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It's been a red letter month for me as the Board of Directors of US Rugby appointed me as their Chairman. I signed on for four years with a real passion to lift the game in the US and start maximizing its enormous potential. We have probably the best governance structure in world rugby. A nine-man Board comprising six independents, two international rugby players and a congress representative. The world of rugby awaits a vibrant US. The IRB would like to see the US succeed, as would corporate sponsors, and as would all other rugby playing nations who I'm sure would find no problem in coming over to play us in California, Colorado or New York. We faced our first hurdle against Uruguay where we had a double-header in Montevideo and Stanford. Peter Thorburn is coaching the US Eagles national side and really got the guys up for a tremendous performance down in Uruguay where we overcame great odds to win. The return game at Stanford was much easier and was never in doubt. We have a few likely lads including our new skipper, Mike Hercus, originally from Sydney and now playing in Newport. An international class by half. We also have a #7, Tod Clever, who's been playing at North Harbour and who could be one of the surprise packages of the 2007 Rugby World Cup. Mobile, brave, good instincts and good hands. The New Zealand connection continues with one of our locks, Hayden Mexted. A long lost cousin of Murray who apparently fled New Zealand in pursuit of a girl and obviously has locking pedigree given his Christian name. We've entered a somewhat competitive group in the World Cup, headed by South Africa, England and Samoa. We have a qualifier from Europe in the pool but it certainly looks like Thorbs and co will have their work cut out. We have England first up, then the European qualifier, followed by a ten-day break before our real cup final against Samoa. To help us prepare for 2007, (and more realistically, 2011), we invited John Kirwan and Nigel Melville over for the weekend to talk about how they saw US rugby developing. John was particularly insightful in terms of competitions and on-field performance and Nigel offered a lot in terms of organization, coaching and overall business savvy. JK is pursuing his coaching dream and will be taking Japan to Rugby World Cup 2007 and probably to 2011 as well. Nigel has accepted the newly created role of CEO and President of Rugby Operations for the US and will have total control over both the business and playing side. This is a completely new role in world rugby and is based upon the Pat Riley model in basketball with the Miami Heat. We are trying to bring a uniquely American feel to our administration and to the way we play the game, hence, this new role. Nigel is brilliantly equipped for it, given his prior experience as Director of Rugby at Gloucester and Wasps, on top of an illustrious playing career where he captained England and represented the British Lions. I played against his dad, which tells you everything you need to know about Nigel's youthfulness and my experience level! (It sure gets a little irksome when you meet today's players and they tell you about how their dad played against you!) Nigel also worked seven years for Nike and has very strong leadership and business credentials which will be vital as we move forward on and off the field. Having got that awkward World Cup banana skin out of the way, I was able to shoot across to the UK and Europe for a couple of weeks and managed to watch the English Premier League and some Heineken Cup Rugby. The Heineken Cup has turned into a terrific tournament with real commitment from the Celtic sides, the English sides, and the French sides, (at least for the home fixtures). It's high standard, very competitive, winner take all rugby, and on the weekend I was there. England was aghast at Ronan O'Gara, the Munster and Ireland fly half saying the English Premier League, the English International side, and the English back division were all overrated. He had a pretty good point in my view, particularly as Munster are of the reigning Heineken Cup European Champions and Ireland have beaten England the last three times they played. Of course, the Poms went berserk, particularly when O'Gara implied something about rugby being a working class game in New Zealand, South Africa and Ireland, whereas it was still a preserve for England's upper classes. Whilst this was said tongue 'n cheek, the response from England's media was a joy to behold. And, of course, at the end of Ronan's great week, Munster visited English legend Leicester. The whole of the UK was waiting breathlessly for O'Gara to fold under the pressure. He kicked a 51 meter penalty to win the game for Munster in the last 10 minutes, completing an awesome weekend for the Celts with all three Irish teams winning, and all three Welsh teams winning. Only one English team won so it was a pretty good week all-in-all for O'Gara, Munster, Ireland and the Celts. Watching the England Premier League is not quite as exciting as the Heineken Cup. Whilst the attendancies continue to grow and the marketing around the Premier League is terrific, I don't really rate it as a spectacle. Sky Sports cover it superbly with three day a week coverage, great commentary, terrific expert studio panel, great camera work etc., but the games themselves are very average. The League is dominated by mature Southern Hemisphere players who tend to call the shots in the key half back, first five and back row positions, and the whole mindset of coaches is defensive and based around fear of defeat. This is driven by the relegation scenario Harlequins and Andrew Mertens last year relegated to national division one which is a financial disaster for T.V. rights, sponsors, attendances, etc. Teams, therefore, focus now on avoiding defeat rather than innovation, experimentation, and skills. One exception is Gloucester who have got a very young, talented set of mid field backs who, at the moment, haven't played enough to feel the fear. The English game has become over technical with too many defensive coaches, offensive coaches, kicking coaches, catching coaches, nutrition coaches, skills coaches (an oxymoron in England!) many of whom come from Rugby League and have got little sense of width, depth, space or explosive innovation. Most All Black tries come from the first three phases through great skill, great lines, and great imagination. Most English Premier League scores seem to come after phase ten, straight up the middle from a rolling maul when everybody else has run out of ideas. Neither the Irish or Welsh have been sucked into this trap so it will be interesting to see how the Six Nations unfold this year. Italy will be very competitive with some very talented backs now added to a tough tight five and a mobile back row. With England & France (!) to struggle! |
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