GAME MUST WAKE UP OVER MISSING STARS
THE build-up to this Six Nations has not had the usual buzz and this is a genuine concern. Maybe it’s because it has come so quickly on the back of the World Cup. Or the unavailability of star names, including Owen Farrell, Johnny Sexton, Antoine Dupont and Dan Biggar.
But it is a fact of life that players retire. No one can reverse the passage of time, so while Sexton and Biggar have been great servants, they have moved on. I can also accept Dupont’s decision to miss this Six Nations to play seven-a-side at the Paris Olympics. Having been director of sport for Team GB at three Games, I know how special they are. It’s maybe a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I admire Dupont for pursuing his chance. We will undoubtedly see Dupont back playing rugby in the future.
For me, the bigger worries are the number of injured players not fit to start the tournament — or play in it at all — and that someone of the status of Farrell has opted not to make himself available out of choice. Plus England can’t select the likes of Henry Arundell and Jack Willis because they are employed by French clubs. The same will be true of Farrell next season. I maintain that England should ditch the foreign ruling.
The Six Nations is arguably the No 1 rugby tournament. You could make a case for it being as big, or bigger, than the World Cup because of its unrivalled history.
While I hope I’m proved wrong and that we see brilliant matches and great entertainment, I’m not sure we can say ahead of this year’s competition that it will be the pinnacle of the game.
Rugby’s authorities have to wake up and realise that the demands of playing at international level are now too great for those who take to the field, physically and mentally.
We’ve seen Farrell step away from the highest level because of abuse he’s suffered and the impact it’s had on him and his family.
Then there are the injuries. The likes of Marcus Smith, Romain Ntamack, Mack Hansen, Garry Ringrose, Jac Morgan and Anthony Jelonch — to name but a few — are all absent from at least the start of this Six Nations.
Rugby needs its stars to thrive and grow. It can’t do that if they’re in the treatment room, ineligible, or have made an active choice not to play.
‘Growing the game’ is rugby’s go-to phrase right now. Six Nations: Full Contact — the Netflix docuseries on last year’s Championship — forms part of doing that. Unfortunately, it left a lot to be desired. I was particularly unimpressed with the amount of swearing that was broadcast and I was left totally gobsmacked when in one of the episodes, I heard Italy’s Sebastian Negri use the word c***. Many will roll their eyes at my sensitivity. But what kind of fan is rugby hoping to attract?
Formula One’s Drive to Survive attracted a new fanbase by opening eyes to the lives of the drivers in and out of the car. But they also celebrated their unimaginable bravery and skill.
As a former international coach, I’m aware coaches and players use swear words. I did. That said, lots of effing and jeffing doesn’t work over a long period.
And in the context of trying to bring in new fans to rugby, it was a crazy decision to have swearing broadcast so strongly and heavily. I don’t think it’s a good way to attract children and families to rugby. I wonder also if there was also a missed opportunity to bring the women’s game into the same series.
For this Six Nations, the tactics interest me, especially around kicking. At the World Cup, the statistics showed the more you kicked the ball, the more likely you were to win. The status quo is badly flawed as currently none of the top teams are trying anything different.
This is a major problem for rugby because we don’t want to see the ball in the air all the time. The only ones who seem happy with that are the coaches, especially those in charge of defence. That was shown on Netflix, with France defence coach Shaun Edwards telling his players in no uncertain terms to ‘kick the f ****** ball’ whenever it was in their own half. I just don’t buy into the idea that you must kick the leather off the ball to be successful. And if that is the case, rugby must do something about it and take things out of the coaches’ hands. Fans don’t want to pay money to watch an aerial tennis match.
While England are not the only team who kick a lot, I hope that after a settling-in period, Steve Borthwick can evolve the team into a greater attacking force and that England — and all teams — can create superstars of the future.