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'I don't think it's really appropriate when people are quite ill'
Declan Kidney doesn’t believe it is appropriate for Gallagher Premiership fans to be debating the points split system for cancelled games – even though London Irish have benefited in recent weeks following the call-off of their games on successive weekends.
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The post-Christmas Irish matches at Bath and at home to Northampton were cancelled due to an outbreak in the London club’s ranks. However, unlike in Europe where the cancelled match points split has been 5-0, the teams at fault for cancellations in England have been less severely punished.
Premiership clubs have ruled that the team which causes the cancellation still gets two match points with the other team involved awarded four, a situation that has caused the league table to look very different to what it would be like if European rules were applied.
Irish are currently in tenth spot on nine points, a total that includes four points from the two Premiership match cancellations they were involved in. If the European criteria was applied, though, Irish would instead have just five points and would be bottom of the table rather than Gloucester who currently have six points from the five matches they have played.
Both Irish and Gloucester have had a single Premiership win each so far this season but with Irish handed four points for not playing matches compared to Gloucester, who have taken the field on every weekend, it suggests an anomaly in how the table is working.
It's rugby but definitely not as we have known it in England#GallagherPrem
https://t.co/BbfkALDqmM— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 6, 2021
However, Kidney believes the height of the pandemic isn’t the right time to be debating these things even though five Premiership matches in total have been cancelled in recent weeks. “The points system, somebody had to come up with something,” said Kidney, speaking ahead of this Sunday’s return to action by Irish when they take on Harlequins.
“If you look at the European system it’s a 28-0, five points to nil in a four-round league. That is quite harsh. What is happening in the league here it has pulled everybody together. With a game being off this weekend as well (Northampton vs Leicester) it has different effects for different clubs. I have seen some of the comments and I have also been in touch with some of the people who have had Covid.
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“I don’t think it is really appropriate when people are quite ill with a virus to be deflating a system that was agreed on by the powers that be [the clubs] before the season started. Everybody knew what they were getting into. I can complain about it but I don’t think that is the right thing to do.
“We would like to think with the way the virus is everybody knows that we live, train and play in the Surrey area which has a very high degree of virus floating around and it’s very contagious with this new variant. The prime minister has said it is 1/50 whereas in the London area it’s 1/30 people have it. Is this going to hit other clubs?
“It has hit other clubs in the past. You are hoping it won’t hit other clubs in the future. Will it balance out by the end of the year? Who is to know. The main thing is to get rid of it from a health and human point of view. From a rugby point of view, it could have an effect but it is actually wrong to be commenting on it from a purely rugby point of view.
“It’s swings and roundabouts in life and it’s how we react to that too rather than sitting around complaining about it. All I do know is we were highly frustrated in not being able to play last week (against Northampton) when we were good to go but we had a civic duty as much as a duty to our supporters and everything else which was why the call was made the way it was.”
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"Do I understand why other people would say we need to do this because otherwise we might be financially struggling?
– Momentum growing to ring-fence Premiership, putting Exeter on the spot after their inspired rise through the ranks #GallagherPrem https://t.co/vsDbfftMTn
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 7, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
Why cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to comments