The ‘C’ WORD

Friday night last and beyond:

Ulster were crop.

The referee was crop.

Rugby is crop.

Alright it’s the UAFC school of constructive rugby criticism for initiates, so let me put some meat on this crusty bone. The guts of this are covered in Dewi’s match report and to avoid any claims of plagiarising I can say hand on heart they are my own miniscule thoughts and reasoning written in my inimitable style. The thought that contract talks and players coming and going struck me as a reason for some of the poor display by Ulster as a team.

The body language of the players was of people whose minds are elsewhere, some of them at least. Isaac Boss is going to Leinster it would seem but it does not appear to have had a negative slant on his play, if anything the reverse is true. In conclusion if Boss can play for the shirt despite his imminent departure to D4 then others should be man enough and professional enough to play for the team.

Post Heineken hiatus is another factor with the seemingly high point of beating Bath and making the Amlin at least, being shot down the following day, pointing to a lack of motivation in the Magners. Still there appears to be motivation enough with a play off place in the league a tantalising factor. Rumours of war again. I’m not about to start one but there would appear to be a distinct lack of togetherness about the team that leaves one wondering is there disharmony in camp aka last season and the one before that.

Tactics are a concern. When we beat the Scarlets at Ravenhill they zig zagged back and forth across the pitch making it easy for Ulster to defend and pick them off. Amazingly we performed in exactly the same manner at Parc as the Scarlets did at Ravenhill and paid the price. One wonders did the coach actually take note of how they played against us last time out?

“It is going to be an exceptionally tough game, the Scarlets at their home ground, in the Magners League. It doesn’t matter who you play at this stage, all these games are tough to win.

We are playing at the Parc y Scarlets, we were there a couple of weeks ago with the Ravens, so we know what to expect. It is going to be a hard match; they will make us fight for every blade of grass.

We have got to play out of our socks and be mentally prepared, if we are going to come away with the win, which we really need.”

I’m beginning to wonder did McGlocks actually believe what he just said there because they way the team went out and played, whizzing the ball back and forth as if on a training spin did not have the conviction of one looking to fight for every blade of grass.

Rather when the heat came on the fight wasn’t there and again tactically Ulster seem to have abandoned the blitz defence which has served them so well in the past.  Whatever happened to the forwards establishing a platform and taking on the opposition pack before releasing the backs. Our forwards were bit part players in the first 20 minutes and thereafter never appeared to get in the game properly.

Not for the first time this season, particularly away from home, the coaching team has got it wrong tactically. Of course the players have to execute the tactical plan and they didn’t do that well either. Perhaps they didn’t believe in the tactics.

One recalls Dragons and Edinburgh away as other examples of a game plan gone wrong and whilst the players can’t be excused poor execution of basics the Buick for me stops right outside the coaching team’s door.  One senses the hand of Doaky in the way ball went across the backs with no attempt to take on the Scarlets defence in a direct manner. We eschewed a penalty chance early on in lieu of a lineout and conspired to muck it up. It didn’t get any better thereafter.

‘The referee should be in the game like the wind and rain.’

So wrote Jean Paul Sarkey.

Mr. Allen when you watch him on TV gets most of the decisions technically spot on. Having seen him ref the Dragons game and then at Parc I realize a growing and irrefutable thought that he by and large is refereeing one team … Ulster, Cardwell’s card was an easy enough decision for him but the card for Pollock was a disgrace.

Time and again Ulster players were first to the breakdown and had hands on the ball and on their feet yet rarely if at all were the Scarlets blown for holding. Time and again Ulster players were told to get hands off arising to frustration with the way the game is being handled by this referee.

He also appeared to be reffed by the Welsh touch judges which is another issue altogether with the tackle on Wallace going unpunished except for a penalty when a yellow card would have been appropriate.  Of course this was on the advice of the TJ. It’s all very well saying play the ref and castigate Henry and the players for not being smart but it would appear to me at any rate that Peter Allen has an agenda in the way he has refereed the last two Ulster games.

It doesn’t make the Magners any more appealing when you see this performance from a referee anymore than the distinctly partisan approach by BBC Wales commentators. I’m a license fee payer and this is public service broadcasting reduced to the lowest common denominator and appreciable by 5 year old.

I’ve heard Welsh supporters complain about Gusher but he is a paragon of objectivity by comparison for what passes as commentating on Scrum V.  It’s time BBC Wales knocked the condescension out of these guys and paid some respect to fans of the opposition by not reducing the match to a jingoistic charade.

Mike ‘I played for Cardiff’ Hall further compounded the view that the presenters on Scrum V lack any kind of tact at all when he rattled on about how little difference the Italians will make to the Magners and how he’d much rather see the Welsh teams playing Leicester et al. As the major broadcaster for the Magners, Scrum V should be promoting it, not sticking the boot into it and at every opportunity.

Rugby in general is in a mess and it’s hard to escape the conclusion that the game is treading water with fans, the lifeblood of the game, in a mire of confusion as to what they are being asked to spectate at. The kicking game has drained much of the technical dexterity from the sport by making it an easy option for players to take and reducing the flare element and risk factor. Some players look like they’ve lost the will to live as yet another boot hits ball into sky and players go on another energy sapping run up the grass like hounds in pursuit of a particularly elusive fox.

The breakdown is a mess with the constant stream of instructions from referees to players telling them they are doing something wrong thereby denying the attacking team a chance of a penalty. If you have to instruct the players then clearly they don’t understand.

Of course there is now a complete weekend’s bellyful of rugby on TV and you could gorge yourself on it if you are that way inclined. The amount of rugby available may be a factor in the staleness being induced amongst supporters but there are times when you believe even the players are becoming numb to the intricacies of the game such is the mindless direction it is taking.

I wrote last week that it is a game for the intelligent but I also conclude the game is being taken in a tangential direction by lawmakers and coaches that is losing sight of the basic aims of rugby. It is time to refocus on the games traditional values and tactics of physical confrontation, passing the ball, tackling round the legs and football skills as opposed to mindless arm wrestling, death by referee dictation and aerial ping pong.

I cannot let this week’s blog pass me by without mentioning Lou Reed being penalised for singing to Trimble as Andy attempted to catch the ball.  I understand Lou, playing at lock in this match, sang his song ‘Andy’s Chest’ as he followed up a kick.  It went like this.

“If I could be anything in the world that flew.

I would be a bat and come swooping after you!”

The TJ and the referee failed to see anything funny about it and penalised the fellow for causing distress to a player. I saw AT in Holywood on Saturday morning looking a little downhearted so failed to follow up this ridiculous piece rugby hokum though I did ask him what went wrong. In true diplomatic fashion bless him, he replied that things hadn’t worked out or words to that effect.

You could say that again Andy. It must have been hard to keep concentration in the face of provocation by Lou Reed but then again the traditionalists of the game wouldn’t have been surprised by a bit of verbals though they might have raised an eyebrow at being penalised for it.

The UAFC is back just like Powermoore one of the message board’s stalwarts. Met him in the Scoop the other week and he tells me he’s back engaging in a little rugger again.

I suppose Paul may as well test some of his message board theories on an unsuspecting opponent.  I wish him well in his athletic endeavours and trust he will survive the rush of blood to his head that made him take up the game again.

The Magner’s is as tight as ever after the last scores have been ticked and the table rearranged. We have slipped a bit but there is only 9 points separating us from the top placed Leinster who look like the eventual winners. All to play for, though if we play like we did on Friday night it will be to avoid finishing just in front of Connaught.

As BJ Botha might say, “Who is this Powermoore and can he play tight head like me?”