Clinging to the concept of survival of the fittest could bring the game to its knees, even in areas once thought to be strongestFuture historians will pinpoint the past few days as the moment global rugby union came face to face with stark reality. Like an iceberg few imagined would ever melt, huge cracks and fissures are threatening to widen and cause a ripple effect even in places where the sport is theoretically supposed to be strongest.It is not so much the inevitable postponement of all this July’s Tests, with the severe financial pain that entails, that is the giveaway. Nor is it the sight of players still jogging around in small groups, uncertain when the government will permit a...
With the re-election of Sir Bill Beaumont as the chairman of World Rugby, the sport has missed a chance to moderniseFamiliar English white smoke is once again billowing from the chimneys of World Rugby. Those who had hoped for a dash of Argentinian sky blue underestimated the powerful vested interests and conservative instincts still prevailing in rugby’s core heartlands, not to mention the widespread need for a comfort blanket in these uncertain times.This is not to say that Sir Bill Beaumont’s defeat of Agustín Pichot is a guaranteed backward step, merely that a glorious opportunity to reinvent the sport’s image has been spurned. Related: Bill Beaumont beats Agustín Pichot in battle for control of World Rugby Related: The Breakdown |...
Voting starts as Bill Beaumont and Agustín Pichot battle to control World Rugby, and their backstories are just as contrasting as their visions for the sportSo concludes the election campaign to be World Rugby’s top dog. Voting has begun, though we will not know for sure whether Bill Beaumont or Agustín Pichot has prevailed for more than two weeks. There are, of course, mitigating circumstances but, as convoluted processes go, you might have thought lessons would be learned from the contest to host the 2023 World Cup (more on that later). Related: European clubs on collision course with World Rugby over 'unacceptable' plans Related: Trad turkeys of World Rugby unlikely to vote for Christmas on election day Continue reading...
Mixed messages from officials and disciplinary panels suggests a breakdown in communication as the sport tries to evolveThere is a plaque on the wall at Rugby School, commemorating the exploits of William Webb Ellis, who “with a fine disregard for the rules of football first took the ball in his arms and ran with it”. There are reasons to be suspicious about this origin myth. Like the idea, wildly implausible to anyone even vaguely acquainted with the species, that any self-respecting English PE teacher would have praised Webb Ellis’s wit and ingenuity rather than cursed him for his pig-ignorance and set him to doing press-ups in punishment. Still, that’s the story and, two centuries later, it’s Webb Ellis’s name on...
The Australia wing caught Fiji’s Peceli Yato in the head with a shoulder and didn’t use his arms, World Rugby’s tackle directives could not be clearer – yet no action was takenFor 15 minutes the Sapporo Dome sounded as loud as any other ground in the game. And then the rugby started. The volume was ear-splitting in the minutes before kick-off, while the stadium PA was pumping out music, but it fell almost entirely silent in the very second the New Zealander Ben O’Keeffe blew his whistle.It was so quiet in the first half that you could clearly hear the players shouting to each other over the murmurs of the 40,000-odd people in the ground. It made it all feel...