MVN - Most Valuable Network

What is James Sharman talking about?

I like James Sharman. Really, I do. As host of the daily TV program Sportsworld on The Score, he talks about international sports that the rest of the Canadian sporting media won’t touch.

Sharman’s coverage includes rugby. Every week he does a Rugby Report, generally featuring interviews with ex-Canadian rugby legend Gareth Rees. That’s one of the big reasons I watch Sharman’s show.

Having said all that, every week Rees and Sharman take turns throwing out information and/or providing commentary that is utterly devoid of logic. I try to catch the segment every week, but I’m beginning to wonder what purpose it serves for anybody that actually follows rugby on a semi-regular basis.

Early this evening Sharman and Rees were discussing Portugal’s surprise qualification into this years’ 2007 Rugby World Cup. Portugal is the last qualifier, and slots into RWC Pool C. This pool comprises the following five teams:

New Zealand

Scotland

Italy

Romania

Portugal

In discussing this Pool C, Sharman makes the comment on a pair of occasions that the All Blacks are “arrogant” because they will be taking their group opponents lightly and concentrating on the knock-out finals stage.

This is less a case of “arrogance” by the All Blacks, than it is near-total ignorance from Sharman.

Anybody that has been following international rugby at even a cursory glance for the past three years is well aware that New Zealand coach Graham Henry has implemented a “rotation” policy for his team. This policy was initially disdained. Indeed, Henry copped a lot of stick back home for supposedly “cheapening the jersey” by starting players in test matches against Top Tier international teams like England and France who weren’t regarded as that nations’ very best at their position.

Henry has always defended this policy by stating, time and again, that what he is working toward is DEPTH — a complete 30-man squad where any of his players can be confidently called upon to perform at the highest level, having undergone the cauldron of test match rugby and demonstrating that they are more than capable of performing.

The only way for Henry to create true depth was to give his bench players genuine test match experience and have them compete for the starting positions. By and large Henry has succeeded — last November, for example, the deep “rotational” All Blacks dealt record losses to England, Wales and France. Not surprisingly, Henry’s countrymen have tempered their stinging criticisms.

Sharman seems to be clueless about past lessons learned, so let’s step back in time and revisit ghost of NZ’s RWC-passim:

At RWC 1995, New Zealand elected to rest their biggest superstars, the giant Jonah Lomu and goalkicker Andrew Mehrtens against Japan. The ABs had already defeated Wales and Ireland at the group stage and were assured a berth into the playoff stage. Lomu’s replacement was Marc Ellis, who torched Japan for a world-record SIX tries. Mehrtens replacement was Simon Culhane, who scored himself a try, and converted 20-out-of-21 conversions, for a world record haul of 45 points. The final score was NZ 145 vs. Japan 17. Was it arrogance that made AB coach Laurie Mains rest some of his players? Or was it confidence that his bench replacements were equal to the task?

At RWC 1999, NZ was famously eliminated by France at the semi-final stage. The big issue All Black coach John Hart had going into the tournament was four backline superstars (Jonah Lomu, Christian Cullen, Jeff Wilson and Tana Umaga), but only three vacant positions to slot them into (the two wings and fullback positions). Hart’s fateful decison was to go into the RWC playing Cullen — ordinarily a fullback — at outside-centre, a position he was not overly familiar at the highest level. The experiment was a failure.

At RWC 2003, possibly the worst blow for New Zealand occured in the first match of their group stage against Italy. A freak mishap saw centre Tana Umaga trip over the leg of his own player, Carlos Spencer, and damage the ligaments in his knee. Umaga’s World Cup was over in the first half of the first pool stage test. Coach John Mitchell then had to initiate an experiment tinkering with backline combinations at the worst possible moment. His desperate solution saw fullback Leon MacDonald slotting into the unfamiliar position of centre, and worse, take over goal-kicking responsibilities, which is something MacDonald didn’t even do at club or provincial level, to say nothing of the semi-final of the World Cup. Alas, the experiment was another abject failure.

Could Graham Henry have learned any lessons from these three examples? If he has any common sense, one would have to assume Henry had witnessed and processed what had previously transpired, and worked to design a strategy that would assure, as best as possible, that the same mistakes would not be repeated.

