Fans call on unions to make match donation
What can be learned from latest loss:
The Welsh Rugby Union and Scottish Rugby Union are coming under strong pressure to donate a percentage of the Wales v Scotland autumn fixture profits to the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation.
The Celtic rivals will clash at the Principality Stadium this Saturday to kick off the autumn series and will be playing for the first time for the Doddie Weir Cup. The game is expected to net in the region of £3million.
The former Scotland international has motor neurone disease and has set up a foundation in his name to raise funds to aid research into the disease.
A trophy was attached to this weekend’s fixture to help raise awareness of the foundation and the disease but it has emerged that the charity will not be receiving a percentage of the profits from the match.
Fans have been angered upon learning that there are no plans for the foundation to receive a slice of the gate receipts, so much so that some are calling for a boycott of the match on social media.
Journalists and pundits have also expressed their dismay at the situation and called on the unions to reconsider their stance.
“If the unions want the game to have a broader, deeper relevance, there is an easy, and right, thing to do: join the fans in digging deep. Give Weir a slice of the gate,” wrote Scottish journalist Mark Palmer in the Sunday Times. WalesOnline understands the WRU are disappointed with the criticism and remain adamant that involving the foundation was done so with the best intentions.
THE frustration was clear in John Mulvihill’s voice as he conducted his post-match assessment of this 21-10 Blues defeat in Bloemfontein.
Another false start, more missed opportunities, repeated errors and a contentious score against his men all combined to make it a night to forget for the Australian and his players.
Overall, Mulvihill could have few arguments with the final result; the Blues were some way shy of their best against a Cheetahs side who thoroughly deserved their first victory of the campaign.
But Mulvihill will feel his team didn’t really throw many punches on the Highveld.
They gifted the hosts the early advantage and didn’t make the most of their own attacking positions – notably when the ball was lost a couple of metres out from the Cheetahs line late in the first half, resulting in a length-of-the-field score for speedster Rabz Maxwane.
Mulvihill was adamant that try shouldn’t have stood. He felt a Cheetahs forward had entered the Blues maul illegally before the ball squirted out into the hands of scrum-half Shaun Venter, who sent the league’s top try-scorer on his way.
With the score at 14-3 at the time, it was a match-defining moment, but it was also a score that summed up a hugely frustrating evening for the Arms Park men. Here, we look at the main talking points to emerge from the defeat in South Africa.
A TOUGH RETURN FOR SEB
CONSIDERING Davies hadn’t played since hurting his knee in the opening match of the season against Leinster, it was a big call to thrust the 22-year-old into a No. 8 role he is still largely unfamiliar with.
Davies is a second row, and an extremely promising one at that.
But there seems a desire to turn him into some versatile back-five forward.
On the occasions Wales have tried him in the back row, against Georgia last autumn and during the summer – where he played blindside flanker against South Africa and Argentina – he has struggled.
And against the Cheetahs, he had little impact from the back of the scrum.
The frustration for Blues supporters is that Nick Williams and Samu Manoa were among the replacements and both made their mark when they came on the field.
It remains to be seen whether Davies will be drafted into Wales’s squad this autumn or given more game-time in the PRO14.
He is clearly a player with a huge amount of raw talent, who is highly rated by the Welsh management.
But a decision needs to be made where his best position lies.
THE BLUES NEED TO STOP HITTING THE SNOOZE BUTTON
NOT for the first time this season, John Mulvihill’s side have appeared in some form of sedated trance for the opening exchanges.
They were two tries down in the opening five minutes against Glasgow at the Arms Park last weekend and in Bloemfontein, conceded another two scores inside 10 minutes.
They didn’t exactly fly out of the block against the Dragons either.
Mulvihill would have preached about not playing into the Cheetahs hands in Bloemfontein, not allowing them the freedom to get their lively attacking runners into the game early.
But the Blues did just that, gifting up possession on occasions.
“We went away from our gameplan early and gave them too much
of a head start,” said the Australian.
“We played to their strength early in the match - I think the score for the last 60-odd minutes of the game was 10 points to seven to us.
“Our learning is, if we have a gameplan we need to stick to it.”
Conference A promises to be a real dogfight
With a third of the PRO14 season played only eight points separate second (the Ospreys) from sixth (Zebre) in the Conference A standings..
The Blues, with three wins and 17 points from their four matches, are in fourth and are right in the scrap, and it promises to be some scrap, for those three play-off spots with Glasgow, Munster and Connacht also in firm contention.
The issue for the Arms Park side this season has been their frustrating lack of consistency.
They threw away leads and crucial points against Leinster and on their Italian trip, yet defied the doubters in round four with a stunning win against Munster - any neutral observer would have considered them potential title dark horses on the back of that display at the Arms Park.
Since then, they have sneaked past the Cheetahs at home and came back strongly to see of the Dragons,
However, the performance in Bloemfontein, was a significant stride backwards.
The Blues lacked energy early on, struggled at the line-out, made far too many handling errors and squandered chances when they did arise. Incredibly, Manoa’s charge down score gave them a chance of leaving South Africa with something tangible. But in truth, they didn’t deserve it. Next up is Zebre, who upset Edinburgh in Parma this weekend.
The Blues should return to winning ways against the Italians.
But such has been their unpredictability so far, you wouldn’t put your mortgage on it.
YOUNG PROPS SHOW PROMISE
RHYS Carre and Kieron Assiratti have been tipped as ones to watch at the Blues for a while.
And both did their reputations no harm with their late cameos at the Toyota Stadium.
Replacing the experienced Scott Andrews and Rhys Gill, the pair helped the Blues scrum get on top in the closing stages, while Carre, in only his third PRO14 appearance, illustrated his all-round ability with a rampaging run down the touchline.
In a match of few individual positives, the youngsters provided something to cheer.