Sorry, but that’s not all right, Jacques

A great European Cup final last weekend had only one blemish, when the limp attempt to tighten the rules around water-carriers made by World Rugby in 2022 backfired, with Leinster’s South African World Cup winning coach, Jacques Nienaber, bending them.

Parked on the sidelines for the second half, Nienaber was on and off the pitch coaching Leinster by exploiting a loophole left wide open by the world governing body, despite Toulouse complaining to EPCR officials.

The stretching of the water carrier protocols to allow coaches to fulfil the role came to a head when Rassie Erasmus, South Africa’s director of rugby, and Nienaber’s mentor, started running onto the pitch with water during the 2021 Lions series.

South Africa have not been the only offenders, with kicking coaches like Wales’ Neil Jenkins, doubling-up as waterboys, as well as many assistant coaches doing likewise.

However, the escalation by Erasmus saw World Rugby feel compelled to act, and the fudge they came up with – which was to stipulate that “water carriers cannot be a director of rugby, or head coach” – was asking for trouble. Leinster’s subterfuge was to demote Nienaber, who is their de facto head coach, to ‘senior coach’, while calling their director of rugby/manager, Leo Cullen, who was in the stands, their head coach. To be fair to Leinster, while Toulouse head coach Ugo Mola is not a water-carrier, he is usually stationed on the touchline and therefore well-placed to give messages to water-carrier assistant coaches.

It is now up to World Rugby to do what it should have done in the first place, which is to get all coaches off the pitch, the touchlines, and subs dugouts during a match. That leaves only medical staff, like physios and doctors, at pitch side. As for water-boys, they should be drawn from the youth sections of community clubs.

Let’s get back to the principle of matches being about the skills, teamwork and tactical nous of players – and leave the 80 minutes, apart from half-time, coach free!