If a player like, say, Mils Muliaina was going to play out of position, then he would get experience playing that position over the development of a couple years, not thrown into a sudden crash course in the middle of the world’s biggest tournament.

Moreover, NZ’s backline coach Wayne Smith is on record as saying that only two All Blacks — captain Richie McCaw and goalkicker Daniel Carter (coincidentally, the last two IRB World Player of the Year recipients) — are guaranteed roster spots. And that’s taking into consideration that McCaw is injury-prone with recurring concussions that have regularly sidelined him, and Carter is currently rehabbing a strained neck.

See, one of the things you learn when you follow rugby is that it’s a tough physical collision sport where participants frequently get injured. Just ask Keith Robinson, who was on the rack for well over a year recovering from a neck and spinal injury. Right now there appears to be incredible depth and balance in this current All Black team. Virtually any of the 30-man roster can be pencilled into any starting lineup. What exactly does Sharman think Graham Henry has been doing the past two years?

I’m almost afraid to hear the answer.

I know Sharman follows soccer. If Sharman can step outside himself for a minute and imagine a scenario where Chelsea FC has a Saturday EPL fixture against, say, West Ham, followed by mid-week UEFA Champions League final-round match against, say, Bayern Munich, would it be “arrogant” of manager Jose Mourinho to rest Thierry Henry Frank Lampard against West Ham in order to keep his legs fresh against Bayern Munich? Seriously ~ is this arrogance, or prioritizing sheer common sense? And if it’s common sense for soccer, then why is it not equally true for a sport like rugby union where the risks and incidence of injury are substantially higher?

RWC 2007 Pools finalized: Portugal in; Uruguay out.

Portugal fills out the last spot for RWC France 2007. They lost to Uruguay in Montivideo, but won by a single point on the home-and-away test aggregate. They earn the right to face the All Blacks in pool competition.

IRB:

Portugal’s remarkable Rugby World Cup 2007 qualification campaign has ended in joy as the Lobos hung on to complete a 24-23 aggregate victory over Uruguay in Montevideo to book a place at the finals for the first time.

Despite losing the second leg 18-12 Tomaz Morais’ team did enough to advance to Rugby World Cup 2007 in France in September and a place in Pool C alongside New Zealand, Scotland, Italy and Romania.

The entrants for the pool stages are now finalized:

RWC 2007 Pools

POOL A
England
South Africa
Samoa
USA
Tonga

POOL B
Australia
Wales
Fiji
Canada
Japan

POOL C
New Zealand
Scotland
Italy
Romania
Portugal

POOL D
France
Ireland
Argentina
Georgia
Namibia

Vive le France! Injury-time TMO = championship!

The nailbiting conclusion to this years’ wide-open Six Nations championship came down to the worried-about pocket calculator climax on Saturday. I was supposed to be working, but the contests got the better of me and I sat transfixed for six straight hours.

First match up St. Patrick’s Day was Ireland taking on feisty up-start Italy in Rome. It’s fair to say that both sides are currently showing the best form for each side that anybody with a living memory can recall. In the first-half, the huge Italian pack shoved Ireland around the track, but only had penalty goals to show for it. The visitors scored a pair of tries and led at the break 20-12.

Things really opened-up in the 2nd-half as the Irish got some opportune tries early and with the sniff of victory up their noses began piling on points in an effort to overhaul France for the championship tie-breaker.

In the end, Ireland scored a total of eight tries and took a 34-point advantage going into injury-time, leading the Italians 51-17. But a defensive lapse and a last-second converted injury-time try to Italian fullback Roland De Marigny shaved back seven points ~ possibly crucial points. Final score: Ireland 51 Italy 24. Ireland would sit out the rest of the day’s matches wondering if they had done enough; their final 6N table point-differential was +27 points. Meanwhile, Italian fans gave their boys a ticker-tape parade in Rome.  

In the all-important second match, France hosted Scotland in Paris, knowing they would have to beat Scotland by 23 points to win the championship. Scotland started with a flash, but France dominated most of the first half and comfortably led 20-7 going into the changing sheds. Then Scotsman Sean Lamont scored a massive try at the whistle to give Irishmen everywhere heart. The halftime score was 20-14, only a six-point advantage, which meant France had to bag +17 in the remaining 40 minutes.

