Friday night reminded me a little of that
game. Granted the weather was not as poor, and granted we won the match, but I
was having horrendous flashbacks of that evening.
Having shaken off those demons, I was
pleasantly surprised by the standard of rugby served up by the two sides
considering the horrible conditions they had to cope with. Aside from a bit of
kick tennis halfway through the second half where neither side seemed to want
to play rugby at all, there was some good attacking intent from both teams –
unfortunately more from the visitors than Ulster.
Credit must go to the man of the match. No,
not the official man of the match Joe Bearman, but the best performer on the
pitch in my opinion, referee Nigel Owens. On a night that threatened to become
a sluggish forwards battle (and at points it looked like it was), Owens in his
usual laissez-faire fashion allowed
the game to flow and only intervened when necessary.
It’s a key aspect of Owens’ style, and one
that should be mirrored in every referee, especially young ones rising up
through the ranks – fans don’t want to see games dominated by a referee pinging
every little offence at rucks. As one ref told me, “You could penalise something at every ruck – the key aspect of reffing
is choosing what to punish.”
It is true, if you scrutinise a rugby match,
there are blatantly obvious infringements that could be penalised at nearly
every breakdown. However, Owens’ policy of restraint allows small infringements
that don’t impact on the game to go amiss, and allow the game to continue,
making it not only a better game for the players, but a greater spectacle for
the fans too.
And of course, it’s always nice to see the
players and referee having a bit of banter on the pitch, and the “You can’t do that Nick!” jibe in the
second half proved that even in the big games, there’s always time for a smile
and a joke – after all it’s just a game, and definitely not soccer!
Owens’ performance on Friday night reaffirmed
my belief that he is the best referee in world rugby. Easy for the players to
get on with, fair on both teams, doesn’t miss much on the pitch, and a great
laugh on his Twitter account off it too (@Nigelrefowens for anybody who isn’t
following him)!
If only there were a few more referees in the
game like him.
Tries,
tiffs and Tuohy
I could have also called this the good the
bad and the ugly but I liked the alliteration of the ‘t’s, and I think Dan
Tuohy may have also been rather offended by being described as ugly!
Of course, I’m not really calling him ugly
(don’t worry Dan!), I’m calling his arm injury ugly. Tuohy is in the form of
his career, and his loss will be felt by Ireland. He has been superb for Ulster
this season, and if he doesn’t make it back in time for April’s Heineken Cup
quarter-final then it will be a huge loss for the Ulstermen. His partnership
with Johann Muller has been stellar, and his work at the breakdown nothing less
than exceptional – he has been one of Ulster’s best and most consistent
performers all season. All the best for his recovery, and hopefully he’ll be
back sooner than expected.
The tries obviously refer to the fact that
Ireland’s two tries were scored by Ulstermen as Chris Henry and Paddy Jackson
both crossed for their first tries in green shirts. In fact, it was a good game
for Ulster players in Ireland shirts in general. Rory Best was accurate at the
line-out and was everywhere on the pitch, Henry forged a good back row
partnership with O’Mahony and Heaslip, while Andrew Trimble was on fire on the
wing, completely outplaying George North on the opposite wing. If anyone was
doubting Ulster’s representation in the Ireland team, every single one of them
justified their inclusion in the 23-man squad, and for any of them to be
dropped for the trip to Twickenham in two weeks would be a travesty.
And finally the tiffs. We don’t like to see
them in rugby, but Mike Phillips really is a dodgy character, and it’s no
surprise Bayonne wanted rid of him. He was constantly probing at Ireland
players, he got frustrated, and fair play to Wayne Barnes who quite rightly
sin-binned him for being unable to keep his cool near the end of the game. If
you haven’t seen the continued Twitter argument between One Direction’s Niall
Horan, Phillips and Rob Kearney then I advise you to check it out: it will give
you a bit of a laugh. But hopefully this will end soon – again, this isn’t
soccer!
It’s been a good weekend for Irish sides.
Three out of four provincial wins and the international side is still unbeaten
in the Six Nations. I’ll admit, I went into the tournament with low
expectations and I’m slowly being proved wrong. Hopefully the good run can
continue – of course with no more injuries for Ulster players…
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