Better ? Yes, by miles and miles !

Ruan Pienaar as coach be good. I think he was keen to stay longer in Belfast, felt at ease there, but then his sister was tragically killed in a car smash back in SA, and that brought he and his family back home.

“Rugby still germinates from private schools in the greater Dublin and Cork metropolitan areas; survey the results of schools trophies and the same handful of colleges dominate.”

True for the past decade or so, Harry. The Dublin schools are now very strong. But go back not sofar, and the schools in Limerick produced a lot of good players, along with the outlier in Tipperary, Rockwell College.

And when I coached in Ulster in the late 60’s/70’s, Ulster schools could compete on an equal footing with any school in Ireland and the UK. That has slipped for the moment….not sure why really.

Interesting bits of trivia. Queen’s University, Belfast, have produced more Lions than any other Irish Club.

The Irish team which played the All Blacks in 1989 had eight Ulster players in the run on side. There were only two players from Leinster !! I focus on that team, as my good friend, Kenny Hooks, played on the wing. I was fortunate to have coached him for 5 yrs as a schoolboy….the best player I ever coached 😊

This is quite some article, Harry. And it will take me a week to read all the comments 😊 Thanks for a great piece.

I’m in the camp of selecting worldwide, always have been, but I do respect the views, and accept some of the points, of those who would keep a strong Giteau Law. I just see the reality of the modern world of rugby, where players have a very narrow window to play at their peak, and earn the cash to secure the future of their families. And in Australia’s case, there are just not enough players of world class at home to ignore the best overseas.

I had not realised La Rochelle were fielding three Australians in last weekend’s game in Dublin. I like U J Sauteni, rate him quite highly. So going down the LAR team when announced, I had a look at his background. Knew he was a Smoan Int. but was surprised to find he was born in Adelaide, went to school at The Southport School in Qld. and was in a Qld. Reds development programme for a time.

“English players are already passing up on their international future and signing in France”

But for how long, B ? Doubt if England will continue this stance if a) They begin to lose matches in a big way, and b) the volume of top players operating outside England gets to a critical level.

Good one, Jacko 😊

I believe it is all in the mind, KH. They have the skills….just watch the teams in the warm up. It is all about the building of confidence to execute under pressur, to maintain slide rule accuracy.

“….importance off-loads to the game of rugby and I believe that this is a skill weakness for Australian teams.” Great point there, Ray. It is a very significant weapon. And ofc allied to that skill is the support players looking for it, bursting onto the offload through the gap.

SBW, was masterful in his day…..and WB’s have Will Skelton now, who is a master of the art.

I would add another skill that should be honed…..the one handed catch. So often that is the only option to take a difficult ball. Would be interesting to have a stat. in games where one hand is used to “draw in” the ball.

Good Wrap as always, Geoff. i’m in the same boat as Muzzo, HK Sevens on the weekend dominated my watching too.

“Hong Kong Sevens, the event still holding sway as my longest unfulfilled bucket list item.” I would be the same, and one day the Melrose Sevens, where it all started.

Drua certainly chose to go all out on the thuggery in that game. That head butt, Glasgow kiss they would call it in Scotland, was not quite up there with the one Zinedine Zidane’s put on Marco Materazzi in soccer World Cup in Germany 2006 !

Ireland too with the schools, four very hard fought Cup comps. in each of the four provinces each year. There are very good coaching setups in all the top schools. Kieran Hallett, Ireland’s U19 coach says this in a recent article on The 42 : “The Schools Cup exposes players to a high-pressure environment. They’re used to taking on board and understanding a lot of detail. It’s highly tactical, it’s knock-out rugby. They exit well, manage games well, don’t overplay.”

“The fun part of our job when they leave school and come into the pre-academy where Griggsy [Adam Griggs] and Trev [Hogan] are doing a great job at the moment, we get to push the needle to the other end.

“We know they understand detail and game plans, but how expressive, creative and skilful can you be? You end up with a happy medium. When the lads go into the Irish 20s, they have lots of those moments of brilliance but they also know how to win a game tactically. It’s a nice combination of those environments.”

But Ireland do lack SA’s Currie Cup and Varsity Cup. The Currie Cup I remember from my early visits to SA and the then Rhodesia. Always hotly contested, Northern Transvaal were very strong then, as were W. Province and Transvaal.

SE too, JD…Saracens, Harlequins. Going back to the 70’s and eighties, I recall the North being a leading area, great coaches and very progressive teams. Famously when Orrell beat Harlequins….not sure of the date or comp. now……some wag quipped ” We have been beaten by a layby off the M6″

.”If we get to a situation where over years Irish clubs totally dominate …..” Hope we do, JN 😊

No, but seriously, I don’t think that will happen. I think Munster will struggle to win again this year, esp, if R G Snyman is not there for them, as he was last year. Leinster might fall again withe the Champions Cup again a focus for them. And going forward, the SA teams will always, in my view, be formidable. Just have to start better, not be playing catch up every season.

“Funny thing about writing, my family thought I was mute or just a bit thick when I was 6 because I barely spoke and could not read. Late bloomer.” That is a very interesting comment. I know two people who were a bit similar, my brother and a really nice girl I like very much. Both very intelligent and widely capable. Your writing I consider to be outstanding, as is your command of the English language.

A most interesting, informative, and at times, disturbing article. Thank you, Harry. I really enjoyed the read.

