'I have just had a protein bowl with him and a coffee in the green room out the back'
The Guinness Six Nations launch day in London ended up as every rugby event should – often stuffily guarded team talk eventually giving way to far looser lips and lashings of the tournament’s ever-popular black stuff.
With the great and the good of the six competing nations having been and gone – some heading home; others, such as Ireland and England, off to sunnier climes in Portugal for some warm weather prep – the pods were in the house with the pints on tap.
There was our old favourite, The Rugby Pod featuring Goodie and Jim, giving it socks to Flats and Shanks along with the Try Hards, fun of the fair that had Wayne Barnes – yes, the Test match referee – trying to keep the shenanigans all above board at the sold-out 90-minute show.
It was sweetness and light in contrast to the day’s more formal earlier proceedings. The Wapping Tobacco Dock is a rough and ready exhibition space shoehorned into a grade one listed warehouse in east London.
A far cry from the gentile exclusivity of the posh Fulham Hurlingham Club where the event had nearly always annually taken place, stretching back to when icons such as Brian O’Driscoll were first on the prowl.
(Continue reading below…)
Eddie Jones insists the Saracens scandal could be beneficial to England
From SW6 to E1W, then, and the new location aside, Wednesday morning represented a widespread changing of the guard from what we had known in recent times.
Four new head coaches. Four new captains. Recognisable faces but an unrecognisable workload for them as they worked their way through a mountain of questions and answers in the various media rotations.
Radio and podcasts, dailies and Sundays, photography, host broadcasters, other broadcasters, online and social… all with little or no pause. Not even family ties could intervene much.
Some new faces at our #GuinnessSixNations Launch today!
Best of luck to first-time #GuinnessSixNations Head Coaches in the upcoming Championship! pic.twitter.com/RQJRXclTX5
— Guinness Men's Six Nations (@SixNationsRugby) January 22, 2020
“I spoke to him,” quipped new Ireland boss Andy Farrell when asked late in the schedule whether he had managed to catch up with his son, England captain Owen. “I have just had a protein bowl with him and a coffee in the green room out the back.” How very reassuring.
Despite the eight newcomers to the usual twelve-strong coach and captain fold, the national narratives were mostly cosily familiar, mostly stuff everyone has heard all before.
It’s routine at this stage in January to hear an update on a Johnny Sexton injury, to learn that Gregor Townsend’s glass is its usual half-full, to throw the eyes up at the French espousing their customary desire for a new dawn, to shake the head as the Italians ponder how to somehow get better, and to admire the colossus that is simply Alun Wyn Jones, reverential and calculating all in the same breath on an occasion where he had a fresh sidekick in Wayne Pivac.
And welcome back to @AlunWynJones and @owen_faz.
Key date for the diary: Round Four #ENGvWAL on 7 March 😎 pic.twitter.com/TxOL9XrPJE
— Guinness Men's Six Nations (@SixNationsRugby) January 22, 2020
So many words were carefully chosen. Less so the sartorial look. Pivac opted for a red tie when black was in vogue. Meanwhile, Fabien Galthie attempted to replicate the Agustin Pichot style, casual white runner-type-shoes going against the grain of a spick and span dark suit. French inconsistency? You bet.
Then there was England and the awkward elephant in the room. Allianz Park may be more than an hour away by public transport from Shadwell, but that distance was never going to be enough to inoculate Eddie Jones and captain Farrell from the biggest story of the Premiership era – the automatic relegation of Saracens.
“Portuguese beer will help,” chirped the tieless Jones, his overcoat already on and his hands fidgety as he addressed the story of the day, the month and the year one final time while he completed his last media rotation before heading for the exit.
This will be absolutely fascinating. https://t.co/uei3jdKyEN
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 22, 2020
Only 81 days had passed since England had given second best in the World Cup final to South Africa, yet here was the coach being asked how he could fix a squad’s morale bruised and broken by salary cap revelations that have left the defending league champions unanimously labelled as cheats.
“It will be a matter of just getting the issues on the table, having a good chat and then just spending time with each other. Time is a big thing,” Jones hoped. “We will be honest and upfront about it and we will come through it and get on with what’s in front of us,” chipped in Farrell.
All very convincing but very unconvincing at the same time. A bit like the women’s game. Their coaches and captains were at the Tobacco as well, shooting the breeze but without the same level of audience that had lapped up every nuance of the men’s preview.
Six Nations. Two tournaments. One main topic of discussion. This Saracens saga is only going to run and run and run. Just like the pints on tap when the pods were later in the house.
WATCH: Andy Goode and Brendan Venter didn’t hold back on this week’s The Rugby Pod as they discussed Saracens and the salary cap scandal
Comments on RugbyPass
Brett, from my distant perspective, I hope you get to keep the Rebels. Any ideas of teams from Japan or Argentina are just crazy. Won’t happen. If you look at logistics, it is much easier to get to LA from Auckland, Brisbane, Melbourne or Sydney than to Buenos Aires. All with direct non-stop daily flights. You may even get some “gringos” to watch the games, with some younger players compared to Giteau and Nonu who still “play” in the area. I think it is virtually impossible to get a competitive Argie team for SR. All Pumas are in Europe, almost all second tier players are also in Europe. Fringe players are in South American pro rugby tournament (and many still in the MLR!) but these players who might be most interested in joining a new Jaguares do not have the skills to compete. As I have been saying since the Jaguares joined, they should have had TWO teams to make logistics for visiting teams better and Argie player development improved as well. Jaguares/Pumas was not ideal. But this is where Pichot and his cronies did not think long enough. Further the country with he new president “No hay Plata” Milei is in a very difficult situation. Galperin, the richest man in Argentina owns the Miami franchise of MLR. I don’t think you can get him to invest in Argentina. Actually, he played rugby himself. He was a fly half. He is worth around $6 billion!