The French were into the game’s last quarter leading 39-14, just barely covering the point difference they required and seemingly on cruise-control. But “cruise contriol” requires taking the foot off the pedal, and that’s exactly what France did, running out of gas and holding that scoreline toward the conclusion of the game. Then with 4 minutes on the clock ~ disaster for the French ~ as Scottish front-rower Euan Murray stood wide on the wing and claimed an unlikely try in the corner. The match was ending with France holding a 20-point lead, i.e. not enough for the championship. The heroes would turn out to be French replacement Elvis Vermeulen and Irish Television Match Official (TMO) Simon McDowell. France patiently assaulted the Scottish line, and into injury-time Vermeulen got over the line and kinda-maybe-sorta-perhaps-dunno-possibly scored under a mass of bodies — so, upstairs went the decision. TV replays never showed proper grounding of the ball, nevertheless, an Irish TMO on St. Patrick’s Day felt the heat of Paris tightening his collar and awarded the try, giving France a resounding 46-19 victory over Scotland, and more importantly a +27 point advantage ~ same as Ireland took earlier in the day ~ gifting Les Cocques the Six Nations championship on a tie-breaker.

Rugby Planet called it a “Hollywood ending.”

Inky thinks otherwise:

“France won the title by virtue of a points differential. They beat Scotland (46-19) by the same twenty seven point margin that Ireland beat Italy (51-24), thus retaining their four point differential week from the previous round.

“I’m sorry but it’s true… I actually led a newsletter with that. Oh, and Wales beat England 27-18 in Cardiff, a win more disturbing for England than it was heartening to the Welsh, whose season has been the most grim of all since Clive Woodward sabotaged their development.”

Which takes us to the final match of this years’ tournament, Wales hosting England at Cardiff. Wales tend to be motivated more by the sting of fear than the glory of victory, and with a winless tournament and a “Wooden Spoon” staring them in the face, raised their game and defeated the lily-white roses 27-18.

Mick Cleary tries to reflect on what it all means.

Six Nations championship weekend preview

The Six Nations tournaments wraps up Saturday with the three final matches and everything to play for. Rugby Planet has their last-minute previews up. Here are the excerpted details (click on links to view complete previews):

Italy vs. Ireland at Stadio Flaminio, Rome.

Italy: 15 Roland De Marigny, 14 Kaine Robertson, 13 Ezio Galon, 12 Mirco Bergamasco, 11 Matteo Pratichetti, 10 Ramiro Pez, 9 Alessandro Troncon, 8 Sergio Parisse, 7 Maurizio Zaffiri, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Marco Bortolami, 4 Santiago Dellapè, 3 Carlos Nieto, 2 Carlo Festuccia, 1 Salvatore Perugini. Replacements: 16 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 17 Fabio Staibano, 18 Valerio Bernabò, 19 Josh Sole, 20 Paul Griffen, 21 Andrea Scanavacca, 22 Matteo Barbini.

Ireland: 15 Girvan Dempsey, 14 Shane Horgan, 13 Brian O’Driscoll, 12 Gordon D’Arcy, 11 Denis Hickie, 10 Ronan O’Gara, 9 Peter Stringer, 8 Denis Leamy, 7 David Wallace, 6 Simon Easterby, 5 Mick O’Driscoll, 4 Donncha O’Callaghan, 3 John Hayes, 2 Rory Best, 1 Marcus Horan or Simon Best. Replacements: 16 Jerry Flannery, 17 Simon Best or Bryan Young, 18 Trevor Hogan 19 Neil Best, 20 Eoin Reddan, 21 Paddy Wallace, 22 Andrew Trimble.

Date: Saturday, March 17
Venue: Stadio Flaminio, Rome
Kick-off: 14:30 local (13:30 UTC/GMT) 09:30 am EDT (New York, Toronto)
Expected weather conditions: Scattered clouds, clearing, with a high of 18°C, dropping to 8°C and a freshening westerly of 14 km/h
Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)
Touch judges: Tony Spreadbury (England), Malcolm Changleng (Scotland)
Television match official: David Changleng (Scotland)
Assessor: Steve Hilditch (Ireland)

Rugby Planet prediction: Ireland to win by 15 points.

