The wind could be a formidable Six Nations opponent
Like many, I will spend much of this weekend glued to the second round of the Six Nations – watching as England seek to silence the doubters, Ireland try to repel the Welsh invasion, and France attempt to show last week wasn’t a one-off.
Fortunately I’ll be joining the action from my warm sofa, because it looks as if the weather might be a challenge to fixtures this weekend. The arrival of Storm Ciara, mauling its way across the North Atlantic as you read, may bring 80mph winds, heavy rain and intense disruption, not least to the Six Nations.
There is a cliché in rugby union: “play the conditions”. It vaguely means that a team ought to be prepared to adapt their game plan to suit what’s happening – especially if the weather isn’t playing ball. It has an element of truth in it, even if some conditions are easier than others to adapt to.
In 1961, a match between New Zealand and France in Wellington was played in a near-cyclone, with such severe winds that fans abandoned one whole stand. It finished 5-3, the difference coming when Don Clarke landed a conversion by aiming for the far corner flag, using the wind to direct the ball right between the posts.
In Auckland 14 years later, a different problem intervened. Rain that week had flooded the pitch so badly that some were concerned players might drown at the bottom of rucks. Neither team could kick a thing that day, but the game – nicknamed The Waterpolo Test – did at least go ahead. The same wasn’t true in Paris in 2012, when the weather resoundingly won. Temperatures of -5C (23F) and a wind chill factor of -11C (12F) meant the pitch at Stade de France in Paris was entirely frozen, putting French and Irish players at risk of injury, and thus forcing a postponement.
Let’s hope there’s a little less drama today. But to all those playing as Ciara prepares its entrance: remember, play the conditions.
It may be easier said than done.