Express Yourself

Fifth place in the NatWest 6 Nations wasn't what Eddie Jones or England Rugby would have been planning. The subsequent reaction from the rugby media, rugby bloggers and rugby fans was full on. However, a week seems a short time in sport these days and it was back to the Aviva Premiership for players and fans this weekend.

Rugby in England had adopted an age old phrase, knackered. World Rugby and Rugby Europe had embroiled themselves in conspiracy theories about Spain. Romania and referees. Sport generally was rich with news, including Welsh football in China, English football fans in Amsterdam, England’s batting in NZ and Australian ball tampering in South Africa. The back pages heading to the front pages – sport has the capability to do that.

Meanwhile in the Aviva Premiership new venues were being used providing rugby the opportunity to engage with new fans. Both the London Stadium and St.James’ Park looked fantastic rugby venues catering for over 80,000 between them.

Both the games were on BT Sport and both provided plenty for rugby supporters to talk about. The game at the London Stadium was blighted by the scrum. The referee unable to stamp any authority and as a result this element of the game became a time consuming farce. It’s not as if either front row had limited experience, it’s not as if the underfoot conditions were poor – it was completely unprofessional and warranted yellow cards.

The scrum between in the other televised games from Newcastle and Leicester were competitive and added to the game. During the first half of the game from Leicester, it was Wasps in the ascendancy; the last 25 minutes saw the home team re-assert themselves and Ellis Genge came close to a MOTM award.

At the London Stadium, a spikey Mark McCall didn’t respond well to Tim Cocker’s question about sub-standard performances and tiredness. On the field it was Maro Itoje that looked delighted to be back amongst his team mates. He is a superb athlete and it seems hard to fathom the media observations he’s tired. On Saturday he was immense and had his normal presence on the field, His was a MOTM performance and his expression of sleep on scoring his try, a true expression of an individual not a robot. Will Carling tweeted he wasn’t too impressed but he also tweeted it might be an age thing!!

Itoje lit up the game and looked at ease throughout; during the 6 Nations he has looked more formulaic without expression. The new laws at the breakdown have required him and many others to change their approaches. Sharks went on a try scoring blitz. With Addison, Haley, James, Beaumont and Harrison that NorthWest spine, that gang of mates was re-established and they played their rugby without fear. Haley must have wondered why he was going to Munster next season but his was a most wonderful expression of how rugby fans like to watch rugby union. It was tremendous to see the brothers Simmonds in action on Friday night for Exeter as they won narrowly at Bath. Talking of brothers, infact twins, the Curry boys were back in action for Sale. They performed strongly against Worcester. As with Itoje, they will have to adapt to the new breakdown laws and interpretations but when they do, they will give Eddie Jones increased back row resource and skill

Finally, those wonderful Newcastle shirts summed up a weekend were expressing yourself in rugby was so vitally important