BRAVE CALL TO LEAVE WALES FOR FRENCH FIELDS PAYING OFF FOR IOAN
SARACENS surged into the Gallagher Premiership final but their 38-15 victory over Northampton was tinged with controversy after Sean Maitland plundered two tries having escaped an early card.
Last season’s runners-up were irresistible for long spells of a one-sided play-off at StoneX Stadium as they set up a Twickenham showdown with either champions Leicester or Sale, who meet on Sunday.
But Northampton will feel aggrieved that Maitland was not at least sin-binned for clattering into George Furbank with his elbows during an aerial collision that left the England back needing lengthy treatment.
Referee Karl Dickson issued only a penalty and in making a quick decision declined to consult the TMO with the game just 25 seconds old.
To rub salt into the wound, Maitland scored Saracens’ opening two tries as part of an unstoppable first half that produced a 21-3 lead which was only briefly threatened when Northampton fought back in the third quarter.
A penalty try and Max Malins’ touchdown shut the door on the possibility of an upset and Saints, who barely fired a shot before the break, were well beaten by opponents seeking a sixth Premiership title.
Scrum-half Ivan van Zyl was named man of the match but Alex Goode could easily have been chosen given his influence in the opening stages.
When Northampton attacked and were turned over, Goode launched a stunning counterattack given pace by Maitland but Alex Lozowski lacked the speed to finish the move.
Goode’s vision was on display again in the seventh minute when he chipped through for Maitland to score, but it was a good afternoon to be pulling the strings with Saracens dominating the gainline.
Maitland was over again in the 23rd minute after sustained pressure ended with Farrell producing a precision grubber for the Scotland wing to touch down.
Any time Northampton got the ball they were hammered backwards in the tackle but they could only blame themselves for the next try as having conceded a penalty, they switched off to allow the quick-thinking Van Zyl to tap and go for an easy run-in.
Saracens led 21-3 on the halfhour mark and when faced with a rare assault on their line they rolled up their sleeves and sent Saints packing.
The third quarter was harder work, with Northampton showing the fire that had been missing in the first half.
Alex Mitchell skipped over in the 56th minute and Saints engineered a superb try soon after when stylish play ended with Courtney Lawes sending James Ramm over.
But the comeback was over when Saracens’ maul forced a penalty try that saw Tom James sent to the sin-bin, before Malins completed the rout. Sarries’ Maro Itoje was yellow-carded late on.
IF anybody thinks the life of a professional rugby player is all glitz and glamour, they haven’t been paying much attention. The last few years has highlighted the financial vulnerability of the game, and the precarious position many players find themselves in with sport facing years of austerity.
While the select few who get the opportunity to play international rugby are paid well, it is tougher than it has ever been to break into the professional game – as Ioan Rhys Davies will testify to.
Davies is a former Wales U20s international from Aberdare who was a member of the Cardiff academy, but when Covid hit it slowed his progress, eventually leading to the Arms Park outfit opting not to renew his contract.
This left his dream of becoming an international rugby player hanging by a thread, but instead of sulking in the corner and feeling sorry for himself Davies took himself out of his comfort zone by signing for French fourth tier club Sporting Club Graulhetois, some 40 miles away from Toulouse.
“I’ve played for Wales at U16s, U18s, and U20s level while I was in the Cardiff academy, and I also played for Merthyr in the Welsh Premiership but when Covid hit it really stunted my development as a player,” he told WalesOnline.
“To get released by Cardiff was really tough to take because I felt I never got the opportunity to show how good I could be.
“But I was offered a contract lower down the leagues in France, and I took it to keep the dream alive. There’s a lot of overseas players at the club, a Georgian, two Fijians, and a guy from New Zealand.
“I am one of several professional players in the squad, but most of the boys are semi-pro.
“We’ll do extras after training like contact work, gym work and working on our skills. We train Monday,
Wednesday, and Friday.
“The league we play in is of a decent standard, to be fair. There’s a lot of overseas players in this league from around the world like New Zealanders, the Pacific Islands and Georgians.
“There’s also a lot of players from tier two nations in the league including Dutch players, and French Canadians.
