#360Rugby: South Africa's transformation dilemma, trouble in Toulon

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  • #360Rugby: Toulon's Top 14 trouble & Warren Gatland's mind games.

    This week #360Rugby takes in a South African saga, Warren Gatland’s mind games, Toulon’s Top-14 false start and a controversial Ireland World Cup omission.

    South Africa thrown a dummy
    With just days to go until the first game of the Rugby World Cup South Africa’s participation has been thrown into jeopardy following a farcical court bid to try and block the team from taking part due to a lack of ‘transformation’.

    Richie McCaw once commented that former Springbok captain John Smit had the hardest job in world rugby. The All Black captain cited the constant quota row as a most unenviable distraction from the colossal pressure of captaining a rugby-mad country, and it seems little has changed for the incumbent Jean de Villiers.

    The stunt has little chance of affecting the team’s participation at the Rugby World Cup, but it will no doubt affect the performance.

    Certain players will undoubtedly begin the tournament bereft of confidence as they question whether their selection is based on talent or skin colour.

    One positive that can be drawn from South Africa’s inability to separate politics from sport is that the SARU and SA government will for once be singing from the same hymn sheet as the two bodies join forces in court for the good of their national team.

    McCaw also mentioned that the Springboks produce their best rugby when playing for a cause and this threat to their beloved sport may turn out to be the spark that lights the fire.

    Warren Gatland: Rugby’s ‘Special One’
    In recent years rugby fans have grown accustomed to the constant chiming of Warren Gatland in the days leading up to a match involving Wales.

    True to form the New Zealander’s latest rant regarding England’s Rugby World Cup squad selection would qualify as psychological warfare on a scale that Jose Mourinho himself would be proud of.

    ‘I would like to have the luxury of leaving out Burrell,’ the Welsh coach sniped before questioning the hosts’ confused game plan and their dependency on Geoff Parling at the line-out.

    To draw another parallel with Mourinho Gatland’s words unfortunately often leave him tasting egg when his team fails to justify his verbal jousting with a winning performance on the pitch.

    With the ominous ‘Pool of Death’ looming, this scribe would suggest that Gatland spend less time berating the opposition and more time on figuring out how solve the Tipuric/Warburton dilemma.

    In Tipuric Wales have one of the best openside flankers in the world, but with captain and stalwart Sam Warburton occupying the seven jersey, Gatland has a decision to make that will leave him looking either oracle or imbecile.

    Toulon’s disaster start to the season

    Sacre bleu! It’s now back-to-back defeats for European champions Toulon in their opening two fixtures of the new Top 14 campaign.

    Castres’ bonus point 24-9 victory on Sunday was even worse and definitely more shocking than their opening day 27-22 home defeat to Racing Metro.

    The four-time champions, whose last title came in 2014, have plenty of players away with their respective countries ahead of the World Cup, but forwards coach Jacques Delmas was pulling no punches as he failed to use that as an excuse.

    “We’re not going to act like startled little girls discovering a new situation,” he said.

    He may not be defending his men, and perhaps rightly so when Toulon were still able to field England pair Matt Stevens and Steffon Armitage, as well as South African flanker Juan Smith.

    However, when you’re missing players of the class of Leigh Halfpenny, Duane Vermeulen, Ma’a Nonu, Bryan Habana, Drew Mitchell, Frédéric Michalak, Mathieu Bastareaud, Matt Giteau, Paul O’Connell and Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe, it’s going to affect any team. It’s two games, don’t write them off.

    Trimble’s exclusion from Ireland’s squad

    Winger Andrew Trimble was the big name casualty of Ireland’s Rugby World Cup squad announcement, but the men from the Emerald Isle will not be overtly affected by the Ulster flyer’s omission.

    The richness of talent they possess in the back three positions ensures Ireland head into the tournament in rude health out wide and at full-back, with Kearney brothers Rob and Dave, Keith Earls and Simon Zebo all able to adapt to each position.

    Add in the experience and quality of Tommy Bowe, whose 28 tries put him third in the all-time list for his country, Schmidt should be able to sleep pretty soundly at night – even if he says he agonised over Trimble’s omission.

    Trimble would surely have pushed the five that did make it harder had he been fully fit, but a lack of game time following a long-term toe injury meant the 30-year-old was always fighting an uphill battle.

    Trimble’s appearance in the 35-21 victory over Wales in Cardiff last month was his first for Ireland in more than a year.

    Extra time
    There are several ways to beat an onrushing defender in rugby including a chip over the top, slinky side-step or pure gas round the outside. Last weekend in New Zealand Waikato prop Loni Uhila, known as the ‘Tongan Bear’, chose to employ a tactic known as ‘route one’ and Bay of Plenty’s Craig Clare was on the recieving end.

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