League savages attacking flair in 15-man game during 2001

By ADRIAN WARNER

LONDON - The increasingly onerous odyssey to find space on a rugby field dominated the international game last year.

Much of the creativity of international players was stifled by tighter defences, moulded and coached by some of the best minds of the game's rival code, rugby league.

Union finished the year at a crossroads, less than two years out from the next World Cup.

The 15-man game is looking more and more like league. The reluctance of players to get involved in rucks and mauls has led to defences spreading across the field in a line like the 13-man code.

The upshot was fierce tackling and "big hits" in the Lions/Australia series, which came straight out of a league training manual.

Defence-splitting side-steps and swerves are becoming rare and tries can be hard to find in test matches.

Backs are getting bigger and stronger and forwards are becoming more mobile. Sometimes it is hard to see the difference between what used to be contrasting breeds of player.

The biggest question facing the game's lawmakers this year is how far they want the 15-man code to travel towards league.

"The game is now a confrontation, line against line, where you have to be patient and hang on to the ball, with defensive players leaving the ball to the opponents," French coach Bernard Laporte said.

"If you don't release the ball quickly, you will find out that you are blocked to the right, blocked to the left and that the only solution is to go for a one-to-one down the middle of the defence. And that's rugby league to me."

So it was no surprise that Britain's former league winger Jason Robinson was able to make such an impact on the Lions tour just a season after switching codes.

Such a rapid switch would have been unimaginable a few seasons ago. But union desperately needs talented runners who can find their way through tight defences.

Robinson is a perfect solution. He scored a brilliant early try as the Lions defeated the Wallabies 29-13 in the first test in Brisbane. The Australians bounced back to take the second test 35-14.

Then, in a pulsating decider in Sydney, the tourists were beaten 29-23, the first Lions team to be defeated in Australia in a series.

The Lions' New Zealand coach, Graham Henry, came under fire from outside and inside the squad. Captain Martin Johnson criticised the training regime.

But the reality is that the Lions were outplayed by a superior team.

Australia, who also won the Tri-Nations, finished the year as the leading force in the world game.

But defeats against France and England late in the year showed the Wallabies are struggling to rebuild after the retirement of John Eales.

New Zealand looked strong on their European tour and could provide the main challenge from the Southern Hemisphere by the time the World Cup arrives.

England remain the leading team in Europe.

They captured the Six Nations, but failed to win the Grand Slam when they lost to Ireland in Dublin in October after a championship that was truncated by Britain's foot-and-mouth crisis.

It was the third year running that the English had fallen at the final hurdle after defeats by Wales and Scotland.

England coach Clive Woodward blamed the Dublin loss on a lack of preparation at the start of a new European season.

Six Nations officials faced one of the toughest battles of the year to keep the championship intact because of the threat of fans spreading the livestock disease.

The game's chiefs now face another huge challenge in fine-tuning the laws so that the international game sees more tries and gifted runners get a chance to display their skills.

- REUTERS

2001 – The year in review