'Media frenzy sits around relegation in most English sport... but is it good for young player development?'
New Zealander Chris Boyd is struggling to come to terms with England’s obsession with relegation in sport. In his first season as Northampton’s director of rugby, the Super Rugby winner with the Hurricanes takes his sixth-placed Saints to relegation-threatened Newcastle on Friday night knowing that host club Falcons are facing a loss of Premiership status that would hit them hard in the pocket.
There is an ongoing debate over ring-fencing the Premiership to remove the massive ramifications of relegation which can significantly affect tactics and selection. And the relentless demands of the Premiership and European rugby has been a significant challenge for Boyd who did not have to deal with relegation when he was operating in New Zealand.
He told RugbyPass: “A couple of weeks ago there was a really pivotal game between Gloucester and Bath for the top of the ladder which everybody ignored because the total focus was on Newcastle versus Leicester. The media frenzy that sits around relegation in my mind, from a positive and negative, has an effect on the drama and theatre that plays out at the end of most English sport to be honest.
“There is a really interesting question around whether that is good for sport in general. There is no doubt it is good for television and for drama, but is it good for the development of young players? From a freedom of playing point of view, the answer is no. From a learning how to scrap your way out of a tough situation and dig in and grind out some victories, it probably does.
“Those people with higher pay scales than me will determine which way you want to go, but there is no doubt the relegation threat across sport in England – and other places – does have an impact on what is seen as important. I might have been a little bit lucky or a little bit naïve, but we haven’t ever talked about relegation at the club.
Who needs what to get where this weekend? ?#GallagherPrem as it stands ?https://t.co/pa8DPwbq8q pic.twitter.com/wfD4vl30Zy
— Premiership Rugby (@premrugby) April 22, 2019
“I can have empathy for Newcastle and the other four or five teams who could potentially be relegated and we’re talking about those teams rather than the ones trying for top four or top six. It’s not a pleasant place to be where relegation is a threat and it can bring out the best in people and also the worst. If you can get through that with your team intact – even if you get relegated – you have done a great job.
“While I can have a great deal of empathy for Newcastle’s plight, we are going there with our own agenda and that is to win. It’s so tight that after the weekend we may be up to fourth place or in seventh or eighth and the margin for error is very small. We’re going to have to play well to get points out of Newcastle.”
? Double-dummy, buzzer-beater, try-time ?@alexmitchell97 may have kept @SaintsRugby in the hunt for the top four ? with the cheekiest ? of scrum-half tries ?
Fools them once, fools them twice, all smiles ?
Saints will finish _____ this year in the #GallagherPrem ???? pic.twitter.com/KDtdydyonX
— Premiership Rugby (@premrugby) April 25, 2019
Boyd will not get England captain Dylan Hartley back from long-term injury for at least another week and has needed to blood players who have come through the club’s academy to cover for missing stars.
He added: “Dylan is really close to playing and it’s a pretty good bet he will play in the Worcester or Exeter games – or both. He’s feeling pretty frisky and he is the type of guy, mentally and physically very tough, who can drop right back in and deliver a performance.
The fluidity for this @HarryMal10 try at Newcastle in 2017 ?#ThrowbackThursday ? pic.twitter.com/0Dpk9Absk1
— Northampton Saints ? (@SaintsRugby) April 25, 2019
“The whole year has been a work in progress and we have had some flat games, but by and large the line on the graph has been up with three games still to go.
“Whether our season has been a success or not will be determined by those games. I won’t score myself before the end of an exam and when we finish our place on the log will determine the success of the season. From a performance point of view, we have had some good ones and also some bloody awful performances. That tells me that consistency is something we have to work on.”
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Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 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
3 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 commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to comments