There are also a lot of players who were playing at the top end stepping down the leagues at the end of their careers.”
At U20s level, Davies played in the same Wales side as Jac Morgan, Ben Carter and Sam Costelow, but while those three have gone on to represent their country at senior level the 23-year-old has been forced to try and do it the hard way.
Davies is a talented back-rower, who is equally as comfortable playing six or eight and likes to roam the wide channels.
While ideally he would like to be playing at a higher level, he believes his time in the Championnat National 2, the fourth tier of French rugby, has made him a better player.
“I’m an attacking player who likes the ball in my hands, and I love to put players into space,” he says.
“As a back-rower that’s my point of difference and perhaps the fact I am a creative player went against me back in Wales. In Wales at the moment for a back-rower it’s all about the breakdown, the tackles, the jackal techniques.
“This is why I love the fact this league is so physical because whereas in the past I’d use my footwork and skills to put people into space now I’ve also learned how to deal with bigger men, the mauls and the rucks. It’s allowed me to develop into a far more complete player.”
French rugby has always had a fearsome reputation, especially in the divisions below the Top 14, with mass brawls a common sight. So, how has Davies coped with the rough and tumble nature of Championnat National 2?
“It’s old-school rugby here,” he said.
“There have been at least five games I’ve played in where there
have been 13-man brawls. In my club we have a Georgian second-row who played in two World Cups, and he’s like a bodyguard so that helps.
“The refereeing is a lot softer because when there is a brawl hardly anyone gets penalised for it.
“It’s usually no more than a yellow card. There’s no selling point for it in France because violence is almost normal.
“There’ll be a brawl and the referee may give a couple of yellow cards but then we move on.
“We get about 3,000 watching us every weekend despite the fact we are a fourth division club.
“The rugby culture is so strong here. All the local businesses and companies are trying to get involved to sponsor us. You’ll have a shirt in France with 50 sponsors on it because everyone wants to get involved.”
Back home in Wales, there have been struggles to find the right pathway for the next generation of talent to develop. In the recent U20s Six Nations, Wales suffered the ignominy of a whitewash, while how to bridge the gap between the semi-professional Premiership and the regional game is a hot topic of conversation.
Davies didn’t get the opportunities he felt he deserved in Wales, and urges any young Welsh player to consider a move to France.
“Being an academy player in France is much better than Wales,” he said.
“They have a level called the Espoirs in France which is basically an U23 league. This bridges the gap between age grade and professional level.
“The Toulouse Espoirs is coached by [former All Black] Jerome Kaino. If I knew this when I was younger I’d have loved to have joined a French academy.
“If you arrive in France over the age of 23 it’s five years until you become a JIFF player but if you come over on an academy contract for three years you’ll be a JIFF player sooner.”
JIFF essentially equates to a player of French formation, and the French leagues have a big focus on using a majority of JIFF players in their matchday squads and can even face sanctions for not doing so.
“Any young players who feel a bit lost I’d recommend they look at getting into the Espoirs league in France,” Davies adds.
“This is something we don’t have in Wales. France are very strong at age-grade level and are awesome at senior level, and it’s not a coincidence, it’s because they have the right foundations in place.
“Academy players in Wales don’t play enough rugby whereas in France I’ve played 48 games in two seasons. I’ve started 41 of them. I never got the chance to prove I was good enough in Wales although Covid didn’t help matters.
“I was put on a bulking block. I’ve developed these parts of my games because I’ve been given the opportunity to play rugby.”
In comparison, he says: “Just before my Wales U20s campaign I was put on a four-month bulking block, and I was told I wasn’t meant to play anything. My second game of rugby that season was the first Wales U20s game against Italy in the Six Nations.”
So, with his Sporting Club Graulhetois contract running out at the end of the season, what next for Davies?
“It was pretty brave of me to leave Wales to go and play in France but I didn’t do it for no reason,” he said.
“I did it because it’s my dream to become a professional rugby player, and I’m determined to make it.
“All I want is an opportunity, and if I get it I’ll prove to people I’m good enough.”