TO KEEP A LID ON IT
Moriarty could do worse than reflect on Warburton’s ‘less is more’ approach to influencing officials.
He should acknowledge that those at the very top have it sussed.
Never mind Warburton’s example, could you imagine for a moment Kieran Reed or David Pocock acting like Moriarty did at the weekend?
Sure, he is a different character. Like his dad Paul, Moriarty is far more combustible than many of his peers.
Some maintain that is a valuable part of his game, that to take it away would diminish what he offers.
There might be something in that school of thought, but right now the balance between passion and discipline is skewed.
Moriarty must have discovered by now that the more a player complains to a referee, the more disinclined he or she becomes to accede, not just to the demands of that one individual, but to the team as a whole.
A week ago Moriarty was on the Scrum V television programme moaning that his yellow card against Leinster a week earlier following a collision with Johnny Sexton was unjustified.
He suggested the Irish fly-half gets special treatment from referees, an observation that could never do him any good in the longer term.
Moriarty’s whole attitude at present seems counter-productive – to him and to whichever team he is playing for.
On regional duty, he appears weighed down by being the bigname signing expected to lead a Dragons revival.
So is the pressure surfacing in his current behaviour?
Moriarty’s last act for Wales was to get sent off for putting Argentina flyhalf Nicolas Sanchez in a prolonged choke-hold right in front of the assistant referee.
His last act for the Dragons could so easily have been to receive a yellow card for dissent.
Quizzed about his approach to the game last August, Moriarty said: “A lot of players have lost their heads a lot more than I have in rugby.
“There is always going to be times players do silly things.”
It could be time for a bit more humility.
On Saturday, Moriarty was fortunate his silliness didn’t have more serious consequences.
It would be a whole lot different 10 minutes from the end of a World Cup quarter-final. Dragons’ Ross Moriarty puts in a big hit on Blues’ Matthew Morgan during Saturday’s PRO14 clash