Robshaw: Rugby has lost high ground over football thanks to Saracens
As the kid who struggled to learn growing up until a dyslexia diagnosis and as the skipper of the 2015 England team widely ridiculed for failure at their own World Cup, Chris Robshaw knows all about difficult times.
He learned to cope, learn to roll with the punches and came out the other side. Adversity has been part of life, part of sport, and it’s why he was at a loss on Wednesday as to why Saracens didn’t bother attending the new-season Champions Cup launch in Cardiff.
There had been a swirl of negative publicity surrounding the Londoners in the wake of the revelation that they had repeatedly breached the Premiership’s salary cap and would be fined in excess of £5million and deducted 35 points if their appeal against the sanctions isn’t successful.
But that shouldn’t excuse them not turning up at a launch event where they are the defending champions. “I do think they should be here and fronting up,” he told RugbyPass.
“Then again, you are asking a player to do it, you are asking a coach to do it and are they the ones who are making those (salary cap) decisions? To put them out into this… it is going to be a tough time for them, but it is one they have brought on to themselves and they are going to have to deal with it for some time I’d imagine.”
(Continue reading below…)
Robshaw doesn’t hold his tongue in condemning Saracens’ accounting shenanigans, even though Harlequins were well off the pace of their London rivals in the three seasons they were found to be in breach of the cap. Quins were 25 points and five wins behind Nigel Wray’s club in 2016/17, 41 points and nine wins behind in 17/18 and 22 points and six wins behind last term.
In the latter two of those seasons, Saracens went on to lift the trophy via the play-offs and Robshaw has no hesitation suggesting an asterisk should be placed alongside the champions’ name in the roll of honour. “Definitely,” he said.
“That is the big thing at the moment, that is the big thing. There is talk should they lose their titles, is the points deduction enough, is the fine good enough? All those type of things are going to continue to weighed up and spoken about for some time, but it definitely it has got to be looked it.
“If this is upheld it’s pretty obvious those titles have been won unfairly,” Baxter said at the season-launch of the @ChampionsCup in Cardiff.https://t.co/RgVjsekti4
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 6, 2019
“To see they have cheated and it has come out that they were above the salary cap and what they won in that time isn’t fair on the rest of the competition.
“It’s a huge low, a huge low, one of the biggest in the sport. For us, we are a sport that pride ourselves. Often we look down our nose at other sports. We always compare us to football and we look at our ethics when they cheat and stuff, but the grass is no longer greener – we [rugby] are as bad as everyone else.
“We [rugby] have cheated and this is big. I don’t think it is something that can be brushed away quite easily. It’s going to take some time to get through and it makes the league no longer competitive.
“When you look back and say, when you look at a team who have been dominating for years and extremely dominant and they have been caught cheating, maybe that is the answer.
“Maybe that is why you can see they have been so successful when everyone else has been struggling, everyone else has been competing to be competitive to try and keep in their salary caps, to get the best quality as possible to try and be competitive.”
Robshaw insisted the salary cap is of utmost importance to the Premiership’s viability and its rules must be adhered to. “It makes our sport as competitive as possible. We don’t have the backing that football has in terms of TV money, fan engagement, in terms of burns of seats so to speak.
We’re at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff for the Heineken Champions Cup launch. @ChrisRobshaw & Adam Jones are on duty today. Who else is buzzing for our European journey? pic.twitter.com/q8UfPWCYDi
— Harlequins ? (@Harlequins) November 6, 2019
“For our league to be competitive we need to have a salary… it is supposed to make our game sustainable and also competitive so that we aren’t drumming up these big losses for owners, that we can grow the sport organically as well and have a competitive league.”
It won’t be until January 26 when Harlequins next cross swords on the pitch with Saracens. Will the salary cap bring an added edge.
“No, I don’t think it will. It’s a London derby, it’s always tough. I don’t think it will be any spicier now that have been caught cheating, so to speak. I don’t think that will change. It will be probably interesting to see how they respond. I know they are not here today and how they respond to it will be interesting.”
WATCH: Siya Kolisi and Rassie Erasmus talk to the media following South Africa’s arrival home
Comments on RugbyPass
Why is this dude getting so much coverage? Usually knobs like this get cancelled.
1 Go to commentsWow. What was that? A 3 million word meandering article about what exactly?
1 Go to commentsNice piece of writing. And yes the Sharks pulled a rabbit from the hat and were a little lucky with that penalty try that wasn’t given… however the Sharks (with their resources) should be way more consistent and should be putting teams like Claremont away for breakfast. I expect more from them and hope they kick on now.
8 Go to commentsJust what the Sharks needed to get things going in the right direction Defence on the outside really creates havoc for the whole team and needs to be addressed.
8 Go to commentsWell done guys both teams will be ready to play knockout rugby.
1 Go to commentsSurprised that Ramos isn't starting at 15. But what a squad of galacticos!
2 Go to commentsWhy is it a snub? What journalistic garbage is that? Sure the guy is a great player, but there are plenty of loose forwards and not all of them can be Springboks. Also, I know of no-one who doubts Rassie’s judgment. South Africa has a conveyor belt of loose forwards that just keeps producing, so the competition is intense. I certainly wish him well, but there is no entitlement and there is no snub.
