Captain Calamity still getting away with it
THE green jersey was used to cover the glaring deficiencies in Ireland’s Rugby World Cup bid.
Those who had the temerity to point out the obvious flaws in an approach that leaned on outdated caricatures and a preposterous ambition to evangelise North America, were shushed down.
Nationalism has a way of narrowing people’s focus, and when their country is the issue they can be blind to realities that seem obvious to others.
So just as it was that nobody outside Ireland shared the outrage here at the World Cup decision, there is the case of Jordan Henderson.
He is the Liverpool captain and the sometime England leader, too. Henderson is also one of the most limited players to ever hold either honour. It’s not that he’s bad, it’s simply that he is out of his depth. But as the latest inquiry into Liverpool’s terrible defending rattles on, Henderson’s calamitous role in their problems is overlooked – mainly because he is the England captain. It is far easier to blame the hapless Spaniard Alberto Moreno or Dejan Lovren, the Croatian central defender, whose default setting is stuck on jittery.
Neither of these two is much good, but Henderson is supposed to screen the defence, providing a layer of protection that in reality does not exist.
Yet he escapes practically any censure, simply because he leads his country.