James Haskell: Let’s play in summer and watch skills grow
You chuckle to yourself, thinking what muppet would go out on a day like this, far better to have an easy afternoon inside by the fire, watching the sport on TV. Then it suddenly dawns on you – it’s match day and you are the sport on TV!
Can I ask why Rugby Union unlike Rugby League, is not a summer sport!
Apart from the impact on cricket and the need for something else to do in the winter, I can’t really see a down-side.
We would be playing in good weather, on good surfaces, which would encourage a faster handling game. More fans would come out to watch. Clubs could make more money from hospitality, as it’s still sunny and light after 5.00pm. I also believe, even though professional rugby players love the game, that they might be a tad more enthused if the sun was shining on their backs!
My view is predicated on my experience of having played Down Under. One of the biggest differences I found from playing in the Super 15 was that the pitches and conditions were consistently better.
People would have you believe there is some massive technical difference between Northern and Southern Hemisphere rugby.
The perception is that in the Southern Hemisphere all the players have incredible handling skills and play open flowing rugby, whereas in the North we opt for mauling and one-off runners into contact.
Trust me, put any one of those teams into the Premiership, with the attritional timetable of games and our weather and you would see the difference these significant factors make on styles of play.
I believe you would quickly see the same forward-dominated rugby which creeps into the Premiership at this time of the season.
In truth the only real objection I had on twitter to my suggestions were from those “constructive” armchair warriors; you know the ones – those that strangely never use their own names – calling me a girl, who should man-up and embrace the rain. Or the slightly more cerebral ones, who suggested playing on hard pitches, would lead to more injuries.
In response I pointed out the game seems to work in South Africa and Australia. Of course this view also doesn’t factor in how well it appears to work for summer Rugby League.
Despite the snow, wind and card-happy officiating, our match last Saturday against Northampton was a cracker which went down to the wire.
Northampton’s forward power took its toll early on and looked like Wasps would be facing a massive up-hill climb all afternoon. That was until Tom Varndell showed his power and pace, to finish a well-worked try. I was warming up in the dead ball area with Joe Launchbury when Tom scored, so witnessed it firsthand.
I watched Launchers run towards Tom as he was crossing the line, shouting to him to put the ball down.
The line markings at Adams Park can be confusing as it is a football ground and Joe mistook the end of the football pitch for the dead ball line and thought Tom was going to run over it. His well-intention actions nearly had the opposite effect, as Tom looked pretty panicked to have a large blond unit running at him gesticulating wildly! The second half saw more of the same Northampton forward power from the lineout, but again some magic from Elliot Daily seemed to have done just enough for Wasps to take the lead and win. Sadly this wasn’t to be, as in the dying seconds Christian Day was launched-over the line.
It was extremely disappointing for us after a much better second half, to see the lead slip. However our collective response demonstrates just how far we have progressed this season under Dai Young and how we are developing as a unit and as a team.