17 Go to commentsSkelton may be brought back for the Wallabies so that would be the only reason that may hinder Wilson. Easily the form, most skilful and game IQ of any Oz 8. Valentini’s best and favourite position is 6, but lineouts may be an issue with Skelton, Valentini and Wilson. Will be interesting what Schmidt goes for but for me Wilson should be picked on form. Schmidt rewards work rate, skill and consistency. All that glitters every so often won’t be in contention. Greely is one of those players that has a knack of making the right decision. A coach is going to love him because he knows week in week out he’s going to get the job done. The second try Greely wasn’t the guy who made the initial break it was Flook, Greely was at the bottom of the ruck when Flook was off along the sideline. Greely got up and made the effort to catch up with play but also read the play nicely and hit the pass from Campbell at pace and then held the pass beautifully to Ryan.
6 Go to commentsSpot on Ben. Dead right. Havili looked great at 10. Easily the highest rugby IQ of any NZ player these days. Getting a kick charged down is a result of getting used to adjusting your depth to the line at 10, which he will sort out with time. But other than that it was an outstanding first effort in that position this year. I think the NZ media has misunderstood this directive from Razor. Havili might rank behind B Barrett this year, but Beuden is 33 this month and won't last much longer. DMaC is great but flaky and not really a test match animal (his efforts in Dunedin versus Aus last year for example). If Razor can't have Mounga, DMaC is too unstructured for Razor (and is just too small for test rugby). Havili will end up our first choice first five, and in partnership with Jodie will be excellent. Two triple threat operators in tandem, and big bodies and tough tacklers to boot. Jordoe will be the ABs goal kicker. I am an Aucklander and Blues (and Warriors) fan, but Havili at 10 is going to be sensational in time… he can be the best first five in the world by the end of this year. No question.
6 Go to commentsSharks deserved to be far further back by the last quarter. Their tackling was awful, their set pieces were disappointing, their defensive organization was poor (especially on the Kok side of the D line), they kept making unnecessary errors, and they never looked like cracking the Clermont defense during those first 60m. Masuku kept them in touch, with some help from the Clermont generosity on penalty opportunities. Agree with the writer of this article. It was belligerence, and ability to raise their pressure game just enough, that turned the last quarter into a Bok-style shutout. Clermont have a reputation of not playing the full 80m, and there was a bit of that for sure. But, quite often when the intensity of a team drops off in the last quarter credit is due to the opponent for tiring them out. At 60m, with the Kok try, you thought that just maybe the game was on. At 70m, with the Mapimpi contribution, one felt that Clermont were fading, while facing a team that would maintain the pressure game through the final whistle. Good win in the end, but the Sharks are still playing way below their potential. And with their resources, and a coach that has had enough time to figure things out, they are running out of excuses.
8 Go to commentsGood riddance
1 Go to commentswel the crusaders were beaten by a queensland reds side that hadnt beaten them at home since 1999 and queensland reds partied like it was 1999
6 Go to commentsHard to disagree with the 5 points - with the exception that Wilson should be a squad member but, depending on the other loose forward selections, is not yet a shoo-in. McReight is. Aussie is looking a lot better this year and JS has some selection options. Also, Havili’s tendency to get caught, charged down is also a liability at times but he seemed focused (mostly) and is definitely a consideration for utility back-up. Still feel Reihana is a better prospect at 1st five for Saders.
6 Go to commentsYeah nah, still not sure on Havili tbh. Even though I’m a Crusaders fan through and through I’d be stunned if Razor considers him after seeing some of the stunning talent coming through up North.
6 Go to commentsThink it was a great defensive performance by Northampton. They didn't have stage fright in the first half, the Nienaber defense smothered them. They limited Leinster to 15-3 in the first half. It could have been over by then. A great try from Leinster in the start of the second half looked to have sealed it. But Byrne missed another conversion. Northampton started trying little kicks behind the Leinster wingers. Leinster messed one and Smith brilliantly made the conversion. Leinster decided to tighten the game after Byrne missed a straight forward penalty. A few errors got NH into the 22 and they scored and converted with a few minutes left. Another brilliant steal from Lawes saw NH have a final attack which was turned over by Conan. A classic semi final. World record attendance of 82,300. Leinsters 3 week preparation warranted for this one.
1 Go to commentsJust came back from the game and the atmosphere was amazing. Players stayed afterwards for more than a hour to sign stuff and take photos with fans. Great day out.
8 Go to commentsA great game. The Sharks without Etsebeth are a shadow of the team compared to when he plays. The limitations of Some of the expensive Sharks players are being exposed. Credit to Clermont for some exhilaration play at times.
8 Go to comments100% Mr Owens. But who would want to be a referee.? It must be the most difficult job on earth.
1 Go to commentsStarts to be overdone and oversold this systematic SA narrative…which nevertheless has the merit in this case to recognise blatant refereeing mistakes in their favor
8 Go to commentsNice article. Shades of Steinbeck. They can win the final if they take the game seriously; but only if they take it seriously.
8 Go to comments