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#Post#: 70955--------------------------------------------------
Robert Kitson in The Breakdown
DIR By: poorfour
Date: June 28, 2021, 8:07 am
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Cracking article from the Guardian's rugby columnist, which I
think really captures the wider mood: it was easy to miss the
Final in the welter of coverage of Other Things, but what Quins
have done this season and how is being celebrated by rugby fans
of all stripes because it is reminding everyone what the game
could, should and can be about.
It just struck me that we are living up to our old nickname of
Hardlywins. But in a good way.
----
Harlequins roar back showing how to grab attention and inspire
new generation
Robert Kitson
First against Bristol, then against Exeter to win the
Premiership final, Marcus Smith and co are blazing a trail for
positive rugby
It is hard to change people’s attitudes towards a sport they
think is not for them. Rugby union has always been a Marmite
kind of game anyway, particularly in this era of diminishing
attention spans and multiple alternatives. On Saturday, shortly
before the Premiership final kicked off, there was so much other
sport going on that the Harlequins v Exeter showpiece did not
rank high on every viewer’s list.
In some ways you could excuse the apathy. How many people tuned
into England’s autumn international games and were bored
witless? Or tuned out when the head coach Eddie Jones insisted
that leathering the ball skywards was the only way to play under
the prevailing laws? Even with a British & Irish Lions tour
looming, how many casual fans have increasingly had a gutful of
the political in-fighting and lack of vision, on and off the
field, that has allowed other sports to pick up the commercial
football and run off with it?
Add in the concussion and dementia testimonies of former players
and even those who love rugby for its battered, muddied
imperfections were beginning to lose faith. Until, almost out of
nowhere, something curious started to happen on the professional
fields of England. Instead of treating the ball like a ticking
time bomb, to be hoisted aloft at the first opportunity, more
teams began to experiment with what might be possible if they
held on to it and backed themselves.
For anyone lucky enough to have watched any Premiership rugby in
the last couple of months, the transformation has been glorious.
Almost as striking has been Harlequins’ remarkable
transformation since parting company with their head of rugby,
Paul Gustard, in January. An eclectic group of assistants took
temporary charge and encouraged the players to take full
ownership of how they played. Five months later, having been
virtual no-hopers, they are champions of England.
It is the unfettered way in which their success has been
achieved, though, that is most instructive. The better weather
and harder pitches of May and June have clearly helped – never
before has the club season extended so far into summer – but the
primary catalyst has been a major infusion of self-belief.
Even at 28-0 down in the semi-final against a rampant Bristol,
there was no sense the game was remotely up. By the end of extra
time they had won 43-36 and attracted a whole new audience. “I
was putting the bins out last night and a guy stopped all the
traffic and put his head out of his window just to say that was
the best game of rugby he had ever seen and that his kids were
now playing rugby because of the way we are playing,” said Danny
Care, Quins’ born-again scrum-half.
They, and others, will continue to do so if they watched
Saturday’s sequel, the best domestic final of them all. Again it
was less about the finer details of Quins’ latest recovery from
31-26 down with a quarter of an hour left than the feelgood
manner of it.
Fortuitously, I was sharing the back row of the press box with
the former England stand-off Stuart Barnes, a man who won
fistfuls of Twickenham finals in his day and has long had as
keen a nose for a decent No 10 as a fine Brunello or a possible
Cheltenham winner. For him a seriously good fly-half must
possess the sporting holy trinity – a calculating brain, inner
fortitude and fleetness of foot – and Marcus Smith had just
conclusively passed his final exam to be England’s next
playmaker.
The real joy of it, though, was the humming positivity of the
Quins collective. It was almost as if they were having so much
fun the pressure barely entered the equation. “With Marcus and
Alex Dombrandt, Joe Marchant, Louis Lynagh, Tyrone Green and
those type of guys, you don’t want to put them in a box,” Care
added.
“You don’t want to force them to have to do a certain thing –
just let them play. In the last six months we have just given
them the freedom to play what they see, back themselves and do
it with a smile on their face. With a player who is so
instinctive like Marcus, the last thing you want to do is force
structure on him.”
Even proud, stubborn, cussed Exeter, possessors of this season’s
best defensive record, ultimately had no answer as Quins
prevailed 40-38, scoring six tries to five. Which begs a
fascinating question: has Saturday signposted the way forward
generally, supplying a blueprint not just for other enlightened
club sides but the whole global game’s future prosperity?
