Tomkins switch ushers in new cross-code debate

That Wigan Warriors centre Joel Tomkins was angling for a cross-code move down South was one of the worst kept secrets in rugby. Almost as bad, in fact, as Shaun Edwards wanting a job coaching England, or that Judge Blackett had called the RFU board a bunch of incompetent prawn-guzzlers (allegedly).

After the hash that Saracens made with Andy Farrell’s switch to Union (they persisted in playing him at flanker, when the RFU rightly saw that the position was too complicated to learn quickly and Farrell too lacking in pace and too gifted with ball in hand), it is pleasing to see that Tomkins has been lined up to play centre, where he has played some of his League. The switch to Aviva Premiership rugby should not be overly onerous for a player blessed with pace and the eye for a gap or deadly running line, and there is a dearth of good outside centres in rugby union as the World Cup recently showed. Unsurprisingly, it also happens to be the position for which Saracens (and England) currently have no natural occupant.

What is more interesting is the rest of the announcement. Saracens and Wigan are to form a partnership to incorporate ‘co-operation between the respective coaching teams and academies, player loans and a cross-code match.’ Union and League have often eyed each other warily from across the Great Divide, including the odd cross-code challenge. In 1996, when Union first went professional, Wigan thrashed Bath at League and the Union champions more or less returned the favour two weeks later.

The two codes are entirely different games and comparisons are futile, yet the cult of cross-code learning has been fuelled by the great services that League has rendered to Union over the years. Jason Robinson, Lote Tuqiri, flat rush defences, cross-field kicks and diagonal running lines are just some of the contributions League has made.

Ironically, given its history of professionalism, the only thing it appears that League could learn from Union is how to turn the game into a cash cow.

Inter-sport training exercises have become common practice, particularly with sprint coaches working in football and rugby, and performance directors such as Rob Andrew and Clive Woodward occupying roles that are understood only in theory.

It is just possible that training with Wigan could encourage some of the Saracens forwards in particular to become better ball players (Andy Saull springs to mind as the most suited to League of the Saracens team), but it is hard to see what would go the other way. Most League players would consider it an insult to suggest that they could learn from Union’s intensity or skill set, while greater fame and lucre could be a temptation which League’s best players would struggle to resist.

Given that the partnership between Saracens and Wigan seems so one-sided, the small matter of the reported £250,000 and the cross-code match (perhaps an August friendly at Wembley or home and away legs once Copthall is open) seem like the compensation. Fans of each code are unlikely to change allegiances and the live rugby market is fast becoming saturated, but even if the codes cannot learn much from each other, they could make money off each other.

In Union’s struggling Northern regions and League’s unconquered South, that would be a welcome achievement.

NFL: Modern American Chivalry

Sport does not explain American values so much as exhibit them at their most basic and intelligible. It is an integral part of culture, of politics and, to an ever increasing degree, business. In what other country would the major national holiday (Thanksgiving) revolve so much around a televised game? Where else would ‘soccer moms’ or their like be a key constituency, and what other country would export its national game, which has practically no professional presence in any other country.

The now regular game of American Football at Wembley has been a phenomenal success – selling out four times and achieving sales of 70,000 in this fifth year, a discrepancy easily excused by the fact that the game was only just confirmed a month or so ago. This is a credit to the game itself, since the brashness with which it is marketed is fairly inimical to the British practice of professional sport (think Wimbledon, Lords and your friends who moan about music at football matches).

That American Football looks destined for success, and a London-based team is a possibility, is surprising because it is so intrisically American in its values.

The cardinal value of competitiveness and the tension between individualism and cooperation elevate sport in America, while the role of the family in introducing children (and not merely the father as is often the case in the UK) enmeshes it in their culture. Even some of the flaws of American sport, such as the lack of strong community roots in a system where franchises are regularly shifted between cities.

In Britain, sport is an art form, football a working class ballet. in America, it is a philosophy.

