie out differently. That’s fine – it’s a pro game, but it rankles me to hear Eng/Fre agitators pretend that this was in any way about the good of the game, the improvement of the Euro cup, etc. It was and is about money. Which is a fine enough reason in pro sport, just don’t try dressing it up as something else.
North may play at centre due us to probably only having 1 fit centre standing – the oft crocked himself Jamie Roberts. While I completely agree that North is much more devastating on the wing I think it makes more sense to replace him with say Amos, Halfpenny or Williams on the wing than it does to scrape the barrel looking for the only fit centre left in Wales.
Strength in depth – most teams of Ulsters level had/have it – a good 5 or 6 decent players that could come in. The problem now is that the *really* rich clubs have taken it to another level where you actually need a 2nd XV that could probably win the cup against most other people’s first XVs. If, in 3 years from now, we’re talking about whether Toulon can go for 5 cups in a row (and the 3rd straight Clermont/Toulon or Saracens/Toulon final) then we might start seeing interest wane across the board. It’ll be interesting to see what, if anything, happens then…
It was about money and competition. By enforcing qualification it meant that the Pro12 actually has some value for the teams involved as they need to secure a top 6 position (sort of) to get top tier euro rugby and the opportunities that provides.
DanD – you seriously think the French and English instigators did this to improve the pro12? That’s obviously not true. They couldn’t give a stuff about the Celts. It’s a post outcome rationalisation. The “oh, and now we have what we want you should also realise it’s better for you….” patronising tripe.
I do love it when people who don’t follow pro12 teams try and tell me why it didn’t have value before by assuming I only watch rugby for the same reasons they do.
Rugby politics. If everyone remembers the outright nonsense that was peddled by virtually all of the perpetrators, very much including the Pro 12 countries, it is remarkable that we have a competition at all. I am just relieved to be watching some great games. All of those involved tried to get the best deal for themselves – natural self interest. Last time round the Pro12 had the rub of it, this time it is probably the French and English. Nothing is ever going to be perfect if you try to organise something with 8 + interested parties. It will always lead to compromise and perceived victimisation of the losers in any deal. I would rather celebrate the fact that we do have something to watch and discuss – no certainty at one stage.
too many irish teams winning heineken cup,english teams could not handle that,if they just waited a while,irish retirements would have levelled playing field,leinster without bod and munster without poc would not be challengers,money is an extra bonus,only winners here are players getting extra cash,look what happened soccer when sky money came in
Business is business, it was a matter of time before rugby felt the effect of cold hard cash on the game. It is a shame but the fans will support it and ultimately wel be left with a rugby elite like we have in football. It is certainly not inconceivable that a Scottish,Welsh or Italian team could be part of that elite, but will happen/is happening.
It certainly was not inevitable that money will rule. The pro12 was avoiding it. The Super 15 was happily avoiding it. Where there was a will to not follow the football model it was possible to avoid the stale draft of millionaire funded elites winning everything. I have not decided whether I think we are in a better place or not yet but I certainly don’t agree with the idea that it was something that nobody could do anything about.
Hey Brighty totally agree-
“It certainly was not inevitable that money will rule.” Money sullies everything. I’m still banging my drum to end the Soccerification……….
I want a sport I can be proud of – a team I can be proud of. Don’t ever want to see a Leinster full of mercenaries. We need limits to keep the sport real.
What makes your pride in your team?
How they play is one thing – but feeling they are part of the community you come from is what makes me partisan – “bumping” into Cian Healy when you go for a coffee, having BOD as a neighbour, knowing kids who have grown up to play for “your” team – these are things that also instil my pride in Leinster.
Would love to know how much pride the burghers of Toulon genuinely feel for their team.
DDD
Well this is odd DDD, we are completely agreeing here … Patch lives down my road, coaches my sons U13s team and on Sat/Fri I see him get to play for The Blues. That connection matters to me. It matters that Warbs went to the school next to me. So I agree with the emotional desire to avoid the “soccerification” as from what I see of soccer and how fans relate to their team and each other I don’t want us to follow that.
I also don’t want it from a practical level. Football has had over a century of money ruling to get to some sort of level where in general it tends to work without too many casualties. Rugby has had less than 2 decades so in my opinion we’re not balanced enough to follow the Bath owners dreams of full on “let the money talk” approach to rugby. In rugby I fear we’re not ready for that sort of massive upheaval – we’ve already lost teams like Richmond, Leeds (effectively), etc. For a decade we had very little Cornwall rep at the top-level (still don’t technically I know but at least Exeter give a bit of a link to down there). In Wales the money has meant the massive upheaval of the ongoing experiment of going regional.
At the roots level, as you’ve already said, fans demand different things from their rugby team to their football team. We demand a feeling of identity and community. We’re not all that interested in being bought by a billionaire who drafts in the entire All Blacks squad so we can win a trophy.
At the pro sport level most of us still see the international game as paramount, the pinnacle – money doesn’t because at that level it can’t use money to efficiently buy the best players and the results that follow. Football shows what happens here eventually.
My fear is that by following the football model we’ll rip the game up, assuming it’ll all be ok cos it worked for football, but it won’t because it’s not the same sport and we don’t have a century of pro realities to back it up.
Not so sure the fans can be 100% counted to blindly follow it either – I guess Bath playing a home match in the US as soon as their cavalier owner can arrange it will be an interesting test point.
Yep, I hear you, and your comments are completely true, it is those little differences that do separate rugby from football, and make it the better game in many peoples eyes. The identity of your clubs is a huge thing, but with the likes of Toulon, Saracens etc able to bring in the best talent, how long is the local identity argument sustainable? What if, and it is a big if, the team you support be it Leinster or Cardiff start slipping down the pecking order with a team made up of local lads? Will you care that you live down the road from your club’s prop when his team don’t win anything?Would you rather see them competing on the international market for the best players with the downside of losing that identity?
Perhaps saying it was ‘inevitable’ is a bit strong, but if you look at the way the game has gone since turning professional in ’95, to what we have now in Europe, the infighting Wales has had, the great clubs that have disappeared, i think it can only go one way, what with people like Toulon’s and Bath’s owners, pushing it hard in that direction. When we get games like best NH club team vs best SH team (in the pipeline so iv heard), i wonder how long international rugby will be seen as the pinnacle. Don’t get me wrong we are a long long way from all this, but the game is changing, not necessarily for the better, but it is changing.
As for for your last comment Brighty, i think you only need to look at Man Utd and Man City, fans blindly following teams with absolutely no local link. Bloody shame.
“What if, and it is a big if, the team you support be it Leinster or Cardiff start slipping down the pecking order with a team made up of local lads? Will you care that you live down the road from your club’s prop when his team don’t win anything?Would you rather see them competing on the international market for the best players with the downside of losing that identity?”
Supported Leinster and enjoyed it when they were shite – When Munster referred to them as ladyboys – stood there in the wind and rain in a shite stadium – it was great. Would prefer to support a shite recognisable Leinster than a world select Leinster. The fair weather fans can stay at the RDS “Royal! Dublin Societies” horse jumping arena – they are the horsey set anyway!! The rest of us can go back to the old Rugby stadium.
To the billionaires I say – vete a la chingada! Pendejos
DDD