Unchartered territory

I had a read over all that I’d written in the last few months and I noticed a certain sport that was missing entirely from my repertoire. That sport is of course, the wonderful game of rugby union. I certainly have spoken extensively on the issue, usually with a late night conviction that can only come after one too many Rovers drinks specials. Those observations have ranged extensively, from Meyer Bosman’s poor defence to Charl McLeod’s general descent into fully fledged “Januarie madness”. Just like the aforementioned Springbok scrumhalf he seems to have lost all ability remain calm at the foot of a ruck or if a referee raises his arm to indicate a penalty. That gesture seems push him over the edge into a frenzy, similar to the state you may find yourself after ingesting a dose or two of adrenochrome. I have even spoken many times on the subject of Bismarck tucking Janie in every night in what can only be considered as a rather perplexing expression of their brotherly love. Get a TV in your room Janie, you surely have a few buffaloes lying around considering you are a doctor and a springbok. But let me not drag myself off topic here. 

The true reasoning for this article is that the Super 15 has finally entered the playoff stages, although for some teams, like the Sharks and the Waratahs, they have been playing knockout rugby for some time now. This is not a moment of reflection on the season but rather of the spirited, bloody-minded display the Sharks put on at fortress Loftus last weekend and a look forward to their mouth-watering clash in Nelson this weekend. The Sharks it must be said have coughed and spluttered throughout the campaign, failing to hit top gear for anything near 80 minutes of rugby. They had threatened on occasion to unleash a commanding, composed performance but that performance never came until this past weekend. The difference from that performance to any other is that they started in minute 4, not minute 40. It must also be noted that this performance came against the defending champions, who were on a six game unbeaten run at a venue that they had gone 20 games unbeaten at until going down to the Highlanders earlier this season. It was no mean feat, and on the day that stalwarts, Victor Matfield, Fourie Du Preez and Bakkies Botha, in his hundredth match, were to bow out and say goodbye to the supporters that they had bled blue for. And bleed they did. 

This was a game of test match intensity and it produced an epic performance from both teams to show that SA rugby is in rude health ahead of the defence of the William Webb Ellis trophy later this year.  In a season that has stopped and started for the Sharks, with constant rotation to keep players fit for the ludicrously extended tournament, it came as no surprise that the Sharks clicked on the day in which John Plumtree finally selected his strongest combination. This combination included an ace in the pack, Frederic Michalak, and relegated the Springbok captain to the bench. Surely Peter De Villiers has to see now that Bismarck should get the nod ahead of John Smit for the big matches in New Zealand. Perhaps it is better that Smit should find himself on the field in the dying embers of a game where composure is essential. We need only look at the 2007 Super 14 final between these same two sides as an example of what his experience means at the end of a match. On that day both he and Percy Montgomery found themselves hopeless on the bench while Bryan Habana tiptoed his way through the Sharks tiring defence and shattered the dreams of each and every Sharks supporter. 

Looking ahead to the upcoming clash with the Crusaders, the Sharks can take a certain degree of confidence into the match. Reflecting on their previous meeting, all the way across the equator in London, we see a couple things have changed since then. On that day in sunny Twickenham the Sharks were torn apart in the midfield by a rampant Sonny Bill Williams. I wouldn’t go so far as to say he hasn’t reached those heights since, but he certainly has lost a bit of his unstoppable aura since the humble cheetahs managed prove PDV at least partially correct. And we must not forget that the midfield that the Sharks fielded that day was without the irrepressible Patrick Lambie and the newly acquired mercurial talents of a certain French playmaker. On that day, like many others throughout the season, the Sharks only managed to show up in the second half after haemorrhaging points throughout the first 40 minutes. One only feels that if they manage to show up as they did against the Bulls then it may be a different kettle of fish this weekend. Another aspect of that match was the lack of clean set piece ball the Sharks were able to lay their hands on, especially at scrum time. Need I remind you that John Smit started that day at loosehead prop, which probably won’t be the case this coming weekend. The lineout, so often an Achilles heel for the Sharks this year was solid this past weekend, against perhaps the strongest lock pairing this country has ever seen and was the platform for arguably the set piece try of the season with the born again JP Pietersen sending the evergreen Stefan Terblanche over in the corner.

