Rucking Hell!: Uncapped Lions Wildcards

With one year to go and the Summer internationals approaching, keen eyes are already looking towards the 2013 Lions Tour to Australia. Having not won a test series since 1997 and growing pressure regarding the future of the team, this Lions Tour looks set to be incredibly special.

Experts are already giving their opinions on the selection of the squad with some players having already booked their flights to Australia in Warren Gatland's squad. Others are still fighting for the last remaining places. Whilst many commentators will be pretty confident about their selections, here are a few uncapped wildcards that, with some good performances for club and country over the next 12 months, could see them sneaking onto the tour.

Tim Visser (Scotland)

Having finally gained his Scottish citizenship, this giant Dutchman looks set to start for Scotland this summer and it is hard to see him losing his place in the next twelve months. Blessed with great size and an eye for the try line, Visser could be a necessary piece in Andy Robinson's armoury. In recent years, Wales have proven that giant wingers work and Gatland has shown a susceptibility for going big on the flank. Tom Prydie (6ft4) proved this, having been given four Wales caps despite failing to feature with the Ospreys. If Gatland is the Lions coach, do not be surprised to see Visser on the plane. With Tommy Bowe injured and Shane Williams now (probably) retired for good, the Lions are going to need reinforcements and Visser looks like making the step to the international stage shouldn't be a problem.

Ashley Beck (Wales)

Anyone who saw the RaboDirect final last Sunday would probably have been distracted by Shane Williams, scoring two quite remarkable tries and stealing the trophy from Leinster's grasp. A moment that instigated the Ospreys comeback was a try from young Welsh centre Ashley Beck. Whilst the Ospreys back row created a half break through great offloading, it was Beck that hit a beautiful line, fended off Jonny Sexton and finished under the posts. Ospreys fans will tell you that Beck has been doing this all year. He is a fast and strong centre, but most importantly, he is a genuine 12. He can pass! Don't underestimate how important this is - Roberts, Barritt, Morrison cannot! Beck has an ability to break tackles and make offloads, much like Sonny Bill Williams does for the All Blacks - just on a much lesser scale. Gatland has made no secret of his admiration of Gavin Henson. A genuine 12 who could run and pass and the Kiwi coach gave Henson all the support he could to get him playing international rugby again. In Beck, Gatland may have a second chance to start a playmaking centre. There is a lack of quality at inside centre in Britain as well. Morrison has never done anything ever, Darcy is a means to get the ball to BOD and Barritt can hit things that run at him. With Roberts injured this summer, Beck has a genuine chance to challenge for the Wales 12 jersey. Don't be surprised if he succeeds and definitely don't be surprised if he's the Lions fourth centre come next June.

Henry Thomas (England)


It is a fact, Australia cannot scrummage. This is definitely a part of the game that the Lions should exploit and with Dan Cole and Adam Jones, they have the building blocks to terrorise the Australian set piece. But whilst Cole and Jones set about giving Robbie Deans nightmares, someone has to cement to scrum for the mid-weekers. If any Irish tight head goes, I will personally renounce my British citizenship, move to Wagga Wagga and learn the didgeridoo. The Scottish scrum has been in decline for a few years since the last Lions Tour and Euan Murray's run of injuries, which means that a new tight head prop needs to be found. In Thomas, Sale Sharks have an improving scrummager and willing carrier. It's rare to see a tight head prop with the ability and desire to carry the ball like Thomas. Equally, his scrummaging is improving at professional level and was evidently a strong part of his game in last years Under 20 World Championship. Steve Diamond appears to be a big supporter of Thomas, giving him a lot of playing time this season. Expect Thomas to cement the Sale 3 jersey next year. Even now, the rookie Thomas is a league better than rival tight heads Stevens and Wilson and I would expect to see him included in England's 6 Nations squad next year. Thomas is a real prospect that, injury permitting, is making a really strong push for a Lions wildcard.

Rhodri Jones (Wales)


Rhodri Jones will start at tight head this weekend for Wales against the BaBas, having made his name at loose-head for the Scarlets this season. At 6ft 3 and 120kgs, Jones is massive physical specimen that Gatland has been fast tracking into the Wales squad all season. The Wales management are very keen to see Jones develop as a tight-head and this weekend is the first step in his international grooming as Adam Jones' replacement. With Matt Stevens' international career surely now over and Paul James resigned to a permanent spot on the Wales bench, there are no genuine props left in Britain that can cover both sides of the scrum. If the last Lions Tour is anything to go by, Gatland will take five props. That means two tight heads, two loose heads and someone that can cover both sides of the scrum. In 2009 it was Phil Vickery and in 2013, the position is currently wide open for candidates. This weekend will be Jones' first test - if he passes, he will be in pole position to contest for that fifth spot in the Lions' squad.

