Players are partly to blame for a recent rash of red cards but laws need updating to minimise confusion and help refereesIt has been obvious for a while that rugby union has a problem with its law book. Which is to say people cherrypick the bits they like, gloss over some of the less convenient parts, flag up certain things only to lose interest by next week, and cling pedantically to woolly wording which should have been redrafted years ago. Referees, coaches, players, the media and supporters have all been guilty, depending upon which day of the week it is.The breadth of the problem has been underlined in the past 10 days. A rash of five red cards inside 24...
The recently departed Harlequins coach brought rigour and organisation but the club stands for something different“There are only two types of manager: those who have been sacked and those who will be sacked in the future.” Howard Wilkinson, the last English manager to win the top-flight league title with Leeds in 1992, was talking about football, but rugby union has long been part of the sack race.It was even in the amateur era. But the difference then was it did not cost anything to get rid of a coach, which is why in Wales there was a period when they tended to last a season: autumn, winter, spring and even summer. Payoffs make dismissals more costly, but when Harlequins parted...
The pandemic and pending legal action mean the sport is fractured at the top tier and fearing for the existence of its grassroots levelWhen World Rugby’s chairman, Sir Bill Beaumont, launched his re-election campaign a year ago, he said he was excited by the opportunities for rugby union the future held. Twelve months on, the feeling is one of apprehension rather than anticipation as the game finds itself squeezed in a vice of the coronavirus pandemic and legal action taken by former players diagnosed with early-onset dementia. Related: Premiership Rugby refuses to rule out extending break amid 'serious concerns' Related: 2021: a year of hope or chaos for the biggest events in world sport? Continue reading...
The Premiership’s second youngest coach is making a name for himself, while Leicester are using a high kick with a differenceLee Blackett is a head coach going somewhere and Leicester are on an upward spiral. Two thoughts after last weekend’s Premiership round, another to be affected by Covid cancellations, now with Saturday’s east Midlands derby at Franklin’s Gardens a fifth victim.The manner in which Wasps defeated Exeter in a repeat of last October’s Premiership final was impressive. The Chiefs were below full strength – although not as much as they were at Ashton Gate last August when they showed Bristol how far they had to go – but such was the systematic way they were picked apart, it influenced the...
Lack of clarity about what will happen at the end of the season is unfair to clubs, players and spectatorsAnyone who watched the Premiership game between London Irish and Leicester on Sunday would have been struck by a few things. The first was the venue: how good it is to see the Exiles in their brand new home in Brentford, playing with a renewed sense of purpose. Even their snazzy green kit felt like progress, in contrast to Leicester’s away strip, which has prompted fans to ask if it was designed by a child with a set of crayons.Equally uneasy on the eye was Leicester’s modus operandi. Even in the closing moments, with possession in their own 22 and the...