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Worcester cancellation row: 'Hybrid game' solution was turned down

By Liam Heagney
(Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

Worcester boss Steve Diamond has defended his club over last Friday’s late cancellation of their Gallagher Premiership game at playoff-chasing Gloucester. There were just five hours left until the 7:45pm kick-off when it was confirmed by Premiership Rugby that the match at Kingsholm was off and wouldn’t be rescheduled due to the stringent regulations governing front row players.

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Injuries, illness and covid resulted in overstretching the Worcester resources in the buildup and it led to an eleventh-hour cancellation that caused much upset at Gloucester as they were left to shoulder the financial losses involved in not being able to cater for a five-figure attendance at a fixture that was set to be shown live in BT Sport. 

Diamond has since recruited four players on loan from Hartpury College in the Championship, meaning Worcester can get the show back on the road on Wednesday night when they are due to play at Bath in the Premiership Rugby Cup. 

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Chris Ashton | Rugby Roots

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Chris Ashton | Rugby Roots

A statement from Premiership Rugby on Tuesday also confirmed that it had asked Sport Resolutions UK to form an independent panel to adjudicate on the cancelled fixture but in the meantime, Diamond used his weekly media briefing to insist that Worcester did everything it could to play the match at Gloucester. 

Diamond explained that calls to all the other Premiership clubs failed to secure players on loan in an emergency capacity while offers to play the match at a later date or to play the game as scheduled but with uncontested scrums were turned down as they weren’t allowed for in the league’s regulations.  

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The Worcester boss explained: “We will be able to fulfil the fixture tomorrow night [Wednesday] at Bath. We have brought four lads in from Hartpury for our Prem Cup game, and the rest of the crew will be coming back to work tomorrow and the day after, I think. It’s six days since it hit us, seven days, last Wednesday, Thursday, and I have not had anybody in work. We have had it deep cleaned, we have had the gym deep cleaned, the physio room, the changing rooms, so hopefully we can eradicate it. 

“Under the player welfare issues, we informed Gloucester at 2.30pm on Thursday that we were having problems. We then tried to source further recruits from the Premiership. We contacted all Premiership clubs because it is not just the positions and the general illness, other clubs do suffer that. 

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“I have not known it as bad as this anywhere to be fair but it’s the front rowing positions where the difficulty lies where you have got to have four props and two hookers and on Thursday we realised we did fulfil that. We informed the league and Gloucester and overnight we went down to only one tighthead and then during the day the other tighthead became very ill, needing medical attention at home. 

“So there were a couple of players that came up of not very high experience but if it would have gone to quarter-to-eight at night kick-off time we wouldn’t have been able to fulfil the fixture because two people got ill on Friday morning. 

“The regulations state you can’t replay the game,” continued Diamond, who took over at Worcester in January from Jonathan Thomas having initially arrived there in late November as their lead rugby consultant. “We offered to replay the game and the regulations don’t allow that which we thought there could be a sort of postponement of that regulation to allow this fixture to go on at a later date. 

“We also asked would it be possible to play a hybrid game where the scrums were non-contested from minute one of the game, which was also refused because the regulations don’t allow that. In our thought process, bearing in mind the safety of the players, we thought we would try anything because there is nothing for us to gain or lose by not playing the game. 

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“Reputationally it has not been fantastic for us at the moment but it will come out in the wash that we did our very best medically and that is the important thing – it’s not a rugby coach making these decisions, it’s your medical department who are saying no, no and no. So there is no coercement allowed as we know. 

“We tried every avenue and there is a lot of emotion flying about over it but if we had got beaten by a well-trained Gloucester team and lost the game, in the grand scheme of things we weren’t going to just benefit by having a further loss. 

“There is nothing to gain by getting two points, if that is what the panel decides, or zero points. I think people have got knickers in a twist over it. It has happened to me at Sale this, it happened Bath versus London Irish in January where they couldn’t field two hookers and it was just put away. 

“But the emotion of it got a little lost in the reality of the commercial impact is big for Gloucester and I feel sorry for them, I do. But that should never come into question on player welfare.”

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J
Jon 2 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

35 Go to comments
j
john 5 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

18 Go to comments
A
Adrian 7 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

18 Go to comments
T
Trevor 10 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

21 Go to comments
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