ENGLISH CLUB STRUCTURES
An all-English final wouldn't have been on many people's pre-Heineken Cup wish lists. A particularly negative aspect of this scenario has been the trumpeting of the English club systems over those favoured by other countries. After London Wasps and Leicester had won their respective Heineken Cup semi-finals, Wasps captain Lawrence Dallaglio commented: 'There is absolutely nothing wrong with the English club game and that now needs to be transferred to the English national team.'
Given Dallaglio's stature in the game, and the likelihood that his words are at least partially representative of a certain sentiment among influential Guinness Premiership figures, they shouldn't be dismissed out of hand. The point he raises is interesting. Is 'transference' of strength from a collection of club teams to a single national side a plausible or efficient way to run a sporting infrastructure?
Obviously, the Irish decision makers have a different theory. Here, the relationship between the provinces and the national side is seen more as a balancing act in which time spent by players at provincial level, for instance, is understood to be potentially detrimental to the health of the national side and vice versa.
Basically, the Irish model recognises that in some scenarios what might be good for the provinces can, by definition, be bad for the national side (and vice versa). Usually, the national side is favoured in terms of 'face time' with players, whereas in England the opposite is true. As such, with England's clubs on top in Europe, and the rhetoric of 'transference' occupying the centre ground over there, it seems likely that the national side's slide towards weakness will be exacerbated rather than arrested over the next couple of years.
ASHTON'S STRUGGLE
Certainly, if the clubs are allowed to dictate things, Brian Asthon's struggle to turn around the English national side looks doomed to failure before it has even had a chance to deliver. In fact Ashton's philosophy of decision making rugby versus the style favoured by the Guinness Premiership as a league already looks like a perfect example of why 'transference' won't work.
The Lancashire man favours an intelligent approach to rugby emphasising players' decision making and spatial appreciation. The Guinness Premiership, on the other hand, is plagued by 'bottom line' tactics. Basically, it's the kind of rugby your accountant would advise you to play. Clubs use interchangeable cogs in terms of playing personnel, emphasise big defence, and favour cautious back play and low complexity. It undoubtedly engenders an unwillingness to take risks with ball in hand. Although it can be exhilarating as a destructive spectacle, Wasps' demolition of Munster in the famous semi-final of 2004 is a case in point, it all too often results in matches becoming a stagnant arm wrestle for the players on the field and a chore for the viewers off it.
For Ashton, taking a set of players conditioned by their club training to take the safe option for fear of costing the club sugar daddy a chunk of money and trying to coach them to adopt a 'play it as you see it' style looks an impossible task. Dallaglio's statement will have made chilling reading for the English coach.
LEICESTER v WASPS
All is not yet lost, however. This year's final will be between Wasps, the archetypal Guinness Premiership side, and Leicester, who may yet turn out to be the white knights of classical rugby values. They, more than anyone, were blindsided initially by the early success of the Wasps style, which knocked them from their perch at the top of the English game. Already reeling from Martin Johnson's retirement at that time, they are only now beginning to re-assert themselves as the dominant force in the English game.
Coached by the Australian Pat Howard, they attempt to marry ingenuity and skill to power instead of over-emphasising the virtues of brute force. Along with a number of other clubs, they responded to the Wasps challenge by toughening up, but unlike a few others they have not forgotten that the best rugby is played with a blend of power and finesse rather than an over-emphasis on either.
With the future of European rugby in the balance, it is not too far fetched to see this year's final as being between the forces of traditional, romantic rugby and the rather more dismal and destructive brand favoured by Wasps. Along with most Irish people, and not only because of their strong Irish representation among the playing personnel, I will be hoping for a Leicester victory.