Of course there needs to be a healthy balance between piano
players and piano shifters but what better way to promote rugby
and shatter preconceived notions than to serve up a diverse,
inclusive sport in which risk-averse thinking has an increasing
chance of being trumped by off-the-cuff brilliance and visible
fun?
Certainly to listen to the ecstatic man of the match, Joe
Marler, quoting from Anchorman – “I love Lamp” – in his latest
straight-to-viral post-match interviews was to glimpse what
professional rugby could yet become if it is prepared to loosen
its tie and do more to impress the kids.
Watching the youthful Lynagh bear-hugging his illustrious father
Michael afterwards was also to be reminded of the life-enhancing
emotions the best of sporting days can deliver. Rugby union will
never be everyone’s cup of Earl Grey but there is hope for the
old game yet.
HTML https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/jun/28/harlequins-roar-back-how-to-grab-attention-inspire-new-generation-premiership-final-exeter
#Post#: 70958--------------------------------------------------
Re: Robert Kitson in The Breakdown
DIR By: Nicholas P
Date: June 28, 2021, 8:15 am
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I enjoyed reading it, thank you for sharing!
#Post#: 70959--------------------------------------------------
Re: Robert Kitson in The Breakdown
DIR By: T-Bone
Date: June 28, 2021, 8:16 am
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I wonder what Stephen Jones and Andy Goode thought of it all
#Post#: 70967--------------------------------------------------
Re: Robert Kitson in The Breakdown
DIR By: Bolly-Quin
Date: June 28, 2021, 9:12 am
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--- Quote from: T-Bone link ---
>
> I wonder what Stephen Jones and Andy Goode thought of it all
>
--- End Quote ---
There's a link to a pod cast with Browny that was shown on here
somewhere in the last few days where Goode and Hamilton were
having their chat and both ate "humble pie" after the Bristol
game and were genuinely glowing about that result...
#Post#: 70970--------------------------------------------------
Re: Robert Kitson in The Breakdown
DIR By: Banstead Quin
Date: June 28, 2021, 9:23 am
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Stephen Jones will be all about how Exeter lost it and how a
more Warrenball type approach is the future of Rugby
#Post#: 70979--------------------------------------------------
Re: Robert Kitson in The Breakdown
DIR By: MadMax
Date: June 28, 2021, 10:15 am
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--- Quote from: Banstead Quin link ---
>
> Stephen Jones will be all about how Exeter lost it and how a
more Warrenball type approach is the future of Rugby
>
--- End Quote ---
Nah, Jones will be on about how the Cheats are the true
champions.
#Post#: 70996--------------------------------------------------
Re: Robert Kitson in The Breakdown
DIR By: Quinten Poulsen
Date: June 28, 2021, 11:05 am
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Joe Marchant, with his speed, dazzling footwork, high ball
ability, slick passing & offloading and robust defence simply
cannot be considered a test match animal when compared to the
splendid Mike Tindall. Marcus Smith, for all his impish
enthusiasm, is too skittish and lightweight, and Eddie Jones
will be looking through the squads of the Midlands teams for the
next Rob Andrew.
#Post#: 71012--------------------------------------------------
Re: Robert Kitson in The Breakdown
DIR By: Mayor West
Date: June 28, 2021, 11:53 am
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It would be interesting if anybody can tell us what Stephen
Jones has written about the final. I believe he failed to
mention the greatest comeback in Premiership history against
Bristol last week. Concentrated on Bristol I’m told.
#Post#: 71015--------------------------------------------------
Re: Robert Kitson in The Breakdown
DIR By: Bolly-Quin
Date: June 28, 2021, 11:59 am
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--- Quote from: Mayor West link ---
>
> It would be interesting if anybody can tell us what Stephen
Jones has written about the final. I believe he failed to
mention the greatest comeback in Premiership history against
Bristol last week. Concentrated on Bristol I’m told.
>
--- End Quote ---
Yes - someone with a Times subscription could possibly help with
both articles...
#Post#: 71084--------------------------------------------------
Re: Robert Kitson in The Breakdown
DIR By: Monte
Date: June 28, 2021, 5:03 pm
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He was in EDI so wrote zilch about our final. Only a short piece
by Stuart Barnes. Times has given up on the Premiership
reporting very poor. The piece from SJ on Bristol was appalling
and I could not get my comments on it accepted. There maybe no
tie up between Sky and Times officially but there certainly is.
Presume no reporters are going down to SA. I would post articles
but then everyone moans they can’t read them!
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