As any farmer will tell you, it pays to trust the evidence of your own eyes. If something has a curly tail and behaves like a pig it is more than likely – wait for it – to be a pig. It is the same in rugby union: a player who looks a handful every time he or she has the ball is generally worth picking. Fretting about things they occasionally fail to do is to miss the whole essence of what sets them apart.
The classic example at present is Christian Wade. Watch him live and it seems almost offensive he has won just a solitary Test cap. Every time he touches the ball a ripple of anticipation goes around the ground. Not just among spectators but his coaches and team-mates, too. As Dai Young, his director of rugby at Wasps, put it this week: “His finishing has always been up there with the best of them. Put him into space and he will score tries. Sometimes he doesn’t even need space.”
At this juncture someone inevitably uses a three-letter word beginning with “b”. He may be thrilling but can he do it on a wet night in Invercargill? He may have scored six tries against Worcester last weekend but what does that really prove? There was a telling moment on Monday when someone asked the 24-year-old what he had tried to change about his game after being omitted from England’s 50-man extended World Cup squad. “The last game I played for England I scored four tries against the Barbarians,” he muttered. “I don’t know there was a lot I needed to change.”
In some countries there is little doubt Wade would already be a Test fixture. Imagine him on the wing for, say, Scotland or France? Yes, there would be those who would advocate sending a couple of hard-nut enforcers down his flank but that never seemed to bother Shane Williams unduly. Not since the mercurial Shane has British and Irish rugby had a more jet-heeled finisher. According to the Opta stats, Wade also made more clean breaks last Saturday than any Premiership player since they started counting in 2008‑09.
So why, as things stand, has he attracted no serious interest from the GB sevens hierarchy ahead of the Rio Olympics and continues to be a distant long shot to tour Australia this summer? Selection can be a subjective exercise and world-class sevens conditioning is not gained overnight – some of those publicly sticking their hands up to play for GB would not last beyond half-time in the opening pool game. But something rather more fundamental also appears to be going on here. It boils down to the wider question of trust: when an athlete as exhilarating as Wade is viewed as a potential liability in both sevens and XVs to which branch of the entertainment industry does rugby imagine it belongs?
This is not necessarily a hymn of praise for one speed merchant – the competition to play on the wing for England is intense – but one of the letdowns of the professional era has been the widespread reticence to trust individuals who might be slightly different. Here are some names to conjure with – Wade, James Simpson-Daniel, Matthew Morgan, Shane Geraghty, James Forrester, Schalk Brits, Kyle Eastmond. All of them either fit the description – or used to – of players with a rare elusive spark. Now guess how many of these seven magnificent crowd-pleasers boast more than 10 Test caps for their respective countries? The answer is none.
Of course top-class rugby players also need to defend. But do people sit down, 25 years on, and marvel at the tackling of David Campese or Jonathan Davies? How come Nehe Milner-Scudder was among the stars of the last World Cup? As with Wade, the New Zealander is no giant but possesses the pace and ability to make defenders look silly in alternative ways. Traditional measures – metres gained, tackles completed etc – do not reflect this priceless quality, nor take account of the value to a team of having someone capable of creating space out of nowhere.
Instead too many coaches settle for those who make the fewest mistakes. At Test level that is clearly a crucial prerequisite. But hang on: what if Wade dazzles in this weekend’s European Champions’ Cup semi-final with Saracens, which everyone says is close to Test standard? Young says his tackling and kicking game have improved out of sight and the player would clearly leap at the chance of any kind of representative lifeline. If no one in either international XVs or sevens wants to take that punt, how long before the majority instead find it more satisfying to watch top-level club rugby?
So onward, Christian. What glorious fun it would be if Wade were not only to make the Olympics but also next year’s Lions tour. What if Wasps win a trophy this season playing with the handbrake off and leave opponents gasping in the wake of Wade, Elliot Daly and Charles Piutau. Even if that happens there will doubtless be naysayers insisting it’ll never work on a Test match field. In that event, take them to the nearest pig farm and invite them to stand by the gate for a while. If it looks like a top-class dynamic match-winner, the chances are it probably is.
COMEBACK KINGS
A new improved financial deal between the Rugby Football Union and the Premiership clubs will shortly be unveiled but more needs to be done to boost the Championship, many of whose clubs are right up against it financially. Leaving rugby politics aside, next season will be significant for another reason: the return of Richmond FC to the rung just below the Premiership for the first time since the club was controversially jettisoned from the leagues in 1999‑2000.
At the weekend Richmond secured first place in National One and, having taken a vote among its amateur players, have opted to accept promotion (they initially asked the RFU if they could refuse it) and compete against full-time sides. In doing so the London club may just become the new darlings of the RFU and Premier Rugby, both of whom seem disinclined to back a fully professional Championship.
Richmond’s fightback as a community club – they boast five men’s teams, a vets’ side, an under-21s squad and three women’s sides – is an inspiring tale and this Saturday’s game (and trophy presentation) against Rosslyn Park promises to be a seriously celebratory occasion. The next chapter in their eventful 155-year history may well offer a clue as to where the wider English club game is ultimately heading.
ONE TO WATCH
The European semi-finals will be reliably competitive but spare a thought for the pro side currently enduring the toughest season of all. The SunWolves of Japan were hammered 92-17 by the Cheetahs in South Africa last weekend and received almost as savage a mauling from the former Japan coach Eddie Jones, now in charge of England. “Mate, they are terrible. It’s just gone back to the old Japan rugby. Fight hard and we’re proud of you. It’s not good enough,” said Jones. “The only reason I am here now is because they stuffed up how to set it up. They didn’t put professional people in place and that is why they have such a poor squad. I reckon it is embarrassing for Japanese rugby.”
This Saturday’s home fixture against the Jaguares of Argentina represents the halfway point in the SunWolves grim inaugural Super Rugby season; so far their record reads: P8 L8.
