Rival coach makes ballsy call: 'Unbeaten all year, miles in front of the competition... give Leinster the title now'
Outgoing Glasgow boss Dave Rennie believes it is time to call time on the indefinitely suspended 2019/20 season and declare Leinster the Guinness PRO14 champions. The next Australia head coach does not feel trying to resume this season in late summer or the autumn would be fair given all clubs will lose players and some coaches too beforehand.
He also warned against “flogging” players by trying to squeeze the end of the campaign in before next term. Champions Leinster have won all 13 games and sit on 61 points in Conference A, 20 clear of Ulster and with 14 more than Conference B leaders Edinburgh.
Warriors, who lost last season’s final to Leinster at Celtic Park, sit third behind Ulster and are on course for a quarter-final spot with eight games left, but Rennie thinks it is time to call the season quits. “Clearly, in the time frames that we started with, we are not going to be playing rugby in June,” he said.
“So that complicates issues obviously for players and the coaching staff who may or may not be here beyond that point. There’s a lot of people dying and all over the world people have lost their jobs, the whole world is taking pay cuts. I guess the importance of getting back playing doesn’t really rank with the things I have mentioned.
“Whatever decision is made needs to have integrity involved because to try and push the finals back in August and play with whoever is here, I’m just not sure that will do it justice. We have seen other comps just reward the team that is leading. It’s hard to argue that Leinster, unbeaten all year, miles in front of the competition, it’s hard to not just award them the comp.”
This would be quite an intriguing alliance https://t.co/cVrGdeh027
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) April 28, 2020
Celtic Rugby chief executive Martin Anayi claimed two weeks ago he was “really confident” the competition could resume behind closed doors sometime in July or August but Rennie wants the players to get proper rest. “All of the decisions have got to be made around player welfare on one hand and what’s best for the state of the country,” the New Zealander said.
“I don’t think they are going to rush into relaxing laws. What we really want is some sort of clarity from the PRO14 as to what the future looks like because at the moment players are in limbo, everyone is still training hard in the hope that maybe we will come back and play some footy.
“I just worry about the effect that will have into next season if they continue to train and eventually we get a date and try to finish this season and go straight into next season. I just want to make sure they are not trying to flog the players and they end up with a 13 or 14-month season.”
– Press Association
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