Fans are losers in battle of the boot

AS the major stadiums prepare for the glorious return of the public they should install two dispensers at every entrance — one with the hand sanitiser, the other with the best embrocation for pains in the neck.

What was once known as the handling code has become a ghastly aerial ping- pong, and the strain on the neck muscles as fans crane to follow the ball has become intense. As kickfests go, last Sunday’s was the worst yet.

I am not blaming Scotland or France, and, especially, I’m not blaming Stuart Hogg, the Scotland fullback.

But to see a player so full of attacking quality simply hoofing every long kick he received back into the air to little effect was to fuel the most serious concerns about the direction of f the sport. Scotland kept on hoofing even with France only narrowly ahead and the match there to be won.

Eddie Jones, pictured, the England head coach, said before the Ireland game that at present the team that kicks the ball the most wins Test matches. Horrible, history- shredding, but true.

There was a time when teams went through endless phases, which was not exactly easy on the eye either, but now no one can be bothered to take the ball through phases at all.

And everything is way out of kilter. England won easily against Ireland even though they had to make 201 tackles to Ireland’s 76.

This indicates strongly that even primary possession is no longer the springboard for anything — if the tactics are going to remain the same, teams need hardly bother with the scrum or lineout if they are going to kick the ball away anyway.