I suffered the wrath of the twitter rugby community yesterday before this match kicked off. I had just heard Ian McGeechan on Sky proclaim that for the Western Force not to field their full strength squad for this opening contest on Aussie soil showed major “disrespect” to the touring Lions, then I tweeted this :
Disrespecting the Lions? Rubbish! The Force have a Super Rugby match on Sunday that actually counts, why wouldn't they rest key players?
— JL Pagano (@HarpinOnRugby) June 5, 2013
The main thrust of the reaction against the tweet was that because there is no relegation in Super Rugby, their clash with the NSW Waratahs is effectively a “dead rubber”.
I could argue against this, because not only is it an Aussie derby but also the Force would surely be keen to avoid the wooden spoon in their conference – besides, the Tahs are mathematically still in playoff contention.
But to be honest I do appreciate the dead rubber argument, it’s just I was reacting more to the strength of the word “disrespect”, because it puts too much emphasis on the point of view of the touring Lions and not enough on the focus of the Australian sporting fan base.
That the next opponents of these two teams hail from New South Wales and Queensland respectively was quite ironic. Because if you want to talk about showing respect for the Lions, why was this match being played at the same time as the State of Origin 1 clash? Many northern hemisphere rugby union fans may scoff at league, but down in OZ, they generally love both, and the SofO if a massive deal to them – even if Western Australia isn’t involved, surely the two could have been kept apart on the schedule?
Add to that the fact that Warren Gatland was also squad-tinkering with a view to future matches and I say let the WA franchise put out whatever side they want and get on with it…if the Super Rugby rubber was dead, then this one wasn’t that far away from the morgue either.
To be honest, despite the obvious rewards to their tourism industries, I’m beginning to wonder just how up for these tours the SANZAR nations are these days.
Of course the zombie reference in my headline wasn’t just for that. A couple of days ago I tried to make a case that Dylan Hartley might have been a bit hard done by in the Aviva Premiership final, despite his reputation which included having a nibble at Stephen Ferris’ finger. At the time of that biting incident, however, I was right there with the rest of the Irish fans in their consternation at such an act on a rugby pitch.
Now that it’s a Leinster player in the dock for the same thing, how do I feel?
Simple…if it turns out that he did it, then this needs to be tacked on to Healy’s other transgressions in the past and it could be said that he is indeed Ireland’s answer to Hartley. But I would still have to reserve final judgement until the disciplinary hearing takes place. Maybe it’s my green & blue goggles but I can’t see anything on the replay.
If we’re going to be taking players’ reputations into account, then Brett Sheehan is certainly one of those number 9s who likes to mix things up and look for advantages wherever he can find them. I find it interesting that he has walked back from pointing at his arm out on the pitch like a big lump was gone out of it to saying at half-time : “I don’t know if it was an accident or on purpose.”
Either way, it would appear that “Proper Church”’s tour is over, given the injury he picked up later. And as if to add insult to his injury, his replacement on the pitch Mako Vunipola helped himself to a try the Clontarf man would have been proud of.
As for his replacement on the tour, well it seems those Northampton Saints can’t stay out of the news these days. First Hartley sees red, then their new signings Kahn Fotuali’i (try for BaaBaas last Saturday) and George North (many strong carries against Force) feature…now we see Alex Corbisiero packing his bags for Australia. Maybe Ryan Grant will feel hard done by after his Six Nations?
Anyway…despite the eleven tries scored in this match, the issues above were still the main feature. Of course that’s a shame, especially for Irish fans since they had so many players in the team. But although many of the boys in green stepped up, this match only made tiny changes to my test squad, if anything nailing down further a few positions already awarded.
Before I wax lyrical about the Irish, what a display of kicking it was by Leigh Halfpenny. Sure, some were in front of the posts, but a heck of a lot of them were touchline efforts that looked like they were on a string. Sorry Johnny….he’s the man in form, he gets the tee inn the tests as far as I’m concerned.
And it wasn’t just the Cardiff Blues fullback’s placekicking that impressed either…he joined the line well but I loved the way he claimed a mark towards the end as he dived and caught a low fly-hack in his own 22 – he didn’t get the call but to stick up his arm in that position showed amazing quick thinking.
That doesn’t mean Sexton need worry about his out-half position, though. Maybe the Force’s 2nd string were a tad lacking on the defensive front (two of their pack were “credited” with 6 miss tackles each) but he had a great workout in running his offence and took control well including of course the game’s opening try.
We also had “Leinster by birth, nailed-on Lions starter by the Brace of BOD”…two well-taken touch-downs by the great man. In both cases he showed just how invaluable O’Driscoll’s experience will be to the test side, picking his running lines to perfection as he did. Plus Tommy Bowe gave a good account for himself, though I’m not sure it was enough to oust the two Welshmen from the wing just yet.
My Sky Commentator Beef Of The Day came from an exchange between Will Greenwood and Stu Barnes during the play as they suggested Conor Murray and Jamie Heaslip were having their problems hooking up on attacking scrums. I found this interesting since they said nothing when Toby Faletau and Mike Phillips butchered a chance between them against the Barbarians.
In reality I thought Heaslip was at his best for the most part and even with O’Brien on the pitch was willing to take several marauding carries and got a try for his trouble.
But it was the Tullow Tank who stole the show for me. He was in one of those “if there’s no hole, I’ll make one” moods and although Warburton will surely don the test 7 jumper, Gatland would be insane not to have O’Brien on his bench. He had a hand in at least three of the tries at Patersons Stadium and is the last thing the Wallabies will want to see join the fray in the closing stages of a tight contest.
One Irishman who won’t be happy is Rory Best. He had some decent carries but the biggest question mark hanging over his game was his darts and the long ones were definitely lacking. What’s more, you can see in his body language that he is anxious about them. Although Tom Youngs has had his own throwing demons I reckon his ground game and nationality might give him the edge in the pecking order, though both are still way behind Hibbard in my reckoning.
Thankfully the Lions’ score didn’t reach the hundred mark as it had the last time they visited Western Australia back in 2001. Still though, this match was every bit as insignificant as a contest and I’m not too sure having a full strength Force XV would have done much to change that.
I just hope the 35k crowd (in a 43k capacity stadium) didn’t feel too much like zombies watching it.
On to Brisbane we go, where Warburton makes his Tour bow and we will finally be able to say we had a decent look at the entire squad. below you see my test 23 as it stands, with players in brackets being the ones knocking loudest on the door for that particular spot. JLP
Halfpenny, Cuthbert, O’Driscoll, Roberts, North (Bowe), Sexton, Phillips. Jenkins, Hibbard, Adam Jones, O’Connell, AW Jones, Croft (Lydiate), Warburton (c), Heaslip. BENCH : T Youngs (Best), Vunipola, Cole, Gray, O’Brien, Murray, Farrell (Wilko), Hogg.
