First it was Steve Hansen, and then on Saturday Conor O’Shea joined the chorus bemoaning the defensiveness of modern rugby. The Harlequins director of rugby had just watched his team again come far closer to losing than they ever should and as an unapologetic advocate of attacking rugby, he has had enough.
“I want to see the attacking game given more leeway,” he said. “Of course I’d say that because we try to play with ball in hand. It feels like we’ve gone back four years, when we said the same thing. It did turn then, and hopefully it’ll turn again. But the defensive team gets everything in the game these days.
“What do you want in a game? You look at the Premiership — we carry more than anyone, we pass more than anyone, we offload more, we hold on to the ball more. The cynic will say we’ve been found out. That’s rubbish. We need to be more accurate, but we want to play with the ball in hand. Now if that is a sin, to want to play rugby and not just kick-chase and pressure and be defensive, I’d prefer to sin like that. The game has a massive question to ask itself. Does it want to be all about glorious kick-chasing and pressure, or does it want to see teams play with ball in hand?”
There will be many nodding vigorously at O’Shea’s words. One day he may be held up as a noble pioneer. He is certainly an idealist, and that has never been an easy role to play. The pain he and his charges have had to endure swimming against the tide this season has been acute, but O’Shea knows the younger ones, certainly, will be the better for it. They nearly lost this one, but that would have been a heartbreak too far.
“It would have been rough justice if we’d beaten Quins,” acknowledged Glenn Delaney, London Irish’s interim head coach. “You’d take it, of course, but I don’t think that was the contest we watched.”
Irish dominated the scrum, which is becoming a real problem for Quins, but otherwise they spent the afternoon trying to keep a lid on the home side’s offloading game. Both the visitors’ tries were break-out affairs from unexpected possession, the second finished dazzlingly by the 19-year-old Tom Fowlie, who nearly snatched a winner at the death.
Harlequins’ tries were more consciously crafted and finely executed. They have, as always, a raft of youngsters coming through their system. Of those, their flankers enjoyed fine games. The 24-year-old Luke Wallace racked up his 100th appearance while Jack Clifford, 22, was the game’s outstanding player. “I think Jack’s going to be a very, very special player,” said O’Shea. “But these are the days and the seasons he has to go through. It’s not all about the glam.”
Clifford is relishing these days, as he learns from, and now puts pressure on, some of England’s most celebrated back-row forwards. “You can’t ask for a better place to learn to play in the back row,” he said. “You’ve got the England captain; you’ve got Nick Easter, who’s been round the block and knows everything there is to know as a back-row player. You just try to take bits from everyone then try to make it into your own.”
Irish are safe from relegation now, officially, and have a European Challenge Cup quarter-final against Edinburgh to look forward to. Harlequins, meanwhile, have five games in which to secure a place in the Champions Cup next season. “I wouldn’t like to play us in the last five games,” said O’Shea, “because we’re going to give it a right old rip. Hopefully we’ll see a team that wants to play given the leeway to play.”
Harlequins Chisholm (Monye, 62); Yarde, Hopper, Sloan, Walker; Evans, Care (Dickson, 62); Lambert, Ward, Shields (Marfo, 57), Matthews (Talei, 53), Robson (capt), Clifford, Wallace, Easter.
Tries Care, Hopper. Cons Evans 2. Pens Evans 4.
London Irish Fenby; Lewington, Fowlie, Sheridan, Short (Griffen, 53); Geraghty (capt), Steele (Allinson, 49); Court (Parr, 62), Paice, Aulika (Halavatau, 49), Rouse, Sinclair (Cox, 63), Treviranus (Narraway, 33), Cowan, Guest.
Tries Short, Fowlie. Cons Geraghty 2. Pens Geraghty 2.
Referee JP Doyle. Att 14,800.