It is Terblanche and Meyer Bosman who will have to be at the top of their game this weekend. One gets the sense that Dan Carter and co will attack the channel between Frederic Michalak and Meyer Bosman more extensively than the Bulls did. For all the Frenchman’s brilliance on attack, there are still questions to be asked about his willingness and ability to stop a rampaging Sonny Bill. Looking at the Crusaders they have also not been in prime form in the past few weeks but they have made a habit of winning tight matches. They will also be boosted by the return of Sonny Bill Williams and their top try scorer Shaun Maitland as they seek to make the semi finals for the 13^th time in franchise history. They have however lost at “home” this season, going down to the Highlanders in week 10 at the same ground. The weather may also prove to be a factor with heavy rain predicted Friday and a good chance of it repeating on Saturday. If this is the case then it should play into the Crusaders hands as it will negate the ability of the Sharks to throw the ball around as they like to do. There is also a certain Daniel Carter, with his tactical kicking skills to consider should the match turn into a muddy battle.

Let us hope that it doesn’t get to that and these two sides put on a showcase for the game as they did when they met at Twickenham. Hopefully the Sharks will show up from the first minute and leave it all out there on the field. If the Sharks manage to overcome the difficulties surrounding travel and start the match with a full strength side there is no reason that they won’t be able to continue this unlikely run and head to the table topping Reds next week. Either way, next week will produce a matchup of a couple of the world’s best ball playing fly halves and hopefully both teams will serve up a classic of a semi-final.

Sala Kahle

 Commodore Vegas

Wenger, the nutty professor?

Another season has come to pass for Arsenal and the long wait for a trophy is set to be extended by one more year. Bullied and beaten, Arsenal bowed out of the title race last night in a fashion that has become all too familiar to their supporters. The loss condemned them to their sixth consecutive year without a trophy and no matter how eloquently and philosophically Arsene Wenger puts it that is too long for a club of Arsenal’s size. And have no doubt about it Arsenal are a big club. Prof Einstein once said, “The definition of madness is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.” Wenger could do a lot worse than to heed his colleague’s advice. Season after season we have seen Wenger turn out an inexperienced, naive side with frailties throughout their defence, often with the same result. This Arsenal team is far removed from the one Wenger took charge of back in 1996 and the man at the helm has undergone a transformation of his own. It seems the years managing at the top of English and European football has taken its toll on the once meticulous and unflinching Wenger.  He is no longer the unflappable thinker that took charge of boring, boring Arsenal all those years ago. In the last week we have seen him throw bigger tantrums than Cristiano Ronaldo when he doesn’t get a foul. His hair gets a shade lighter, his demeanour a shade darker. The captain of the Arsenal ship more closely resembles a mad scientist than a professor.

He once said “I’m more of a liberal, but I’m also in favour of common sense and good management.” I’m struggling to see how even the most liberal of Arsenal supporters can see common sense exuding from their manager and their team. What we do see is a naivety (in the players) and stubbornness (in the manager) that has constantly underpinned the potential of this side. I for one have never doubted Wenger’s football philosophy, I consider him an artist amongst managers but his refusal to see the potential pitfalls in this very philosophy is a fatal flaw that could and perhaps should have cost him his job. His inability to develop a viable plan B in the instance of their beautiful flowing football being found out by blood, guts and 10 men behind the ball has cost his side dearly. On their day no one can doubt the beauty and effectiveness of their football. But ask them to branch out and try something new and they seem as clueless as a roomful of blind people playing charades.  The problem comes with the variety of players in their ranks. All of the players find themselves in the same mould and many have been found to be lacking the physicality required to allow the ball to be pumped into the box when all else fails. That has been the biggest change for me over the years, the decline in physicality of their team. Often questioned about the amount of red cards that his team received in the early years, one thing you could never say about an Arsenal team is that they were soft. Commanding centre backs and battling midfielders such as Adams, Keown and Viera were the order of the day. I have yet to see the same displays from the likes of Koscielny, Squillaci and Denilson, amongst others.

I can’t begin to say I have an insight into the inner workings of Arsenal football club and what money has been put at Wenger’s disposal but I do believe that their transfer policy has contributed to their downfall and their lack of trophies. In recent years we have seen the departure of players like Toure and Adebayor but have the players that have come in been adequate replacements? Koscielny, Silvestre, Squillaci and Chamakh are not of the quality required to win a league title. We know that he chooses not to buy stars but rather to make them but in certain positions an experienced world –class player is necessary. One can not discount the amount of points Van Der Sar, Cech and Reina save for their clubs. I can only hazard a guess as to the amount of points the plethora of keepers have cost Arsenal this season, after all I’m not Martin Tyler. Certain sections of supporters have begun to get disheartened and signs that once read “Wenger knows” have been replaced with the less flattering “Wenger knew”. It may all be too soon to be questioning the job of the most successful manager in Arsenal’s history but in his own words if you eat caviar everyday it’s difficult to return to sausages. Perhaps what is required is a fresh bunch of ideas, someone to question his decisions and bring a fresh approach to the table. He still has a vital role to play at the club, of that there is no doubt, but what should that role be?