Scott Spurling (England)


When we say 'wildcard', there is an element of possibility behind the selection of these players. Visser, Beck, Jones and Thomas have all proved themselves at club level and all look set to take the next step to the international stage in the next 12 months. TCI favourite, Scott Spurling, has spent the season as fourth choice hooker for Saracens and with Brits and Jamie George hanging around next season, his opportunities seem limited. He has been picked for the Under 20s World Champs this summer which may finally give him some deserved recognition. Here's our thinking; Best, Rees, Ford and Hartley are all good players - but they're all so boring. They're willing carriers, strong defenders and can all throw the ball into the line out with some degree of accuracy. However, watch this video and say that Spurling, at just 18 years old, isn't the future of English rugby. I'd want him on my Lions Tour!

Rucking Hell!: SaveFlip

Here at TCI, we take charity very seriously. Every week, a poor defenceless African man is poleaxed, gouged, bitten, punched or otherwise beaten and abused. 

Please, just pledge a few pounds a month and join us in our campaign to - 

Save Flip van der Merwe

If you have any more evidence of this poor African man being abused, please share them online so that we can all unite to SaveFlip!

Rucking Hell!: Feel Good Photo

Here's a little something to brighten anyone's day....

Brian O`Driscoll Visits Temple St. Hospital

Rucking Hell!: Crouch, Touch, Pause...Don't Bother...

The IRB’s proposal to drop the “pause” phase of the scrum engagement command is a step in the right direction towards making scrummaging decent viewing again, and shutting up Phil Kearns (well, a man can dream…)

Referees’ cadence, the specific timing of the “crouch-touch-pause-engage” command, does not come under enough scrutiny in elite-level rugby. It has become farcical with some referees taking long enough between the “pause” and “engage” calls to read War and Peace or, in the case of Steve Walsh, put away a couple of tinnies. The timing of the cadence also varies hugely within a game and between different referees. You even get the sense that some referees deliberately goad the players into engaging early; in this way they simply award a free-kick and side-step the difficult business of actually officiating a scrum.

This displays very little empathy with the players and the game. The reality is that there are two sets of eight very heavy and aggressive men poised to pile into each other; given that there is so much emphasis placed on winning the initial hit in modern rugby, the scrum commands should be as predictable as possible to allow the players, particularly the front row, to prepare and time their engagement. The results of this inconsistency are not only messy scrums, but an eating up of the clock and persistent moaning from Australians about a lack of “expansive footy” (we in the North don’t mind too much, we love a bit of trench warfare).

Dropping the “pause” and speeding up the process, as the IRB has suggested, might be one way to solve this problem, another suggestion could be the inclusion of a countdown (“3, 2, 1, engage”) to introduce more consistency into the cadence. That, or assistant referees could start doing their job and actually call offences in the scrum on a regular basis; dodgy binding is a prominent problem in the scrum and one of the easiest to officiate, and you’re lucky if you see the assistant ref call it more than once in a game.

So much has been made of the size of the modern forwards, their willingness to cheat and the inability of referees to understand the scrum, when rugby already has all the tools it needs to fix scrummaging. Sure, some scrums are going to be impossible to get right (have a look at Pek Cowan and Co. at the Western Force this season nose-diving to the floor faster than a Kamikaze pilot) but a little more sympathy towards the players will go a long way. Hopefully the IRB’s rule change will produce more efficient and effective scrums on the pitch and allow the front row some meaningful competition to justify their more...shapely figures.

the force scrum prepare for divine wind

Rugby as a whole, though, needs to decide whether it wants the scrum to be merely a means of resetting the game or a weapon. The former is what we see more frequently in Super Rugby, where according to Brad Thorn the scrum is a much faster in-and-out, get-on-with-the-game process, and the latter is more commonly seen in the muddy wastes of England and France, with the scrum seen as a meaningful way of breaking down the opposition and milking 3 or 5 pointers. England’s dismantling of Ireland in this year’s Six Nations was a prime example of the offensive power of the scrum.  