American Football is a more significant sport than basketball, hockey and even baseball in this respect. It is fundamentally rational, so that where skill plays a role, it is ultimately tactics or ‘plays’ that win games and it also reflects the often disguised forms of hierarchy in America – for every type of player can have their place on a football pitch, but the quarterback, the chief entrepreneur, is king and only the coach is above him.

The history of the game is also a very American story. Originating from a series of games of rugby football between Havard and McGills (a Montreal college), the rules were arrived at through a mix of experimentation and principle – Yale agreeing to play by Havard’s rules, which provided for carrying the ball despite the disadvantage of the former in that respect.

The game is also littered with the examples of individuals dramatically shifting the commercial terrain, from George Hallas and Vince Lombardi, to the man who was arguably the founder of the game as we know it, Walter Camp. It was Camp who stripped the mongrel inter-collegiate game back to basics and created the simple formula of gain x yards in three attempts or forfeit the ball.

Character is of huge importance in American football – the nerve of the quarter back, and the discipline of the line backers, which did for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers against the Chicao Bears in London. Every year, before the Superbowl, the player who has made the largest humanitarian impact is honoured. Owing to the origin of many of today’s players, these tend to be improvements in education or health in poor American, Caribbean or African countries. And the game, as does America in general, churns out men of honour and courage such as Pat Tillman.

As ever, it is hard to critique American values, except when Americans fail to live up to them.

All of this is not a convincing argument for American Football being unattractive to British or European audiences. Indeed, the opposite is evidently true. It is not quite the reason for that appeal either – the simplicity of the game (contrary to popular belief), the tension which is generated by a phase by phase drive and the skill levels are all reasons why the NFL has an underground and now obvious following outside of America.

So perhaps the question should not be why American football is growing in popularity, but whether the American values that surround it in its natural habitat are also transferrable. My feeling is that they are not, being somewhat against the grain, but it is a matter for debate.

The Stuff of Champions

Saracens 24 South Africa 23

 

How to describe one of the greatest moment’s in Saracens’ history?  Draw a crowd of 46,000 to Wembley – no problem.  Beat the World Champions and vanquishers of the British Lions – of course, if Leicester can.  But to do so in a style that could put an end to several international careers, and prove the starting point for many more?  To come from behind twice, when the game seemed completely against them, to play enterprising rugby and to dominate the scrum of a famous rugby-playing nation?  Certainly, it was effectively a South Africa A-team, but this was worthy of being called championship-winning rugby.

The first quarter turned out to be an awkward, but end-to-end affair.  For Saracens, defence was primary and Wikus van Heerden led by example, stifling South African attacks.  Unfortunately, he was also typical of Sarries’ occasional attacks, guilty on several occasions of losing the ball in the tackle. The game turned after Derick Hougaard missed an ambitious kick to touch from a penalty.  They began to slip out of the game as South Africa’s greater speed of delivery,  physicality  and lineout began to wear.

First, Earl Rose (continuing a line of South African full-backs with flair) tried a back-hand flip that sat up interminably for Adrian Strauss to run on to.  Then, returning a kick as the crowd began to get restless, South Africa broke down the right wing, their huge lock trading passes with winger Ndungane before charging past Noah Cato, who grabbed hold more in hope than conviction.  The chasing referee signalled that the video referee was needed to judge the score.  Thankfully, Cato had done enough.

Saracens were still absorbing hits of such magnitude as to give the lie to the assumption that both sides would try to avoid injuries at the sacrifice of the spectacle.  Michael Tagicakibau was here an unlikely, but noteworthy hero.  It wasn’t enough.  When de Kock was forced to concede a lineout after a clever kick, South Africa took their chance, drawing in defenders with the forwards before getting the ball out to Juan de Jonge, who slipped through a tackle to dive over.

Fortune then favoured South Africa, when a kick from Rose was knocked on into the path of Jongi Nowke, who ran in the simplest of tries.  The referee had thought that it had come off a Saracens hand.  It was unfortunate, but it favoured the better team at the time and reflected a widening gap between the two sides.  The score, at 6-18 was frustrating, but not necessarily unfair.