I do hope that finally takes note of his teams shortcomings this season and works to rectify them over the summer. I’m sure there will be a shakeup of sorts, with perhaps Cesc Fabregas finding his way home. There are too few managers like Professor Wenger nowadays, willing to sacrifice results in order to develop stars and play the beautiful game as it was meant to be. If he could only find a balance between the two then there would be no doubt as to his position at the top of the game. There is always next season and perhaps his young side, like a fine French wine, would've matured by then.

Yours Truly

Commodore Vegas

You can't handle the truth!

The beautiful game is no more. RIP. A strange comment I must admit ahead of what should be a couple of lip smackingly, mouth watering Champions League quarter finals. But give me a second to explain my irreverent comment to you purists and any other poor soul that has stumbled upon my words of wisdom today. Like a once beautiful girl that has let herself go, the beautiful game has gotten to stage where a stand needs to be taken, hard work put in and perhaps she can emerge from these dark times better than ever. The saying goes that beauty is truth and truth, beauty. Well I’m struggling to see the beauty in football through the pack of liars, divers, drunk drivers and gun toting maniacs that are calling themselves professionals in this day and age. Trust, loyalty and accountability are not words associated with much in football nowadays. The leaders of the game are like a bunch of paranoid junkies who have been locked in a room together for a couple days and things are about to get ugly. No one trusts Sepp Blatter or his cronies at FIFA. The FA are at constant loggerheads with everyone, including their former chairman and UEFA has been likened to a dictatorship by Arsene Wenger, amongst others. We need not mention SAFA. I can see now why the long lost cousin of football, William Webb Ellis picked up that ball and ran. He was on to something.

Say what you will about Rugby Union and the “thugs” and “boytjies” that play the game but they seem to have their heads screwed on straight. I can’t ever remember a player verbally abusing a ref or the whole Blue Bulls pack surrounding him for giving a penalty to the opposition. I’ve never heard John Plumtree calling a ref unfit or too weak to make the right decisions. Yes the system has it’s flaws, but those are far outweighed by the pro’s. I have a couple of proposals for those high up and supposedly knowledgeable suits. A couple words of wisdom that will perhaps bring the sparkle back into this game we know and love. Let’s me not ramble, let me get to it. Let’s change up some rules and ruffle some feathers. Starting at square one.

Ask any rube their biggest problem with modern football and diving that is bound to be the first word out of their mouth. It makes the rest of us real footballers look like a bunch of injury prone pampered swine that can’t run 5 yards without snapping our tibia in 2 places. So what’s a fella to do? I propose that for any injury that requires treatment on the field, barring head injuries, the player in question is required to stay off the field for 3 minutes to “recover” from their shattered metatarsal. Players will think twice before rolling on the floor writhing in agony if they knew their team would have to make do with 10 men for a couple minutes. They will however fear the boot that might be lodged in their skull should their team concede while faking an injury to get someone booked. The second aspect I would like to bring in is the citing commissioner. With the numerous television angles available to them, they can tell whether there has been contact in a tackle situation or whether a player hit the deck to win himself a free kick or penalty. If a player is found guilty of a 100% conclusive dive he will be banned for 2 matches without appeal. Simple. Effective. Stop faking and get on with the game.

On the issue of accountability, the FA and any other association for that matter, need to be able to criticise their referees and even demote them for bad performances. I can understand the frustrations of managers and players when the FA refuse to admit that a referee has failed to do his job properly and should be duly punished. Referees are accountable in rugby and cricket, but why not football? These are professionals and if there is a blatant mistake the FA should issue an apology and the referee should be punished accordingly. This will help to ease the tension they currently have with the managers and help to eradicate verbal attacks on the referee’s after matches. Respect works both ways, they need to understand that.

When it comes to citing, although there are inaccuracies in their system, Rugby Union have got it right. I don’t agree with this bullshit of “If the referee sees an incident and writes something in the match report, nothing can be done about it after the match.” If there is proof, nail them. It is another instance of never second guessing the referee. A case and point being both Rafael and Jamie Carragher’s tackles in the derby a couple weeks back. Both got a yellow card in the match for blatant red card offences. They should have been punished after the match and both should have received bans. You cannot expect to rid the game of horror tackles altogether but they cannot remain unpunished just because a referee wrote a side note in a match report.

There is plenty more that can be mentioned, like Didier Drogba’s habit of getting in the referees face over every decision or the every full-back has of throwing in a ball 20 yards away from where it went out but lets start with on major issues and iron out the minor details later. That is all ye know and all ye need to know. Let’s get back to football...

Enjoy the Champions League tonight, let’s hope Tottenham put on a spectacle because we know Jose Mourinho with his negative tactics and multimillion pound team will try grind out a boring 1-0 victory. Long live the beautiful game.

Commodore Vegas