Fiji, France and Alfie Barbeary – my reasons to be cheerful about the year in rugby
Owen Slot, Chief Rugby Correspondent
Monday December 21 2020, 5.00pm, The Times
Tradition has it that, when we get to late December, we cast a savvy eye back on the 12 months just passed, we stroke our chins and we tell you what kind of a year it has been. We won’t waste your time with that nonsense this Christmas because you know already. No one needs to have it explained.
The year that is just passing has been the worst ever for rugby union, and that would have been a reasonably safe assessment even before the news that broke two weeks ago linking professional rugby to early onset dementia.
So here is a different review of the year: five reasons why 2020 means we can still feel good about rugby.
The rebirth of France
Thank you, Fabien Galthié, you were a fashion statement even down to the glasses on your nose. Your rugby team looked the part too.
The rebirth of the France national team was arguably the greatest event in the world game this year, though there is room for debate here because Argentina’s defeat of the All Blacks was fairly epic too.
France even played some rugby that looked French. They enthralled the Six Nations. They had the best half-back pairing, Antoine Dupont and Romain Ntamack, neither of whom was over the age of 23 during the Six Nations. They then pulled together a third XV that nearly beat England in the Autumn Nations Cup final.
They will now form an epic rivalry with England all the way through to the next World Cup, on their home turf. Keep that TV switched on.
Domestic bliss in Fiji
2020 was a great year for Fiji — which may not ring entirely true given that they gathered to join the Autumn Nations Cup, were grounded when Covid swept through their ranks and then forfeited three of their four games.
Meanwhile, back on the Fijian islands, another story was playing out. Fiji has been one of the most Covid-safe corners of the planet and it is also home to the highest quality domestic sevens circuit in the world. In other words, while other nations ground to a halt, Fiji have been able to take strides forward towards Tokyo next summer and their defence of their Olympic sevens title.
The real game-changer, however, may have been in a boardroom in mid-November when New Zealand Rugby announced that Fiji had been confirmed as a “preferred partner” to join Super Rugby starting in 2022.
This has yet to happen, so let’s not get ahead of ourselves. However, it is a development that could trigger lasting change. As soon as you have a professional club in Fiji, you have a) the ability to retain talent, so it is not spread around the world, and b) financial rewards that allow players to make a decision to represent their home nation at international level rather than seek a living in foreign colours.
When he received the news about Super Rugby, John O’Connor, the Fiji Rugby chief executive, said without hesitation: “Our goal is to win the competition within five years.” Don’t you love that?
However, although one Pacific Island nation may finally have a future, the other two, Samoa and Tonga, remain far behind.
Believe it or not — investment
In 2020, some people still thought that rugby was worth investing in. Yes, pinch yourself. In May, just when we were getting an understanding of the long reach of the pandemic and rugby clubs were starting to talk publicly about economic disaster, the news broke that the Ospreys were being taken over by a Thailand-based Welsh businessman in what was described as a “multimillion-pound deal”.
Step forward James Davies-Yandle, Pontarddulais-born and Loughborough University-educated, whose company, Y11 Sports, is a “portfolio of sports businesses”.
You wondered if this was a case of local boy done so good he was acting entirely on hwyl [a stirring feeling of emotional motivation], yet he insisted his decision was only 30 per cent heart and 70 per cent head.
“We did a lot of due diligence,” he said, “not just around the Ospreys but around the game. We feel that the game is undervalued as a whole.”
He is not entirely alone. Only yesterday, Northampton Saints announced a significant deal, believed to be for three years, with Cinch, the online car-selling platform. Yes, rugby is now doing business with second-hand car salesmen. The reality is that pretty much any business, now, is good business.
Soul in the community
Rugby pitches were redundant for much of the year. The best piece of action that the Crawley RFC first-team pitch saw was in mid-September when it hosted a comedy night: 600 people in two different sittings, wined and dined, the jokes coming from local comedian Romesh Ranganathan; NHS staff and key workers invited for free.
Meanwhile, for one day last week, Twickenham was named “The O’Brien Palmer Williams Twickenham Stadium” after three leaders from Avonmouth Old Boys RFC Ladies team, whose squad were instrumental in bringing food parcels and support to hundreds of people in their community during lockdown.
Lucy O’Brien and Breeze Palmer are coaches, Matt Williams is a groundsman. As O’Brien said: “We started with 50 toilet rolls and two crates of soup and we went from there.”
Yet Crawley and Avonmouth are common stories that have been repeated all over the game this year. Rugby has stood by its communities. It has truly earned its label as a “community” sport.
Yes, there have been clubs stuck in the “woe is me” corner, but so many more showed a real resilience. So many decided to recruit their membership to upgrade their facilities: to paint their grandstand or to redo the changing-room. And still there remain ridiculous numbers turning up for training — plus minis and juniors on Sundays — almost always without any hope of a game.
Rugby has been battered, but rugby clubs have not had the soul knocked out of them.
The stars of the show
Rugby can uplift. That won’t change. That remains for ever in its DNA. That is why, one day, stadiums will be full again, whatever we deem to have been the entertainment quality in the international game of late, and why you must exit the worst year in the history of the game with these four players in your mind’s eye.
Jonny May England’s game against Ireland in the Autumn Nations Cup, the pass he received in his own 22, the sense that something was on, the outside break to get round the defence, the speed, the chip ahead executed at full pelt, the finish. Marvellous.
Giorgi Kveseladze His solo try for Georgia, also against Ireland. Watch it. And make sure you do so with the Georgian commentary. It’ll dampen even the driest of eyes. Brian O’Driscoll tweeted: “If I was a European club looking for a centre next year, I’d be having a serious look at him.” Thank you, Brian. Are you on a cut? Within a month, Kveseladze had signed for Gloucester.
Johnny Williams Last year, Williams was treated for testicular cancer. This autumn, he made his debut at centre for Wales. He was good too. You cannot but be moved.
Alfie Barbeary
Have you seen this kid yet? He is huge, athletic, confident, is supposed to be a forward but seems to have a grubber kick on him too. Is that even allowed? Oh yes, he’s only 20. He is registered as a hooker but Wasps are playing him in the back row and apparently he fancies a go at centre. This is your breakthrough player of 2021. Except he kind of broke though already. Box office. Do come back next year.
Always a Wasp
Topic: Fiji, France, Alfie Barbeary, my reasons to be cheerful about the year in rugby (Read 677 times)