Half time brought some relief, and no more than for the audience and a certain cheeky chappy, Stuart Tinner.  News of Tinner’s £250,000 kick and the lift it had given the crowd apparently filtered back to the dressing room.  If it had any effect, it encouraged Saracens to become masters of their own destiny again.

What was more significant was the introduction of Alex Goode at full-back and Rodd Penney for Cato.  These two players turned the game on its head, offering a more unpredictable spark.  First, though, it was the forwards who put Sarries back in the match.  Having dominated the scrum since CJ van der Linde went off early in the first half, Ernst Joubert put pressure of Francois Hougaard’s clearence from a defensive scrum, charged it down, and picked up to return the score to 11-18.

South Africa counter-attacked, but were halted by a superb ankle-tap by Rodd Penney and turned over.  When they kicked again, Tagicakibau secured the ball, allowing Saracens to run from just outside the 22.  The ball was worked to Brad Barritt, who stepped inside and offloaded to release Hougaard.  The fly-half’s chip put the underwhelming Ruan Pienaar under the pressure of Joubert’s chase.  In the next breath, Kevin Barrett, on for de Kock, passed out of the tackle and the ball was sped wide.  Another replacement, Andy Saull, offloaded inside for Penney to race ahead.

If Penney had been able to find Tagicakibau, Saracens would have been level, but they didn’t have to wait long.  A scrum ten metres out gave Barritt the perfect chance to play first-receiver and the combination of his leg-power and Penney’s upper-body strength drove the pair over.

With the scores equal, the game turned into South Africa’s favour again.  Losing a lineout on their 22, Saracens were hit by a swiftly-executed move that saw Ndungane’s forward pass release Nokwe for his second try.  But South Africa’s tendency to live on the margins, shall we say, let them down as the referee began to pick up on their forward passes, halting their attacks.

Meanwhile, the crowd had been roused by the pluckiness on display on the black half of the field.  In a game-defining moment, Hougaard was smashed backwards taking a pass on the loop by Wynard Olivier.  In the next passage of play, Hougaard returned the favour, stopping Olivier dead in his tracks (with a little help from Mouritz Botha). When Hougaard kicked another penalty to make the score 21-24 with ten minutes to go, their was a palpable sense that Sarries might have the final laugh.

Hougaard had been searching for a drop goal since Barritt had levelled the scores.  He had probably missed four or five from the half-way line over the course of the match, so when he tried again with five minutes remaining the crowd were perhaps justified in their chorus of boos.  But as the ball sailed ever so slowly through the posts, the cheers were considerably louder.

The Bokke had been out-fought, out-played and out-sung.  Though a development team, they apparently had less to prove than Saracens, whose ambition and hunger are fast changing the face of English club rugby.  The whole team had proved outstanding, even with a league derby against Wasps fast approaching.  In their desire for the Springbok scalp, Sarries produced one of the great performances in their history, but the way this season is shaping up, victory could prove neither a full-stop, nor even an exclamation mark.  Here’s hoping it’s a semi-colon, and the rest of the sentence is as good.

Saracens @ Wembley

Saracens 19   Northampton Saints 16

For days the anticipation for this day had been building, far surpassing and more akin to a cup final.  It was, after all, Wembley.  But Saracens’ victory, welcome though it was, didn’t seem as satisfying as it might have been if it had meant lifting a cup.  

In truth, there were two further demands made on Sarries.  The first was the commercial imperative – the very reason for renting out Wembley for a normal league match.  Saracens are one of the ten clubs in this years Guinness Premiership who made a loss last year (Gloucester and Northampton were the luckier ones, and the former are in less rude health this year), and the explicit aim was to attract a more diverse crowd to rugby and increase the regular gate at Vicarage Road.  Whether that succeeds only time will tell.  The turnout, just under 45,000 was good, although there were an awful lot of green shirts and not all could have been South African ones.