“the nightmare scenario from France might follow: the 2023 World Cup in France may end up a deficit for the French Rugby Federation (FFR): ” One was aware from commets by some there, for example Geoff Parkes, that the organisation was poor in many ways. But I never knew it could as bad as this. I would hope that RA will at least run the competition well. The 2003 event was good ? Olympics were a success too. Concerning to read one comment here that money is being spent before it is in the bank .

It will be hard for Joe Schmidt to lift the WB’s far in world rankings this year. With Wales and Georgia first up, ground can be made up there. But after that things get tough. The RC is next. Might beat Argentina once, even twice with luck, AB’s could be vulnerable in one game, Boks a bridge too far probably. Then EYOT, with England, Scotland and Ireland. All those are hard games to win at “fortress” stadiums.

At Super level, things could end well, certainly already better than last year. The Reds should have beaten the current leaders, the Hurricanes, and beat the Chiefs. The loss to the Brumbies was so narrow, a rematch could easily go the other way. The loss to the Force was one of those games where the winners had a lot fall their way on the night, and I’m not meaning to take anything away from a famous win in saying that. The Brumbies are a good unit, and one would hope capable of going really deep into the playoffs. Just a pity the other sides, especially the Waratahs, all struggle so much in so many games.

I strongly believe the Trans Tasman games must remain. I just don’t see any future in “pulling up the drawbridge”, and trying to saty afloat on the International scene with a purely domestic competition.

Agree…sensational! To have both Schmidt and Cron is a huge boost after the RWC debacle. Will watch with great interest how player like Angus Bell and Taniela Tupou develop under Cron.

I guess we see different things, Muzzo. Yes, Cale was good, had his wins. But Wilson did a lot of very hard work too, made some very hard yards, one very important lineout steal. I would need to rewatch the game with that comparison in mind. I certainly did not think Wilson was, overall, “badly” outplayed on one watching of the game..

Yes, great point on BOK letting the ball be cleared from a retreating scrum, Geoff.

Only saw your article now, JD. Top job, very interesting indeed. Thanks.

“Gavazzi died in 2022 and was replaced by a new president whose power base is in the second tier clubs that Aboud had been warned would never change. Aboud and Crowley have been let go and the academy system dismantled.” This is really bad news. How sad they have not kicked with the model that has helped get Ireland to where they are now.

Thanks Geoff. Bit of a tipping nightmare is this years SRP. Feel for NB, on another site writing an article entitled ” Will the Crusader’s decline spark a slow death for NZ”…..then they go a win the game the next day. With the Brumbies and Reds likely to be the spine of the WB’s this year, the game at Suncorp had a lot to like. Agree that Campbell was eclipsed well by Wright. I thought some of the Qld. play was outstanding, the LQB…as it is called today….the fast transfers, releasing the wider players. Jock Campbell, with a less lazy ball carry, would have scored in the corner early…just lift his arms above the tackle zone.

Harry Wilson is improving under Kiss and Co…now beginning to step and find seams going into contact. Fraser McReight has lifted a lot, some of his carries into contact were brutal. He is a van der Flier type 7 probably, not always a jackler, but very good link and support player, deadly tackler, very high work rate. Thought he was unlucky not to be allowed to go for the ball on the floor in the ruck prior to Wright’s first try.

I actually thought Ben O’Keefe had a very good game, good to be saying that from the losing side. I would argue with him, though, on the call against Flook when he was adjudged to have taken Noah on the ground. Noah did not have the ball as Flook went down to challenge for it, so though he was behing Noah, as O’K said, he had every right to compete.

As a Qldr, bit worrying though that Qld. had two of their tries come from a lucky deflection, and a penalty try. Would want to see with some of that ball the generated, a couple of good tries from the backs.

At the end of the day, I feel one must remember that Les Kiss is in his first year with this team, and they are already a damn good unit. From where I stand, Qld. lost this game, rather than the Brumbies won it. How often that happens, and that is, ofc, often a great credit to the position tactics on the day.

That was a great kick. Campbell made a big error though, I thought. Right on half time he should never have run that ball. A kick into the red zone corner was a better option. Also thought he made life difficult for the cleaners by pushing a metre forward on the ground….right to Valetini’s feet.

“Reds weren’t complacent I don’t think”. Agree, piru. I think it was just one of those games where things fell beautifully in place for three Force tries. The Harry Wilson fumble a classic case, with Kuenzle in the right place at right time.

I’m not playing down the Force win at all, they played really well, had many excellent periods in the game. But sometimes good fortune kicks in, as with the Reds try against the Chiefs a few weeks ago….bounce of the ball went their way.

Two of my real all time favourite players at Hurricanes, TJ Perenara and Du’Plessis Kirifi !

“the Wild West alive with threat”. Brings to mind some words from an old song of my land of birth, Ken: But, hark! A voice like thunder spake
The West’s awake! The West’s awake!
Sing, Oh! Hurrah! Let (England) “All Super teams” quake!
We’ll fight till death for (Ireland’s) the Forces sake”

Great Monday morning read, Geoff. Thanks. That result over in Perth might cut the crowd a bit at Suncorp this coming weekend. Good win for the Force though, good for the game/comp.

“Sexton was a conductor. Didnt run… didnt take on the line, ” I would not agree, S. He was poor against the AB’s in his last game, but over his whole career, he could and did take on the line very effectively.