In 2011 rugby has been overpowered and emasculated by the scrummage. Can those dashing Quins signal a new way?
Stand up for the Harlequins. Just as rugby union's 2011 looked like disappearing into a haze of collapsed scrums, manic breakdowns and muscle-mass collisions, the Premiership leaders dared and won at Toulouse.
It has been another year, in general, in which defence has prevailed over attack with teams, who are all well-prepared, intent on stopping opponents rather than taking them on. The scrum, the symbol of the modern game in the cynical way it has been manipulated, should be a means of restarting play, but it has become a means of denying the other side possession.
The crouch, touch, pause engage farrago has done nothing to stabilise the set piece and referees often appear at their wit's end, giving one side a penalty or a free-kick and then the other because suspicion is not always backed up by clear evidence. If it disfigures games for much longer, will the next stop be rugby league-style scrums?
The scrum should be a contest for possession, like the line-out and the breakdown. It has, over the years, been tampered with, safety a paramount concern. Given the high number of collapses in the average match, how is the scrum safer than it was 10, 20 or 30 years ago; or even before that when front rows came together while standing up, manipulating themselves into a scrummaging position with no one preoccupied with getting the hit.
When did an opposing hooker last strike for the ball, never mind win a heel against the head? The scrum has come to define rugby because it has become a game in which coaches concentrate on the smallest detail. It is easier to make sure the other side does not than your own does.
Premier League football matches this season have often been high on skill and most of the encounters between the top sides have not been tactical stalemates. Players have not been afraid to take the initiative, but the reverse is usually true in rugby union, which is why teams like Harlequins and, in Wales, the Scarlets, are refreshing examples of what remains possible.
Toulouse are used to winning Heineken Cup matches in front of their own supporters. They have very seldom been tested as they were by Quins on Sunday: the London side attacked from all angles, offloaded, chased and harried. They were not deflated when the home side took the lead in the second half, nor when they found themselves down to 14 men for 10 minutes. They believed in what they were doing.
Perhaps 2012 will be the year of Harlequins' coaching model, a partnership between the players and the management. One Welsh coach lamented a few years ago that the typical modern player was content to go on the field and obey orders: if things went wrong, it was not his fault; if the head coach got sacked, the player would continue to receive his wages. Clock in, put your head down, clock out.
There are so many games now where, to the neutral observer, you can only tell the identity of teams by the colours they wear. There is a blurring of styles and a fading of distinctiveness, perhaps inevitable given that rugby is now a global game with players and coaches moving through the hemispheres, but where are the innovators, the pioneers, the heirs to Carwyn James and Fred Allen?
Which is not to glory in yesteryear. The game in the mid-1960s was dying on its feet with kicking out of hand out of control: 111 line-outs at Murrayfield when Scotland faced Wales in 1963. One simple law change, proposed by Australia, had a markedly positive effect: a kick directly to touch by players outside their 22 would result in a line-out in line with where they kicked the ball from.
No one has come up with one measure that would have the same profound impact today, but as was said by some after England's World Cup campaign, it is time for players to take more responsibility. There were matches at the weekend when the attacking team struggled to get the ball wide against blitz defences, no nearer to succeeding in the final minute than they had been in the first, and not just because tight-five forwards were often to be found in midfield.
Defensive skills can be learned but creativity is more innate. The capacity to think calmly under pressure marks out the best from the rest and perhaps the most memorable match in 2011 was, in relative terms, a riot of attacking rugby: the Heineken Cup final between Northampton and Leinster.
The Saints were irrepressible in the opening 40 minutes, playing with pace and width. Stephen Myler attacked from fly-half and the Leinster defence found itself stretched until it snapped. The second half was completely different as Jonathan Sexton took over, prompting an unlikely but uplifting revival. It would be one of the games of any era.
The Six Nations had had its moments. England were composed under pressure in Cardiff and were a riot of colour against Italy before, slowly at first, pulling up their drawbridge. The World Cup peaked at the end of the group stage when Samoa took on South Africa and had the World Cup holders on the back foot all through the second half: the Springboks missed 27 tackles as the Samoans, who had played within themselves in their opening three matches, produced attacking back play rich in quality.
