Why Is It?

Why is it that I prefer to watch any of the rugby served up by LSH and their opponents on a Saturday afternoon, than most of what I see from the likes of Leicester, Saracens, Sale Sharks etc. in the Aviva Premiership and the Heineken Cup competitions?

Is it just local partisanship or what? Why is it that I prefer to watch the lower levels of rugby union than the supposed crème de la crème at the top?

Is it because the players in the lower levels of the game are not as fit, fast, or strong as those at the highest levels, factors which allow such players in the likes of North One West to find gaps and more space between the defensive and the attacking lines, enable individuals to practise that rarity of skills these days, the sidestep, and allow any ball handling forward a chance to run in open play rather than just putting his head down in a  “pick up and go”?

Has the combination of the current laws of the game in regard to the rucks and the mauls, the lack of real space between the two teams on a pitch, and the sheer physical strength and size of the forwards reduced significantly the opportunities for talented players (especially backs) to run freely?

Are the modern players so fit and strong and, thanks to the ever increasing number of substitutions and interchanges, so rarely tired that the size of a rugby union pitch (the same as in the early 1900s) is too small to cope with the defensive tactics of any well coached professional team? A typical Phil Bennett sidestep, a Jason Robinson darting run, or a Mike Gibson break in the centre would give any I Spy Book collector ten points for any sighting in an Aviva Premiership match. A scrum with its nudge, touch, stare, wink, collapse routine or an endless goalkicking contest would harvest no points for the enthusiastic collector so commonplace are they.

Yes, I think I’ll stick to watching the lower leagues where players still have space in which to perform the individual skills of yesteryear and where tries, not goals, are usually the order of the day. Lesser players they might be but any inadequacies in skill, fitness, and pace undermine the limitations of the modern laws, to provide for plenty of entertaining, running rugby.

Ray French  November 2012