The IRB has thrown the fatties a bone with this rule change, but they need to reiterate their commitment to ensuring a meaningful contest at scrum-time. If the set-piece loses its importance, then rugby union will begin to resemble rugby league more and more, and no one wants that, do they? 

G.C.

Rucking Hell!: Meyer's large squad shows promise but the off-field circus continues

As this blog is starting a new journey, so is new Springbok boss Heyneke Meyer, charged with the task of rebuilding the South African national side after a tumultuous four years with PDV at the helm. For the first time since Jake White was unceremoniously replaced, you can look at the South African squad without the same sense of disappointment and bewilderment at the selection policy. Despite having not played a match so far, it seems as if Meyer has gotten off to a good start. His final training squad appears to have been picked on playing form and there is a great deal for South African fans to be excited about. 

There are, however, some deeply troubling questions surrounding the Springbok selection of the final training squad. The first major issue was the repeated rumours about the return of Victor Matfield. Whilst Matfield was undoubtedly a great player and arguably the greatest line out forward ever (since the inception of lifting), his return to the international arena was ludicrous and gave a troubling image of a coach (and selectors) who sounded as if they just weren't watching Super rugby. Lord knows what they’ve been up to but had they been watching, they would have seen the Stormers come flying out of the traps at the beginning of the season. In their engine room is the giant Bekker, long thought to be the heir apparent to the Springbok second row, and young Eben Etzebeth. Etzebeth has been a sensation – at only 20 years old and in his debut season of Super rugby he has been one of the most in-form locks in the tournament and it would be hard to argue against his innclusion in the Springbok match day squad.  A monster in both the tight and the loose, he is in prime position to become a truly world-class second row. You would also presume that Meyer, having spent a brief spell in England, would know the aerial capabilities of the Bulls’ Juandré Kruger. Whilst praise must be given to the new coach for including these young players, any suggestions of a Matfield return were bewildering – thank you to the IRB for putting an end to the endless speculation.

The front row selections appear well considered. With John Smit now gone, Bismark is free to assume his rightful starting spot, probably alongside his brother Jannie. At loose-head the Beast is coming into some good form after a spell on the side-lines whilst Dean Greyling is still, and will continue to be, enormous. It seems unlikely however that Bismark will assume his predecessor’s role as captain. Despite having captained the Sharks on occasions, his inability to communicate with other human beings appears to have ruled him out of contention. Jean De Villiers would be the safe bet having captained the Stormers very well all season and being guaranteed his starting place. However, in a Matfield-esque turn, Meyer has thrown out the possibility that Fourie Du Preez may captain the side. He’s a great player after all and an instrumental piece in South Africa’s world cup winning side. All round a great choice…

Except for the slightly bewildering, yet dauntingly obvious fact that he has not been picked in any of the Springbok squads to date. Meyer is proposing to captain a player who isn’t even (at this moment) being considered for selection.

In the back row, Meyer has a selection issue at blind-side. With the legendary Juan Smith still side-lined and Alberts struggling for fitness, the most in form South African flanker to date would be the intense Marcel Coetzee of the Sharks. He would provide an enormously physical carrying game to balance with Heinrich Brüssow’s superiority on the floor.

Having recalled Ruan Pienaar and (we’re led to presume) also recalled Fourie Du Preez, Meyer now has five scrumhalves to choose from, but the safe money must surely be on Francois Hougaard, who, having paid his dues on the wing, has cemented himself as one of the premier nines in the Super Rugby competition. In the centres JDV will definitely start, and will be pared with either of his club mates De Jongh or Habana. The back three is remarkably unexciting but with a dominant pack and experienced centres, it seems unlikely to matter.

The most disappointing thing from a neutrals perspective is the injury to young Johan Goosen. Probably the most in form fly half in the competition when he got injured, Goosen was posing a serious and realistic threat to Morne Steyn’s number 10 shirt. This would have been Meyer’s first real test of steel – would he have picked the in form 19 year old over the metronome of Steyn or played is safe and stuck with the Bull’s consistent playmaker? Unfortunately (and very fortunately for England), it seems like we will have to wait another four months until this question can be answered.

Meyer has managed to avoid a lot of drama to this point by announcing such a large squad. With 42 players named it would have been hard to have missed many players out. Nevertheless, it seems as if the Bok amateur dramatics are set to continue. Whilst they are going to be ruthlessly efficient on the pitch, the hilarious inconsistencies look set to continue off it.