I Know The rugby I Prefer!

If we’re honest we always knew how this was likely to end.

It’s still hard to swallow of course. For me Sarries have never , and will never, be representative of the game I love. There is, of course, lots of talk as to whether they are, AGAIN, in breach of the Salary Cap, in fact or at least in spirit. Without giving away fistfuls of tickets they still can’t sell out a relatively small stadium of less than 11,000, even for a semi-final with the Premiership’s biggest away support travelling by the bucketload. And the brand of rugby they play is not pleasant to watch, it’s not entertaining. In fact it puts me in mind of palm oil production. Devastating, relentless and unattractive. Merciless against the opposition.

Gloucester just edged the Possession and Territory stats 46/54 and 45/55 respectively. But for that they ran 40% more than the Sarries. They made 56% more passes and kicked from hand 20% less. More territory, more possession and far more entertaining. We beat more defenders 24/28. We won more rucks 56/73. Won 100% of our mauls compared to their 77% and made 50% more offloads. They even missed more tackles than us 28/24. We forced them to make more tackles 115/83. Penalties were all square at 8 each. You have to dig deep into the stats to find where they were better than us and we conceded 17 turnovers to their 9.

At least McCall was honest when he said “I feel quite funny because the scoreline does them [Gloucester] a disservice.”

So where was the game won? They are European Champions. They’ve been there, done that. And they will keep on doing it. Their squad turnover is miniscule. They reward their players financially and players want to stay with a winning team. The big game is routine to them. But they remind me of that allegory “Rocky 4” where Rocky takes on the Russian creation that is Drago. Scientifically created in a lab  the all powerful Drago eats up everything in it’s way. It works. But no-one particularly enjoys it.

Gloucester now have a reasonably settled squad having finally decided to unload over a third of it 2 seasons ago and actually spend some money. Are we at the cap now? Quite likely. You could always see what Ackermann was trying to create and Cipriani was the key that unlocked the potential. The new pitch has certainly helped. If only such money had been spent a few seasons ago. We now have a wonderfully entertaining group of players that appears to have that team cohesion that has been missing for so long. What we do not yet have is that experience of playing in the big games.  Today we played the European Champions (their 3rd title in 4 years) and Premiership Champions (3 times in the last 4 seasons) at their home and scored almost twice as many points as Leinster, the ERCC runner ups, in the ERCC final. But for a few handling errors and a bit of impatience (and to be fair, some nerves) it would have been closer.  But give it time and we will have that experience. And give it time and that 10 point deficit between us and 2nd place will disappear. I think we could all look at the games this season and easily find 10 or more points we really should have had in the Premiership.

Hearing from the thousands of Gloucester fans that travelled to North London today it seems Sarry fans departed the ground as fast as humanly possible once the necessary result was delivered up. Gloucester fans, despite the loss and the long journey they faced, waited and enjoyed the camaraderie of our great game until the last. Once again the comment was about the travelling Gloucester support not the home fans.  I know for a fact that tens of thousands of Gloucester fans were watching the game from all points of the compass and from all over the world, I heard from them. They were using all sorts of technology to be involved. From Twitter, to live feeds to legal and illegal streams, those whom the Cherry & White virus has infected tuned in, somehow, some way. And we were happy because we had watched OUR team play the greatest game in the world. And Sarries, and Wray, will be bitter because it doesn’t matter how much money you throw at it, you cannot buy a Shed.

 

Is The Gulf Too Wide?

Newcastle Falcons face the drop to the Championship for the first time since their promotion for 2013/14. Since then they have finished 11th, 11th, 11th, 8th & 4th. Between ’98 and 2011 they had an uninspiring run in the Premiership but eventually made their way into the European Champions Cup Competition before plummeting once again. So where to now for Falcons and is the argument for ring-fencing now too strong to ignore?

Let’s be honest, none of us can really imagine Toby Flood plying his trade in the Championship, or David Wilson, Mulipola or a fistful of other Falcons stars. Newcastle say they are sticking by Dean Richards but is it likely other clubs might tempt him away?

