Sam Cane of The Allblacks during the Australian Wallabies v New Zealand All Blacks. Photo / Photosport.co.nz
Sam Cane of The Allblacks during the Australian Wallabies v New Zealand All Blacks. Photo / Photosport.co.nz
OPINION:
For an organisation which states that player welfare is its number one priority, World Rugby sure has a funny way of showing it sometimes.
The recent news that the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France is likely to be extended by a week, with the final pushed out toOctober 28 to allow for all teams to have a minimum of five days between matches, is welcome and long overdue.
It is a measure insisted upon by player unions around the world and is likely to be ratified next week.
Naturally, the (England) Rugby Football Union has complained as it wasn't consulted, but the move has high-profile backing from one Eddie Jones, the current England head coach, who in 2015 was in charge of Japan in Brighton where he oversaw one of the greatest upsets in World Cup history when the huge underdogs beat South Africa.
It was a victory which set the tournament alight, but Japan, like many so-called "minnow" nations at the World Cup, were disadvantaged hugely by the tight turnarounds between matches and a defeat to Scotland four days later effectively cost them a place in a first quarter-final. In what was a ridiculous schedule, they beat Samoa 10 days after the Scotland defeat and then the United States another eight days after that.
"Anything we can do to make it fair and equitable amongst the teams is good," Jones told the Guardian recently. "Anything that we can do to make it better in terms of player welfare is good. I know when we played South Africa in 2015 it was a tough turnaround and I don't think it is fair for some teams to do that and not others."
In another nod to common sense, tournament squads are to be increased from 31 to 33 players, which will allow for greater rotation, and fixtures will be arranged to minimise travel.
Thirty six years after the inaugural World Cup, World Rugby is about to do the bleeding obvious. If you get the impression that glaciers move faster than the custodians of the world game then you would be entirely correct.
All Black haka before the All Blacks V Wallabies rugby match held at Eden Park. 18 October 2020 New Zealand Herald photograph by Dean Purcell.
Which is why we probably shouldn't hold out hope for a quick resolution outlawing ever dangerous developments at the breakdown.
Shifting piled-up bodies at the ruck in order to win quick ball has become a key element of the game and yet it is often fraught with danger and, unfortunately, confusion.
"Neck rolls", the act of twisting a prone opponent's neck to remove him or her from the breakdown, has rightly been outlawed (although they still occasionally happen) but the "croc roll", the act of twisting a player's body in order to remove him or her, remains legal, despite many incidents including a horror injury for England loose forward Jack Willis in the Six Nations match against Italy at Twickenham at the weekend.
Sebastian Negri was the instigator and Willis' screams rang out around an empty stadium as the twisting motion wrenched a knee which was trapped in the pile-up. Players from both sides were distressed by the incident. "A quick message to Jack Willis," Negri posted on Twitter a day later. "So sorry about what happened yesterday."
It appears Willis wasn't seriously injured but, regardless, he will be sidelined for months. Unfortunately, what Negri did was entirely legal and he wasn't penalised.
Scotland prop Zander Fagerson was, though, for his cleanout on Wales opposite Wyn Jones in another Six Nations match of the weekend. In the incident, Fagerson steamed in and collected Jones, who was being moved by another Scotland player, in the head with his shoulder.
The result was a red card and a four-match ban; a direct consequence of making contact with an opponent's head. Clear-cut perhaps, but Fagerson appeared perplexed when being shown the card – thinking, probably, that he had committed himself before Jones' position moved in what is a constantly changing environment.
Being in close proximity to the Blues forwards when they were practising their own cleanouts at training in Auckland recently was not a particularly pleasant experience especially in the knowledge that in matches those impacts are often felt by those who can't see them coming.
But how to maintain rugby's contest for possession in a safe way? Hopefully it won't take World Rugby another 36 years to work it out.
