Comparisons

THIS PAST WEEKEND offered a rare opportunity to compare three of the top four leagues in Rugby Union, with television offering coverage of:

1. The BKT United Rugby Championship Grand Final – Leinster v The Bulls

2. The Super Rugby Grand Final – Hurricanes v Chiefs

3. The Gallagher Prem Grand final – Northampton Saints v Exeter Chiefs

The only Grand final missing was the French Top 14 one – our Gallic friends still being at the semi-final stage.

In ranking the three games I did watch, I would put the all-New Zealand Super Rugby game top of the list. It was played in ridiculous conditions; if not a hurricane, then at least a strong gale was blowing in Wellington. The home team 'Canes dealt better with the conditions, with Damian McKenzie, the Chiefs' play-maker, having all sorts of problems with the wind.

Regardless of that, the skill levels on show were top drawer, some terrific off-loading at pace and a physicality which was a level above the other two games. In particular we saw master classes in how to play their positions from 'Canes' half-back and first and second five-eighths (as the numbers 9, 10 and 12 are designated in New Zealand) – Cam Riogard, Ruben Low and Jordie Barrett.

The Chiefs lost heavily, but still offered much to the game; however, on the day they failed to handle the conditions against a team playing at 10/10 across the board.

Next best was the much-hyped English final from Twickenham. This was a closer affair, before Saints pulled clear in the final quarter. I have to say, young Henry Pollock, in collecting the Man of the Match award, did, finally, look somethng like the phenomenon the English media have built him up to be. With the willingness of both teams to attack, this was a most un-English game.

The URC game, from Croke Park, has to be placed third, because, quite simply, only one team turned up. The Bulls failed to come anywhere close to the form they showed in beating Glasgow Warriors in their semi-final and the game was virtually over at half-time.

Of course, in Glasgow, they overturned a big half-time deficit in the second half, but, on Friday night, lightning failed to strike twice. Then, because the South African side lost, we had to endure the usual shite on social media – as ever when the Saffas lose, half the posts are diatribes against the match referee: the other half simply say: “Four World Cups”.

This weekend, we have the French final – Stade Toulouse v Montpellier, after which we move to the Summer Tests and the new Nations Championship, which I fear, just might be a tournament too far for our top players.

Rugby Union continues to struggle to reconcile two very-different facts: 1. The only level of the game which consistently makes real money is the international game. 2. Rugby Union is still A Players' Game, if the game doesn't have the players, and the structure to get them and keep them playing, then the international game canot flourish.

However, if the players burn-out and the quality decreases, not even the international game can flourish, and perhaps not survive.

The finals in Wellington and at Twickenham at the weekend were perhaps “close to international intensity” - however, they weren't internationals – real Test Match Rugby remains the gold standard, we have to protect that standard.

Then there is the other point, being underlined by the inflated Football World Cup, ongoing in North America. Some might argue, inflating that tournament to include 48 nations is reducing the quality. We have seen one or two surprisingly-close games thus far, but, also, a few one-sided games.

Might the same thing happen with this new Nations Cup in our game?