The beauty of rugby union, if beauty is the right word, is that I can take it or leave it. While preferring the 13 man (or woman) code, I’ll watch some internationals, particularly when England are playing, and perhaps the odd club game involving Bristol and occasionally Gloucester, or Glawster as they are more commonly known. Yesterday, as I was driving off late afternoon to do some train-spotting – I know, I know – it suddenly occurred to me that England were playing Wales in what we experts refer to as a World Cup warm-up game. I quickly abandoned my plans and returned home and ploughed my way through a myriad of channels to find out, eventually, and as it turned out unluckily, it was being shown on Amazon Prime. With this game, I rather wish I had left it rather than taken it.
This did not appear to be a match between two full strength teams – in England’s case, I sincerely hope it wasn’t – but in the early stages England’s ‘physicality’ appeared to be in the ascendancy. One collision of bodies led straight away to another and when England were not spilling the ball in contact they managed to eke out a few penalties, taking a 9-6 lead into the interval. Christ, I thought. I hope the second half is better than this. Well, it was, but only for Wales.
The less said about the second half, the better. Using a technical term, England were shit throughout the second half in every department and as soon as the final whistle went, the crystal bucket was immediately switched-off. The final score was 20-9 to the hosts in what was a much deserved win, meaning that Steve Borthwick’s chaps failed to score a single point in the second stanza and never looked remotely like doing so.
My reaction at the end? I would describe it as mild disappointment, not painful in any way, and the moment would soon pass. It did. Later, I took a brief trip around various websites, including The Guardian comment pieces that invite readers to comment, and my view that England were embarrassingly terrible was 100% in line with what everyone else was saying. That it was scarcely worth England bothering to turn up at the World Cup next month was a given. Indeed, most people were suggesting that not only would Argentina hammer us in our first game, but we would probably lose to Chile – who knew they even played rugby union? – and fail to escape the qualifying group, or ‘pool’ as rugger folk bizarrely insist on calling a group.
I was pleased that the disappointment I felt was minimal and temporary because had it been the football team that had performed so badly before an international tournament I’d have been devastated. For some reason, I am heavily invested in the national football team, slightly but not overly in the rugby league team and barely at all in any other sport, including rugby union and cricket. The words I used at full-time were literally these: “Ah well, it’s only rugby union.”
We know that union is in a bit of bother in England. The Premiership lost no less than three of its 13 teams last year and participation in the amateur game is in serious decline. According to the Guardian’s Robert Kitson: “One recent survey suggested a fall from 259,600 active adult players in England in 2016 to only 95,100 at the end of last season (being the 2020/21 season).” Is this really a surprise? After all, the game is rarely or barely played at all in state schools and certainly clubs locally are struggling to fill squads.
Perhaps, media invisibility is becoming an issue. Apart from the annual Six Nations tournament, the game is largely played behind a paywall, as demonstrated yesterday with all the World Cup warm-ups being on Amazon Prime. Christ, we couldn’t even listen to the games because the radio rights were not awarded to the BBC. The Premiership is on BT Sport (now TNT) and that’s behind a paywall, too. If it isn’t on television, for many people it isn’t on at all. We’ve seen the decline of cricket participation and now we’re seeing it in other sports.
The good news is that ITV will be offering free-to-air coverage of the coming World Cup so hopefully that will generate plenty of interest among the land and encourage da yoot to get involved at their local clubs. Obviously, I’ll be drawn to some games, particularly during the ‘pool’ stages, hoping probably in vain that England don’t get humiliated. Or maybe that, not for the first time, I get it completely wrong and we end up smashing New Zealand in the final, in which case feel free to repost this blog as widely as possible. Either way, the outcome, either way, will leave me slightly meh.
Good luck to head coach Steve Borthwick, who was appointed following the sacking of Eddie Jones in a so-far ill-fated attempt to stop the team being crap and has so far failed. Let’s give the bloke a chance but in the end, let’s not worry. It’s only rugby union and nothing important.
