Wilting of Red Rose a temporary phenomenon

ON RUGBY:THE DUST has settled and the gnashing of the teeth across the water can be heard from over here. The lowest English Premiership representation in the 14 years they have competed in the Heineken Cup has understandably prompted plenty of navel contemplation.

With four French sides and three from the Magners League, the knock-out stages of the Heineken Cup have the kind of distinctly Franco-Irish feel to it which had been earmarked from about the halfway point of the pool stages.

The Irish teams lost only four of 18 matches, with an all-time high winning ratio of 76 per cent, easily the best of all nationalities, ahead of Wales (56.5 per cent), France (55 per cent – though extracting Brive it is 66 per cent), England (44 per cent, another all-time low), the Scots (41.6 per cent) and the Italians (8.3 per cent). Yet it is so easy to jump to wild conclusions on the basis of just one European campaign.

For starters, both the Irish representation of two and overall Celtic contingent of three is about par for the course. Nor would Leinster or Munster have been swinging from the chandeliers at the manner in which they eventually secured home quarter-finals.

Leinster have ultimately failed to beat London Irish in three attempts this season, and their reward is the visit of Clermont in the quarter-finals followed by a semi-final in France against either Toulouse or Stade Francais. It’s as tough as a path to the final as they could possibly have drawn.

Clermont, the current Top 14 leaders, have been the best side in France for the last three or four years under Vern Cotter and Leinster’s next head coach, Joe Schmidt. Granted, they have lost three French finals in a row, thus taking to 10 the number of times they have come within one match of their Holy Grail of a first Bouclier du Brennus. Akin to the All Blacks circa World Cup time, with each failure it has become a bigger monkey on their backs.

But they have persistently been the most fluent and all-embracing team, armed with a forward-orientated power game, excellent kicking game and wide-wide running game. And, according to French journalists, Clermont have targeted the Heineken Cup final in Paris this season as possibly the means to winning some overdue silverware. In the circumstances, with Lansdowne/Aviva (aka the Palindrome?) not available, keeping the tie at the RDS makes better rugby sense.

Munster too will be wary of renewing hostilities with Northampton and their beefy scrum, never mind a seventh away semi-final out of nine should they reach the last four.

For years there has been a somewhat false debate about French interest in the Heineken Cup. Granted, teams like Bourgoin have at times taken a fairly dilettante approach to the blue riband of European rugby in deference to impending Top 14 games.

Perhaps now though, it’s time we asked whether it’s the English who prioritise their domestic league over the European Cup. On-line polls can perhaps give a false picture, but when London Irish asked their supporters which competition they’d most like to win this season, something like 99.5 per cent of the respondents favoured the Guinness Premiership.

Similarly, some of the English clubs have used the Heineken Cup to adhere to Martin Johnson’s EPS system by resting players in those games – in Harlequins’ case in round one.

Overall, assuredly, the Irish provinces can undoubtedly focus more on European rather than domestic fare. But that’s always been the way too. The absence of relegation from the Magners League has been cited, but nothing’s changed here, and it’s only three seasons ago that the Premiership provided three of the four semi-finalists and both finalists.

It’s only a year ago that French representation hit an all-time low with one qualifier and, as with Northampton this time round, Toulouse also progressed as one of the best runners-up. This season they’ve a record four representatives out of the last eight.

There’s relegation in the Top 14 too, though admittedly the leading teams host the likes of Albi or Dax or Montauban. Ever see these games? They’re like blood sports. In fact, bull-fighting is less one-sided or sacrificial.

The standard of rugby is not noticeably superior in the Top 14, where drop-goal attempts have assuredly hit a new world record. The laissez-faire refereeing towards the breakdown and penalty count in favour of home sides can be scarcely credible.

But the leading French sides do have talent and, as Guy Noves has often observed, the higher standard of refereeing in Europe and quicker ball allows them to play more rugby.

In the last three years or so, the main shift has been from England to France, and it’s surely no coincidence that this has occurred at a time when there has been no salary cap in France and there’s been an exodus across the channel.

In truth, in addition to poor refereeing, there’s simply been a player and coaching drain in England.

Were you to pick composite Irish-English, French/English or Welsh/English sides, in every instance, any coach of a strictly neutral bent would assuredly pick a very slim Red Rose minority. England have had a shortfall in sheer playing talent every since their 2003 World Cup triumph, and reaching the 2007 decider with a grizzled bunch of gnarled veterans merely varnished over this fact.

A personal view is that, while the likes of Jim Mallinder and Toby Booth are very talented coaches with plenty to offer, there has been a little bit of a brains drain too in recent years – the departure of Pat Howard and Warren Gatland from Leicester and Wasps being a case in point. But if the history of sport has taught us anything, it is that these things are cyclical.

PS: The sheer nature of the way the draw was conducted in France for FR2 could only give ammunition to conspiracy theorists. Any televised “draw” worth its salt would at least have a see-throw glass container with the balls and numbers visible to all.

And then there was an interregnum between the two semi-final pairings! Sunday evening’s event was more befitting of a school fete, with the first prize of a Christmas hamper.

C’mon ERC, a more transparent draw – in every sense – would be more benefiting of the blue riband of European club rugby.