England are comfortably ensconced in a luxury Surrey hotel. Ireland have been in and out of Fitzpatrick Castle hotel overlooking Dublin Bay, and Wales have their plush country hotel accommodation far from the grim industrial sights of Newport or Cardiff.
As for Scotland, they're doubtless throwing darts at a board
with the rose of England on it, muttering about "Sassenach swines".
There's never been a shortage of money for plush accommodation and facilities for the players and officials. The only question remaining ahead of November's international rugby programme in the Northern Hemisphere is, can any of these guys play the game properly?
Every year the North have it all to prove against their Southern Hemisphere counterparts. But with the new law interpretations firmly established and the end of an excuse to kick the leather off the ball for 80 minutes, the acid test arrives for England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.
Can they adapt to the new, faster, more attacking-minded game? Can they seize the opportunity to produce a style of play that will captivate audiences in the next month?
Do they have the players to exploit the opportunities in the new interpretations? Well, we can nail that one here and now. Manifestly yes, is the answer. England have potentially a dangerous, dynamic back three, attack-minded fast runners like Delon Armitage, Ben Foden, Chris Ashton and Paul Sackey.
Their problem may be that they still have old warhorse Mike Tindall at No 13 - a bit like having Rob Muldoon in John Key's Government.
Wales have as many fleet-footed players as kind grannies willing to make you a cup of tea. Dan Biggar, Shane Williams, James Hook, Jamie Roberts, Leigh Halfpenny, Mike Phillips ... if that lot can't pick up the ball and run with it, no one can.
As for Ireland, they have as much pace and ability as anyone. Tommy Bowe, Brian O'Driscoll, Keith Earls, Gordon D'Arcy, Luke Fitzgerald, Rob Kearney and Andrew Trimble have the gas to stun any opponents.
Scotland? You probably have to go back to 1962 and the flying Ian Smith to remember a Scottish wing who really got the ball and understood the philosophies of William Webb Ellis. It'll be harder for the Scots to embrace the new-style game, not least because God gave their forwards special length, extra strong fingers to snaffle the rugby ball on the ground at the breakdown and then hold onto it for the next half-hour.
Scottish back row men were probably killing the loose ball in Edinburgh while Hadrian was building his wall down on the English border. Old habits die hard in bonny Scotland.
But if you let all the best, most talented Northern Hemisphere players off the leash, free their minds from the dictates of their coaches, I'm willing to bet you'd see some superb rugby. The question as these November internationals begin between the two hemispheres is, will the coaches of the Four Home Unions adapt?
Will they be willing to loosen their iron control and let the players start to make some of their own decisions?
The trouble is that Martin Johnson (England), Warren Gatland (Wales), Declan Kidney (Ireland) and Andy Robinson (Scotland) are all men who believe that modern rugby hinges totally on preparation. If a player is primed to know what to do off sixth or even 16th phase possession, then all should be well.
It might be for the coaches, but it has come close to bringing rugby in the Northern Hemisphere to its knees. The game has become too pre-programmed, like chess with a ball. And this includes the French.
So the question should be, can the coaches change? Can men like Johnson, who played all his rugby in a one-dimensional style, embrace a new philosophy of pace, dynamism and movement? For the countries of the Northern Hemisphere to come anywhere near matching the style of rugby produced this year by the All Blacks and, increasingly, Australia, it will be necessary for this to happen.
British and Irish rugby always used to have the backs and the pace. It still has, to a certain extent. But they have been subjugated for too long by the heavy hand of coaching.
These new law interpretations offer the opportunity for change. But will the Home Unions take it?
Peter Bills is a rugby writer for Independent News & Media.
Rugby: North need to pick up ball and run
England are comfortably ensconced in a luxury Surrey hotel. Ireland have been in and out of Fitzpatrick Castle hotel overlooking Dublin Bay, and Wales have their plush country hotel accommodation far from the grim industrial sights of Newport or Cardiff.
As for Scotland, they're doubtless throwing darts at a board
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.
