Stuart Barnes' talking points: Warren Gatland, the Premiership and TMOs in rugby
Monday 30 October 2017 15:16, UK
Stuart Barnes talks Warren Gatland's latest Lions quotes, the state of the Premiership at either end and the confusing nature of TMOs in rugby amongst much more!
1. `Never say never' says Warren Gatland. Having turned his back on the Lions we now discover that it's a hard job to quit. Quelle surprise...two tours as head coach, one series won, one drawn in New Zealand of all places. I always had an idea the Kiwi Welshman might have second or third thoughts.
Warren makes the point that with the Lions the players return to their clubs and the management is left to take the heat. But isn't that one of the things managers and coaches are paid for? And the Lions manager's position is - let us be honest - not badly remunerated.
Winning against an awful Aussie team was not proof he was the right man for New Zealand but wherever you stand on the great Sean O'Brien debate, a drawn series in the world champions home is a sturdy effort.
He knows the ins and outs of the position like no other current coach and is bound to be on a shortlist. But that's a long time away...I read Rob Howley is quitting Wales after 2019, looking for a position in either England or France.
He has taken some stick of his own from O'Brien but to Rob, it's all just tomorrow's fish and chip paper.
A cold analysis of the improvement or otherwise of the Welsh national team's attacking game comes without the cod, but with some question marks.
2. Bath or Gloucester as an option? Neither club is far from Wales. No great disruption to move to these regional bases for Welsh players who want a different experience but aren't keen to leave the Valleys.
On Sunday it was the Cherry and White fans who celebrated in Bath...a home defeat against Gloucester! Some things Bath players of any generation cannot forgive.
Bath beat the Scarlets in Wales last weekend and I didn't think them a great team. They lost to their old rivals at the Recreation Ground and that doesn't make them bad. Seems like pretty much the same erratic habits of last season.
3. Dean Richards, now of Newcastle, lost against his old boys, Leicester. Another home defeat. The Tigers are beginning to play some decent stuff under Matt O'Connor. George Ford is having himself some fun, even without his sidekick, Matt Toomua. Johnny May is in mesmerising form.
Elliot Daly was injured on Saturday but even had he travelled to Portugal for this week's training camp, I cannot see how anyone but the ex-Gloucester man was being lined up for the left wing position against Australia.
4. Four teams are on 20 points, one on 21, one on 18. Half the Premiership divided by three points. Highly competitive? Undoubtedly....proof of high quality? Not so sure.
It is early days but I reckon Saracens, Exeter, Leicester and Wasps will be the top four with most of the other teams fighting for Europe (although why Northampton want to qualify and then take their extreme punishment I am not so sure.)
5. Most of the other teams are highly competitive...not all of them. We have the all the fun of a two-team relegation fight unveiling before our eyes.
One win from fourteen games between them, London Irish and Worcester are not having it easy. Irish haven't won since day one. Worcester haven't won but bagged a pair of losing bonus points at the Stoop which tells you more about Harlequins than it does Worcester.
6. It was an excellent weekend for Leinster. A win in Belfast sees them surge into a strong position in their Conference (not that anyone ever thought they might miss out on the top three.)
They are winning without finding their very best form. Saturday night Leinster missed their mastermind, Johnny Sexton but were still very much the dominant side.
Montpellier's away win in Pau was good news too. Having lost two European ties but cemented their top-two position in France with a tricky away win in Pau, Montpellier look to be focused on France. That away game in round six (Montpellier v Leinster) might be an awful lot easier than the task Exeter faced so recently.
7. A rough paraphrase from a game at the weekend. The names of those partaking isn't the point.
Referee to TMO, "I just want to check the grounding." TMO to referee, "I'll just put it in the screen" (for the referee to watch). The referee duly stares at the screen to check the validity of the touchdown, the TMO says, "You may award the try." Logic, lads, logic.
If the TMO is going to make the decision, why bother with the screen? But half the time the referee asks for the screening, tells the TMO what he sees and suggests the TMO agrees with his opinion...and nobody quite knows who is doing what when. Rather only a few do. The officiating chain of command is confused/confusing.
8. Back to the action on the field...if the Premiership is too cluttered to convince one of the quality, the Pro14 Conferences are too stretched to suggest great strength in depth.
Glasgow, with seven from seven and 33 points are almost clear already but it is the gap between third and fourth that is a concern. The Cheetahs are already eight points ahead of Connacht. For the sake of the competition, The Galway-based side's victory against Munster was a vital one.
In the other Conference, Edinburgh are within five points of Ulster...wouldn't it have been more feisty if only the top two had made the play off's from each conference? Ah well, we live and learn.
9. Rory Best plays his 200th game against Leinster, one of their greatest rivals and the Ulster lineout collapses in an absolute heap. Best deserved better than this but life isn't fair and Rory hasn't always convinced with his throwing, 200 games or not.
How about seeing the other side of the coin and praising Devin Toner and the Leinster line out? They got their jumpers in the air and caused carnage. A superb tactical effort.
10. Most of us would have liked to see England playing four autumn tests but what we want and what we get are not always the same. The All Blacks warming up against the Barbarians at Twickenham is decent compensation. And Julian Savea playing against New Zealand!
The man with the greatest strike rate in the history of tier one rugby up against the country he has served so fantastically. Is he a has-been at 27? Is he - prodded and provoked by the New Zealand selectors - going to come roaring back into test match life in time for Tokyo?
We'll be at Twickenham looking for some answers on Saturday. And, of course, we'll be there every step of the way as England line up against Samoa, Australia and Argentina. If you don't have tickets for the game, you are more than welcome to join us.
Until next week, Stuart.