The latter stages of the World Cup produced some close, tense encounters, including the final, but there was little that was memorable. The excitement tended to be at the end, but the modern game has so much going for it, improved facilities, excellent playing surfaces, a faithful following, high ball-in-play time and some productive academy systems.
Now for the next step. Quins are showing that enterprise and success are not mutually exclusive. They have not won anything yet this season, but they are the Amlin Challenge Cup holders and they will finish the first half of the Premiership campaign on top of the table and they are on course to make the last eight of the Heineken Cup, standing up for the game itself.
Northern exposure
The interim England management team has used the word "culture" extensively in their initial interviews with the media. They have said that players will be involved in the development of gameplans with the inference being they will be encouraged to play with their heads up.
Stuart Lancaster, the acting head coach, has said the squad will be taken away from the comfort of their base in Bagshot on a training road show around the country. The north is a more than likely destination, both given Lancaster's background and a feeling there that it is being ignored on the international front.
"I want to put my own stamp on things, to do it a little differently," he said. "I want to ensure the England players are reminded of the reasons why it is a privilege to play for their country. I want them to reconnect with the public and with the media. For that reason I want to take our Six Nations camps away from Pennyhill Park. I want training to have a grassroots feel to it."
The 32-strong elite squad will have a new complexion when it is named on 11 January. "A number of players are playing well and form is important," he said. "The World Cup created an opportunity for many young players and some have put their hands up. It's tough to throw them in, certainly in some positions like the front row and key decision-making areas, but ultimately we need youth. We have got to select the players that have got a future with England. We need to be clear in our selection. As head coach I have the responsibility and the accountability."
New year, new England.
Tall world order
It promises to be a big year for the International Rugby Board following the re-election of Bernard Lapasset as chairman.
He campaigned on a reform ticket and was in Dublin recently to run through what is his vision for the board. It involves not just a change in organisation but a markedly different approach: no longer, if he succeeds, will it be a game run by the foundation unions, split as they are between north and south.
Lapasset learned during his visit to Ireland that there will be those who oppose him all the way: one telephone call he received was a promise on the other end to cause him trouble all the way. Various obstacles will be put in his path, he was told.
Lapasset has told friends he will not be put off and will review the IRB's executive in the new year and then take a look at the make-up of the Rugby World Cup board. He wants an end to factionalism, but Rome was not burned in a day.
His message for the new year is that it will mark a new way, but those who have most to lose will stand in his way, ignoring Lapasset's mandate which came from all corners of the rugby world, except the one that houses the four home unions.
Paterson hangs up his tee
Jonny Wilkinson one week, another prolific international points scorer the next. Chris Paterson has at the age of 33 retired from the Test arena having won 109 Scotland caps and scored 809 points.
Paterson went through the 2007 World Cup without missing a kick at goal, often the difference between victory and defeat for Scotland. He was a versatile player who played at fly-half, full-back and on the wing, commanding a place through the accuracy of his kicking.
He was also an accomplished footballer, an understated player whose departure will not command many headlines south of the border but who, in his heyday, was as important to Scotland as Wilkinson was to England.
If the cap fits ?
The four Welsh regions this week bowed to falling attendances and agreed to be jointly bound by a salary cap of �3.5m next season. Given that the Welsh deal does not include development players and academy systems, it is roughly on a par with the �4.2m available to Aviva Premiership clubs to spend on wages.
And it is pretty much what the majority of the regions spend at the moment. The key is that by agreeing to be bound together, agents will not be able to play off one side against another.
The danger for Welsh rugby is that French clubs may step in, but there is a limit to spending there and no desire to sign too many players who could be missing for four months of the season if they have release clauses written into their contract.
It is nearly nine years since the regions were established. The Welsh Rugby Union failed to sell the idea of central contracts then, effectively replacing a club system with five super clubs, who became four after a year, but if the cap sparks an exodus of current international squad players, Wales may go the way of Ireland and employ their senior squad.
There is no Breakdown service next week, so now is the time to wish everyone a relaxing Christmas and a productive new year.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/dec/22/harlequins-the-breakdown
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