Leinster clash now becomes a cup final

ON RUGBY:The game management was poor against Scarlets yesterday at Parc y Scarlets and we have all got to examine our role in that failure, writes BOB CASEY

TRYING TO harness my emotions at the moment is difficult. I’m waiting for the last few players to board what is a silent team bus. We let ourselves down badly at Parc y Scarlets. We came with a game plan but didn’t implement it.

Everything we spoke about beforehand; the need to be precise in the first 30 minutes, to put them under pressure and get the scores that would force them to lose heart, just seems like so much hot air because we didn’t do any of those things.

Our mantra is about earning the right to go wide but we didn’t do that either. We didn’t commit their players by taking the ball up the middle before we spun it. The game management was poor and we have all got to examine our role in that failure. We have one of the best defences in the Premiership but we conspired to fall off tackles all day.

Saturday’s game against Leinster now becomes a cup final. We made a rod for our own back with a sub-standard performance and at Twickenham we have an opportunity to atone. We’ll work all week to achieve that goal.

January’s importance in a playing context is obvious in terms of the Heineken Cup but what people might not be aware of is the month can be pivotal in determining the short- and medium-term future of players. It’s interesting to note that the Rebels, the new Australian franchise, will be permitted to have 10 foreign players in the first year and that will be gradually reduced.

Regulation of the ins and outs of the player trade at clubs appears to be heading for tighter controls. There is talk of a salary cap in France which will slow the exodus from England of those looking to avail of lucrative offers. It’ll also see a sizeable decrease in the number of Southern Hemisphere talent heading for the French Top 14 championship.

If you take as an example a club like Toulouse, they would boast a budget at least twice as big as that of London Irish. So if the cap comes in it is going to level the playing field a bit and ironically it might just drive French clubs to putting more time and energy into developing their academy structures.

On January 1st clubs may approach players who are out of contract at the end of the season. Players are free to talk to other clubs and it can be quite a distracting and unsettling time when a player’s contract is up for renewal. The Armitage brothers, Delon and Steffon, recently agreed new deals, which represented a great coup for London Irish.

The club completed the negotiations before the January window and that would be standard policy at most clubs in locking down the elite players. Delon and Steffon wanted to stay at the club but the pair wouldn’t have been short of offers, some I’m sure for crazy money especially from France: the pair were born there and speak fluent French.

Contrast this scenario with a player, out of contract at the end of a season who still hasn’t been approached to sign a new one come March. You can imagine how difficult it is to concentrate on your rugby when you’re aware the club for whom you’re playing does not want you because they haven’t offered a new contract.

Players do talk about these things; they are aware whose contract is up and it is occasionally the subject of lunch-time table talk.

The chat wouldn’t relate to specifics or figures but you’d be conscious of most people’s status within a club. Toby Booth keeps things very tight in terms of any new signings and that’s the way it should be.

Most players would sign a two-year contract, a standard time-frame, while maybe in the case of a very talented young player they might be offered three years. I have heard of only one player ever to be offered a four-year deal. This is where the agent comes into the relationship between a club and a player.

The standard commission for an agent is five per cent of a player’s annual wage. I checked with the Rugby Players’ Association here in England and the minimum salary per annum in the Guinness Premiership is £75,000 (€85,000). There are 50 agents officially registered with the English RFU so there’s obviously enough commission to go around.

Like any industry there are the good and the bad. In the majority of cases a player would sign with an agent on a word-of-mouth philosophy, a recommendation from a team-mate. Kieran Dawson vouched for the man who would represent me.

Younger players want more from their agents in terms of securing endorsements and the like but the reality is aside from a handful of the top players you’d be lucky to get a free pair of boots never mind a six-figure wedge to wear a particular brand.

On a personal level I didn’t want to negotiate with the people for whom I was working. I’m always willing to listen to offers but I fear my days as a top-end celebrity male model may be behind me: time catches up with everyone. Kendo (Nick Kennedy) and I make it our business to spread at least one untrue rumour a season with regard to players arriving at the club, especially if we can get a rise out of an individual. Canadian international number eight Phil Murphy used to prove an easy mark.

We’d ask him if he’d heard the club had signed a leading backrow forward and he’d just shake his heard and mutter about how unfair that was and how he was playing the best rugby of his life, etc. Of course he’d eventually find out that we were messing but his insecurity meant he’d fall for it again and again.

There are no Jerry Maguire “Show me the money” style agents in the business and the one thing you learn is the importance of knowing your own market value. Once you’re realistic it makes it easier to negotiate.

I attended the British Rugby Writers annual awards dinner – myself and Molly (Chris Malone) were late because an Irishman was driving and an Australian was map reading in London – and it was great to witness first hand the esteem in which Brian O’Driscoll is held over here. So many people I spoke to that night described him as the best rugby player they’d ever seen. His award was a suitable testament to a remarkable season.

The L’Aquila rugby team were presented with a reward for the part the played in rescuing people when the town was struck by an earthquake last year. It was a moment that reminded me where sport comes in the greater scheme of things in life and also a certain admiration in celebrating the selflessness of fellow rugby players.