The forgotten draw of rugby's David versus Goliath
When Toulouse overcame the challenge of la Rochelle in last year’s Heineken Champions Cup final the match boasted the two biggest packs assembled in the competition’s history.
Toulouse could have fielded the heaviest average pack but astonishingly, it would have been la Rochelle who boasted the two largest players in Will Skelton and Uini Antonio.
The European cup emphasizes the strides made to make players not just bigger but fitter, more skilful, and physically more intimidating than ever before. Additionally, there are more of them, as Cardiff player Rowen Jenkins told The Eggchasers Rugby Podcast regarding Toulouse: “as they came off the bench, they got bigger and bigger”.
In the relatively short time after rugby Union turned professional, observers noticed that the gulf between the pros and the amateurs had grown to such an extent that interaction between the two cadres of players may well be unachievable.
The divergence has created other consequences. Rugby as a sport is still perfectly suitable for amateur individuals willing to take a bit of risk on a weekend, it’s never been safer.
Back in the day, even the biggest mismatch was between not very good players who were doctors, dentists, bin men and scaffolders against very good players that were doctors, dentists, bin men and scaffolders.
Now the lawmakers need to grapple with the serious safety concerns about world-class athletes colliding into each other.
It’s not clear how these two sets of players can be governed by the same laws. This however is a topic for a different time.
The consensus is that amateur or part-time players are no match for today’s pros, it’s downright dangerous – or is it?
We might mouth platitudes about welfare but there soon forgotten come World Cup time. Nobody questions the suitability of the Namibian farmer or the part-timer from Russia to play the All Blacks or the Springboks on safety grounds.
We revel in the romance and enjoy the spectacle of young men forming lasting memories. We observe, slack-jawed, the bravery of players taking unpaid leave to try and stop Duane Vermeulen on the game line and we love it.
And so, we come to last weekend’s events in Cardiff.
No one would have wished what happened to Cardiff’s squad on anyone. However, stuck between a rock and a hard place, Cardiff fielded a team of academy players, semi-pros and a scattering of senior squad players.
Over ten thousand spectators filed through the Arms Park turnstiles and many more turned on at home. The men that pulled on the famous blue of the capital club might have lost but they also produced a weekend that will live long in the memory.
On paper the confrontation made no sense, who would be interested in watching this? In sporting terms it’s gladiators being fed to lions. Even a full-strength Cardiff would have been long odds to topple the aristocrats of Europe, Toulouse.
I like my sports to be product lead; I like parity, ring-fencing, salary caps and minimum squad numbers so this rugby free-for-all shouldn’t appeal but my word did it.
If we can acknowledge that Cardiff pulled off a special weekend of rugby and that the differences in playing standards at World Cups are not catastrophic, then how can we apply these lessons to English rugby?
The Green King IPA Championship is the unloved younger sibling of the Premiership – neglected, excluded and underfunded.
What it also is, is the home to legions of battle-hardened, proud, confrontational men who would love to have a crack at the Premiership’s big boys. Men in the mould of Rowen Jenkins and William Davis King who turned out for Cardiff this weekend.
England’s current professional cup rugby offering is frankly woeful, the insipid Premiership Cup, a competition of empty performances and empty stadiums.
It’s played by a mixture of kids and players on loan, ironically from Championship clubs. Frankly, if I want to see those loan players play against Premiership opposition then let it be in their own club colours, with teammates they know and systems they have trained, rather than as cosplay Premiership teams.
It’s not always been this way, one of the most famous games of English rugby occurred on Sunday 29th of February 2004, in what was then the Powergen Cup when a distinguished Wasps team was downed by a team that no longer even exist: Pertemps Bees [well they do exist but they are now known as Birmingham Solihull].
That day the Bees overcame Wasps, but not any old Wasps team. It was the soon-to-be European champions led by the mighty Warren Gatland himself.
The names of the players representing the club that day included Tom Voyce, Ayoola Erinle, Stuart Abbott, Tim Paine, Trevor Leota, Simon Shaw, Tom Reese and one James Haskell.
Yet the passion in the endeavour of the amateur club was enough to see them through to the next round.
Unbelievably the odds of the Bees being victorious were so long, that no provision was made to award any prize money, had Wasps won the game they would have been awarded £30,000 for their efforts.
The bean counters at the RFU stood their ground, no prize money was paid, although one suspects Bees would have forgone a lot more then £30,000 for their victory over their Premiership opposition.
That season, Wasps went on to beat Gloucester in the final of the Premiership and Bees were rewarded with a trip to the Northeast where an eventual 53 – 3 defeat to Newcastle Falcons awaited them. Rob Andrews men were prepared not to fall into the same trap as Wasps.
English rugby could simultaneously ease two of its biggest problems, firstly, making the Premiership cup relevant. Secondly, the Premiership would be able to offer a fig leaf to both the RFU and the Championship as all three organisations struggle to come up with a coherent vision for English rugby’s second tier.
It’s not just Bees that have been able to pull off an upset. Cornish Pirates beat the mighty Saracens in the Championship last year. Mark McCall said of the 25 -18 loss “it was very sobering”. I bet it was.
This year in the Championship, the top four teams: Ealing, Cornish Pirates, Jersey Reds and Doncaster would be far from favourites to win but it would be a very naive Premiership director of rugby who’d underestimate them.
How great to see the grand old clubs like Gloucester and Leicester, re-establishing their links with the rest of English rugby?
A day for the Championship clubs to fill up their coffers and for Premiership fans to get some mud on their shoes, what could be better? You only need to look at the example set by Cardiff to see what it means to watch boys from your local area perform against some of the best in the sport.
Perhaps the perfect complement for rugby’s never-ending schedule of elite matches has already been invented, just it’s been forgotten. In a sport dominated by Goliaths, maybe opening the door, if only occasionally, to a few Davids can help us remember why we love this sport so much.
Comments on RugbyPass
Bold headline considering the Canes and Blues are 1 and 2 and the Brumbies were soundly beaten by the Chiefs and Blues. Biggest surprise is Rebels 4 Crusaders 12 - no one saw that coming. If Aus are improving that’s great 👍
1 Go to commentsAnna, You are right, we need to have patience whilst the others catch up to England and France. Also it is the PWR that has been the game changer for England. the RFU put money into that initially at the expense of the Red Roses. I was sceptical at first but it has paid off in spades.
1 Go to commentsI think Matt Proctor became a 1 test AB in the same fixture. Cameron is quality and has been great this season, can’t believe’s he only 27. Realistically how would he not be selected for ABs squad this year. Only Dmac is ahead of him as a specialist 10. With Jordan out, it will come down to where and when Beauden Barrett slots back in, and where they want to play Ruben Love. Cameron seems an absolute lock in for the wider squad though. Added benefit of TJ-Cameron-Jordie combination at 9, 10, 11 too.
1 Go to commentsFarcical, to what end would someone want to pay to keep this thing going.
1 Go to commentsHavili, our best 12 by a mile, will be in the squad, if he stays fit. JB is the most overrated AB in the last 50 years.
61 Go to commentsWe had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
8 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
55 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
8 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
61 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
11 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
61 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
8 Go to comments