Secondly and less explicitly, Wembley offered a second opportunity after last week’s Twickenham match to display the effects of the Venter revolution.  Had Sarries gelled as a team?  Were they capable of dominating a game and could they play attractive rugby?  For both these reasons, as well as sheer rugby ambition, a win was crucial, and an attractive one preferable.

By this strict standard, the performance was disappointing.  But Saracens weren’t bad.  Anyone who has seen much South African rugby over the summer will be familiar with the game that Saracens have imported this year.  Kick the ball, set the forwards on the receiver and take as many points with the boot as possible before letting the opposition back into the game to ensure a tense finish, dependent on resolute defence.  It was the exact style in which South Africa claimed the Tri-Nations over New Zealand yesterday morning, and Saracens saw off Northampton in the afternoon.

The lineout was again excellent, banishing memories of past seasons, and the scrum a vast improvement on last week, despite no changes in personnel.  Indeed, the Venter rotation system has yet to kick in.  Glen Jackson was once more on form with the boot – fortunately, for the game only saw a try apiece.  

If Saracens expect to become title contenders, they had better change their tactics, however.  If the backs outside Jackson looked fairly comfortable with his distribution, it was still a rare sight to see them in full flow.  Indeed, even the forwards were only allowed a few phases before the ball was kicked downfield, often to little result.  Part of the reason was that Jackson’s kicking from hand was poor, as was Alex Goode’s when he switched to centre for Kameli Ratavou’s blood injury, and Derick Hougaard when he replaced Jackson late in the game.  Such tactics ensure that contact is avoided, and puts pressure on the opposition to perform within their half of the pitch, but can hardly provide the platform to command the game from.  In rugby, possession is at least 3/4 of the victory.

The difference between Saracens and Northampton was not only the way the front row carried the ball or the incisiveness of their three-quarters, but most importantly the confidence with which Shane Geraghty ran the game.  He looks an excellent acquisition, intelligently and determinedly bringing both backs and forwards into the game, holding his pass to allow centre Jon Clarke to dive over for his side’s try.  It was only an unnecessarily high error-count that denied Saints.  Indeed, in the last minute they were denied a try by the video referee when the ball was shown to have been lost in a ruck on the Saracens line.

Saracens showed glimpses, but nothing more, as if it were only a brief advertisement for their next home game.  Their try came early in the second half when Noah Cato (who has a lovely singing voice in the all new club song), poked the ball out of the grasp of Saint’s captain Dylan Hartley, out on the wing on the Saracens 22, picked up and ran the length of the field.  It was a dubious try, but one that will no doubt make it onto many a highlights package.  Cato, it might be said, was outstanding in defence as well as attack, wrapping up his man to prevent an overlap in one instance and seeming hungry throughout.  Perhaps he scents an England call, although that will be some jump.

Northampton dominated the second half from their try, scored soon after Cato’s but the game entered its decisive phase twelve minutes from time when referee Andrew Small sent Saracens hooker Schalk Brits to the bin (in the second successive game) for a ‘deliberate obstruction’.  Offside as he might have been, Brits was jogging back, and Lee Dickson earned the ire of Brendan Venter for so blatantly seeking the penalty.

Surprisingly perhaps, Northamton struggled to translate their possession into points, although they nearly did with that tense last recall to the television match official - so much drama it could have been scripted thus.  Nevertheless, Saracens’ pressure told in turnovers and botched set-pieces so that when a final Saints attack was dragged into touch, the free flags were raised and an embarrassment on Saracens’ Wembley debut was avoided.

Man of the Match: The official verdict was Ernst Joubert, and the back row were all very deserving given the defensive effort.  Personally, however, I thought Steve Borthwick was everywhere.  Both his defensive effort, and his leadership of the lineout determined that Sarries would take another four points to go second in the Guinness Premiership.

Club Wembley

In a fortunate turn of events, our cheap season tickets translated into seats in Club Wembley, with (cushioned) seats on the half-way line opposite the tunnel.  And I’m a pie in the stands kind of guy, but the main concourse – which looks mostly like an airport lounge – had rows of Xbox 360s, which meant getting there early was justified.