1 Go to commentsWell done Baby Boks we will take the Draw. No 9 senseless long passes in those conditions. let’s move on and hope for some good weather
4 Go to commentsHow did it end a draw. South Africa didn’t score any points as far as I can see
4 Go to commentsNo doubt this will be a fantastic occasion and I plan to be there, but I think the bean counters have won out over the rugby brains. In my opinion, it is foolhardy to give the Black Ferns the experience of playing in front of 60,000+ at Twickenham a year before they might be playing there in a World Cup Final. Better to play France at Twickenham and Black Ferns at Kingsholm. The difference in takings would be miniscule.
1 Go to commentsDom kant
193 Go to commentsBen is a little incel desperately trying to stir the pot and stay relevant. We used to get mad at his articles. Now we just feel sorry for him
193 Go to commentsPerhaps we may need to put an asterisk on NZ’s ‘87 WC win since the Boks weren’t there. You know, just as a reminder. Poor Ben Smith. Go cry somewhere else.
193 Go to commentsNz should have won. I didn't watch the game, but the ref was at fault and the bounce of the ball and the Bokke used the Bomb squad and the Bokke slow the game down and the Bokke scrum. They should remove the scrum. The Bokke are to strong. Not fair. Nz should have won
3 Go to commentsThanks for a much more balanced piece Ned and not that BS that Bin Smuth just posted a short while ago. read this article and then Bin Smuth’s and tell me there isn’t a huge difference🙄
3 Go to commentsWere the Baby Boks part of this game or did the Baby Blacks play themselves?🤔 That man Bin Smuth once again does a little write-up on the game and it is like 95% about the Baby Blacks🤣 Glad he ends off with the Baby Blacks were actually in cruise control for most of the game and weren’t actually playing for the win WTF🤣🤣 Maybe he was expecting the Baby Blacks to run rampant….
4 Go to commentsOne does not expect anything more from Ben Smith who epitomises the worst of New Zealand media arrogance and an inability to balance what he has to say about any team that beats the All Blacks. His reference to context is pathetically thin. He does not comment that Frizell deserved a red card given his blatant manipulation of his body to ensure that he could drop his body weight onto Mbonambi’s lower leg. No mention of the ball lost forward before the All Black’s try (lost in-field of the 5 metre line and gathered beyond). The All Black commitment and effort was superb and there was little in it. Given the Springbok passage to the final and the loss of their hooker in the first three minutes, their resolve and capacity to win their fourth final out of eight attempts (not three out of ten) deserves the praise that has been forthcoming from media around the world, worth reading and listening to. Ben should join his “pundit” friends on TV - he would fit in well. This sort of article reduces any credibility Rugby Pass has ever had. Why persist with this sort of nonsense? The man does his country and a rugby blog a disservice.
193 Go to commentsEtzebeth went on to say: “I would never dream of saying that systems stay in place following a change in captain. To say that would be deeply, deeply, disrespectful of Siya. A while back an Irish person told me they would be fine without Sexton, so I’m just responding to that.”
3 Go to commentsClose games are what we want to see…. What a match it was…. I am sure that everyone was drained by the end of it. The reality of it all there has to be a winner and a loser. The fact that we still talking about it is almost 6 months to the day Rugby is the winner.. Asante sana… Here is to 2027 and what it will bring out.
193 Go to commentsIt’s going to be a good game. COYQ
1 Go to comments“Shock”, the guy was casually saying he was just slightly surprised. Nowadays if you say anything it gets taken completely out of context. Calm down everyone.
156 Go to commentsAll I can say after reading this bitter, sour, sad piece is… Thank you very much! This will be read in the change room just before kick off on 31 August…
193 Go to commentsLook, we know contradicting opinions and wacky comments bring readers and clicks, so well done to RP for allowing always-wrong-Ben to say something here. However RP needs to put a disclaimer next to his comments for their own credibility. NZ was and is incapable of acknowledging their opp beating them. They refused so with Ire and with Arg in 2022 and also the Boks in 2023 x 2. Nothing Ben says here holds water, NZ attacked backwards, except when Kolisi and Kolbe was off And cyncialy took out Bongi, we played without lineouts for 75mins. Kolisi and Kurt-Lee almost scored twice. Thats 3 vs 2 for Boks, but the Boks opportunities was legal. Boks should have been 16-3 up by half time. Tacticaly the Boks attacked better defended better scrummed better (without a hooker) kicked better and crossed the whitewash more times. Boks beat Fr Eng Nz to win in 23, comeon give some credit at least. Even Federer Verstappen NY Mets, Mamoa, was able to see a great human sport achievement by the Boks and their DNA Boks #RWC27 !🏉
193 Go to commentsForget the 85kg bit, that can become something else. However I do like the one off test on ANZAC day idea. SR plays Fri/ Sat, test players travel Sunday and the squads have the full week together before playing Saturday. Rest of SR has a week off. Either involve women's teams in same location or in the other country and rotate annually. Herbert is right in that change is needed.
3 Go to commentsI’ve read loads of nonsense before but this article takes the cake. Or perhaps someone changed the date for April Fool's Day.
3 Go to commentsReally Rugbypass? Ben Smith I think you forgot what the Springboks did to the All Blacks at Twickenham 8 weeks earlier? Springboks 35 All Blacks 7. There is alot of ifs and buts in your article. The All Blacks threw the sink at the Springboks and unfortunately they were not good enough regardless if they played with 14 men or not. It was the Springboks who forced the All Blacks to make mistakes! Sorry but not Sorry the Springboks is the best ever Rugby World Cup Nation in the world. 4 Cups baby!
193 Go to comments