Bears have invested massively via the wallet of Stephen Lansdown, one of the heads of a leading financial services firm, which has enabled them to avoid immediate relegation. Indeed, the financial investment has been such they are already attracting interest into the possibility they are in breach of the salary cap; thus they have survived their first year back in the Prem and Falcons have tumbled.

But if we were honest, the comparison between the newly promoted and relegated is a gulf. There is nothing about London Irish that suggests they will survive their first season in the prem and nothing that suggests Falcons won’t immediately regain Premiership status, despite what is likely to be a mass evacuation of stars.

I confess, I have always strongly been in favour of relegation & promotion. Without the ultimate sanction is it truly a competition worth playing in? Would it not become that worst of all scenarios, the 60 meter kids race where everyone gets a prize?

But is that gulf between the Championship and the Premiership now too wide? Too many teams in the Championship say openly they have no interest in competing for the Prem. Their grounds, teams, coaching staff and facilities do not stand a chance of achieving Premiership standards with the current investment available to them.

Perhaps Mohed Altrad might like to consider investment at this level where the Wrays & Craigs can’t vote against him?

It seems unlikely that Falcons will fill 10,200 capacity Kingston Park in any games in the Championship. One of the biggest derbies last season was that between Hartpury & Bristol which attracted a crowd of around 3000 paying £10 a head. And most of their sponsors will be either expecting a massive reduction in cost or will simply walk away.

And the gulf will surely only get wider with the £200m+ funding from CVC.

I can’t help but feel a ring fenced Premiership will become lazy and dull and predictable. We know what money does. Sarries have been 1st, 1st, 4th, 1st, 3rd, 2nd, 2nd in the last 7 seasons playing that brand of rugby that so inspires a good night’s sleep. Even Exeter, which relies less on high finance than on the mind of a scrap dealer that can pick out washed up motors and fine tune them, fails to really excite in their brand of rugby…..force penalty, kick to touch, catch, maul, drive. (although it’s good to see that Baxter has found a use for Kvesic as a Waldrum replacement….he was never a flanker!). You do have to wonder how Chief’s fans keep their level of interest up.

For me Ackermann has faults. His failure to play the likes of Vellacott, Savage & McAllister because they were leaving among them. But I enjoy the brand of rugby that he brings to the Premiership and it seems, mostly, to be effective. Investment in the pitch was essential to enable it to work, unloading a third of the team and bringing in some cheap Africaans imports within StQs budget was also essential. This has been a different approach to StQ’s initial effort of bringing in a high financier and it seems to have helped.

But if we ring fence will we end up with three distinct groups. 4 teams regularly at the top, 4 in the middle and 4 at the bottom….with results following a very predictable pattern?

How about this as a suggestion. Matched fundraising. Split the Championship in to two tiers. Those committed to seeking promotion and those not. All those committed to seeking promotion would receive a matched sum equal to twice the amount of new investment found by the club. If, for example, a current sponsor increased their sponsorship by £250,000 then the RFU/CVC would invest £500,000. This would mean the sponsor and the club have the opportunity to make that next step, or at least plan it, and achieve a level playing field, or near level playing field, with Premiership clubs without a Wray, Craig or Altrad. Of course, such plans by the Championship club would have to be evidenced by a business plan and supported by the expertise at the RFU with succession planning. But it’s doable. And would surely prevent what is arguably the greatest rugby league in the world becoming a stagnant pool.

…..While I’m on the subject. I’ve been roundly castigated for my opinion in regard to who is our best Loose Head. Fair enough, everyone is entitled to their opinion. But I will say now, my money is on Paddy McAllister making the Ireland team within 12 months of leaving Gloucester for Connacht, such is the respect in which he is held in Ireland and by Schmidt. It may be just too late for the RWC given his lack of game time but I sincerely hope it’s not. I wish you all the very best in Galway Paddy and thank you for your efforts at Gloucester. Of course, if I’m wrong, I’m sure my fellow Shed Heads will let me know 😉