Man In Black Speaks Truth About Welsh Attitudes

IAN KIRKPATRICK was one helluva player. If Richie McCaw has the number seven jersey in the hypothetical Greatest All Blacks XV, then the big farmer from Poverty Bay has the number six one.

Ian Kirkpatrick on the rampage for the All Blacks

And, like most Kiwi farmers, he doesn't say much, but, when he speaks, he's usually on the ball; so, it's worth this morning, remembering Kirkie's most-famous contribution to the world book of rugby quotes.

This came during the All Blacks 1972-73 European Tour, when, after a particularly feisty match in Cardiff, he said: “You never beat the Welsh, you only score more points than them.”

That great quote came to my mind as I watched the aftermath of the BT Sport broadcast of the Cardiff v Glasgow match yesterday. It was almost as if Glasgow hadn't won, Cardiff had managed to lose it – the Gareth Anscombe spat the dummy in his post-game interview.

 Gareth Anscombe - spat the dummy big style

Can I say, right away, I had little trouble telling the sides apart – since the Cardiff kit was mostly grey, the Glasgow one mostly blue; while the stocking ere totally different.

But the apparel the teams were wearing did have similarities, the possible clash should never have happened, but, Cardiff were the home side, in rugby, if there is a clash, the home side changes, simple.

This excuse: “The change kit was at our training ground, 15 miles away,” will not wash. It must have been obvious well before kick-off, at the start of the warm-up, there might be a problem. Getting the change kit to the Arms Park by kick-off might have been a bit of a rush, but, it could surely have been there for half-time.

You will never convince me South Wales Police would not have provided a car and a couple of motor-cycle outriders for a quick run: the Arms Park to the Vale of Glamorgan training ground and back, on the usual basis of a couple of extra tickets for the right game for the Chief Constable!!!

Any way, to the game, nothing quite sums-up the Glasgow way of playing like their bonus-point try, finished-off by Jonny Gray, after Adam Hasting started the move from his own five-metre line. Nobody these days, not even the best French sides, goes coast-to-coast with quite the élan and regularity of Warriors.

Adam Hastings, quite rightly, got the kudos for a Man of the Match performance; the other big names all played to form – with Tommy Seymour producing an excellent Hoggy-style display of broken-field running from full-back, but, for me, it was the way the lesser-lights showed up that made the difference.

Big Rob Harley, I think, is one of these players who is a colossus for his club, but, somehow never quite as good in Scotland's blue. When I worked at the Paisley Daily Express, I had, for every St Mirren game, to give the players a rating out of ten. The skipper of that side, the unfortunate Norrie McWhirter – but for injury, he'd have had as-good a Scotland career as his mate Paul Lambert – was a guaranteed eight out of ten, every week. Harley is like that for Glasgow. He is so consistently good, you take his excellence for granted.

But, and I admit there is an element of bias in this, after all, I ken his faither; but, I feel D'Arcy Rae is due a huge pat on the back for his level of performance since inheriting the number three shirt from the injured Zander Fagerson.

D'Arcy Rae - proving to be quietly-effective at tight-head for Glasgow

The man from Marr College might not have Zander's ability to get over the gain line in the carry, but, he doesn't get involved in as-many bouts of handbags, and, for me, he does the basic prop's job of propping the scrum better than Fagerson.

He is not the type of destructive tight-head of say, Euan Murray at his best, but, he is rock solid, and, as he matures, the destructiveness will come. He has been quietly-efficient against both Cardiff and Saracens the previous week; that will do for me.

Unfortunately for Glasgow, just as they are finding their rhythm, Europe gets put back in its box, the Autumn Internationals intervene and they have to adapt to the national cause.

Glasgow's next game sees them away to Munster, and, with the Scotland squad in camp at St Andrew's, the Glasgow side which runs out onto Thomond Park on Saturday night will be very different from the one in Cardiff yesterday.

I HAVE, in covering over 50 different sports and games, over my lengthy career at the coal face of sports writing, arrived at one conclusion – English referees and match officials are usually over-rated and not very good.

There are the usual exceptions to this general rule. Wayne Barnes, for instance, has grown-up, he used to be a nyaff, now, we must accept, he is almost as good as the Blessed Nigel. What a pity, just as he has seemingly mastered his craft, he is set to bow out after the World Cup next season.

 Luke Pearce - showed Wayne Barnes isn't the only good English referee

I have to say, however, I was impressed by Luke Pearce's performance in Cardiff. I thought he got little wrong in what must have been a difficult match for him.

Similarly, I had never, until Saturday, been a fan of JP Doyle, but, he was good at Murrayfield – or am I letting the fact Edinburgh won cloud my judgement?

Similarly, in spite of the abuse he was getting from some over-excited Geordies, I thought Mikey Adamson did well in the Newcastle v Toulon game. Not as well, however, as my big pal Andy McMenemy, the TMO. Andy used to think I had it in for him; he was wrong in that opinion.

Andy McMenemy - Gogglebox's loss is rugby's gain as a TMO

He was badly treated by the refereeing authorities when he was coming through, and was nearly lost to the game. However, in the Newcastle game, he gave a terrific demonstration of the TMO's art, helping-out Mikey on more than one occasion, by picking-up wee incidents, which Mikey missed. Good game big man.

But, the refereeing incident of the weekend has to be down to the man himself – Nigel, for that wee lecture to Simon Zebo, after he had scored for Racing against Ulster, taunting one of the Ulster players as he passed him.

Well done Nigel, however, I have to say, I seem to recall that Ulsterman having a late go at Zebo earlier in the game, without resorting to verbals, so, maybe there was a bit of tit for tat in Zebo's actions. But, if other referees are going to follow Nigel's lead and clamp down on some of the yahooing that is creeping into the game – great.