France vs. Scotland at Stade de France, Paris.

France: 15 Clement Poitrenaud, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 David Marty, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Cédric Heymans, 10 Lionel Beauxis, 9 Pierre Mignoni, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Julien Bonnaire, 6 Serge Betsen, 5 Jerome Thion, 4 Lionel Nallet, 3 Pieter De Villiers, 2 Raphael Ibanez (captain), 1 Olivier Milloud. Replacements: 16 Nicolas Mas, 17 Sebastian Bruno, 18 Pascal Papè, 19 Elvis Vermeulen, 20 Jean-Baptise Elissalde, 21 Damien Traille, 22 Christophe Dominici.

Scotland: 15 Chris Paterson (captain), 14 Sean Lamont, 13 Rob Dewey, 12 Andrew Henderson, 11 Nikki Walker, 10 Dan Parks, 9 Rory Lawson, 8 Johnnie Beattie, 7 Kelly Brown, 6 Simon Taylor, 5 Scott Murray, 4 Nathan Hines, 3 Euan Murray, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Gavin Kerr. Replacements: 16 Dougie Hall, 17 Allan Jacobsen, 18 Jim Hamilton, 19 Allister Hogg, 20 Chris Cusiter, 21 Marcus Di Rollo, 22 Rory Lamont.

Date: Saturday, March 17
Time: 16:30 local (15:30 UTC/GMT) 11:30 am EDT (New York, Toronto)
Venue: Stade de France, Paris
Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Touch judges: David Courtney (Ireland), Taizo Hirabayashi (Japan)
Television match official: Simon McDowell
Assessor: Michel Lamoulie

Rugby Planet prediction: France to win by 12 points.

Wales vs. England at Millenium Stadium, Cardiff.

Wales: 15 Kevin Morgan, 14 Mark Jones, 13 Tom Shanklin, 12 Gareth Thomas (c), 11 Shane Williams, 10 James Hook, 9 Dwayne Peel, 8 Ryan Jones, 7 Martyn Williams, 6 Alix Popham, 5 Alun Wynn Jones, 4 Ian Gough, 3 Chris Horsman, 2 Matthew Rees, 1 Gethin Jenkins. Replacements: 16 Rhys Thomas, 17 Duncan Jones, 18 Adam Jones, 19 Brent Cockbain, 20 Jonathan Thomas, 21 Mike Phillips, 22 Gareth Thomas.

England: 15 Mark Cueto, 14 David Strettle, 13 Mathew Tait, 12 Mike Catt (c), 11 Jason Robinson, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Harry Ellis, 8 Nick Easter, 7 Tom Rees, 6 Joe Worsley, 5 Tom Palmer, 4 Martin Corry, 3 Julian White, 2 George Chuter, 1 Tim Payne. Replacements: 16 Lee Mears, 17 Stuart Turner, 18 Louis Deacon, 19 Magnus Lund, 20 Shaun Perry, 21 Shane Geraghty, 22 Jamie Noon.

Date: Saturday, March 17
Venue: Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Kick-off: 17:30 local (17:30 UTC/GMT) 01:30 pm EDT (New York, Toronto) 
Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)
Touch judges: Alan Lewis (Ireland), Christophe Berdos (France)
Television match official: George Clancy (Ireland)
Assessor: Jim Bailey (Wales)

Rugby Planet prediction: England to win by 12 points.

If Rugby Planet’s predictions come true, then France should win the competition by a single point on the tie-breaker (see immediate post below, plus “Calculators at the ready.” ). That’s how close it is. In fact, even Italy stands a chance to win the comp. Sure, they’d need help ~ France and England would have to lose, and Italy would have to beat Ireland by a cricket score. It begs the question of whether the Six Nations should adopt the “bonus-point” system implemented by SANZAR. The Telegraph’s Mick Cleary investigates.

If you’re in strife and need to know the results as they happen, check BBC for live audio and score tickers.

Last note: MVN has finally gotten around to retrieving all my rugby links. Look for the “Author” box in grey at top-right, and you’ll see the “LINKS” link next underneath my name. It’s a treasure trove of rugby resources. Talk soon…