Like the released convict on parole, rugby behaved itself with model deportment last weekend. As is the way of these things, under the watchful eyes of the European Rugby Cup (ERC) board and the television audience, Brive and Pontypridd enacted a clean, sporting and almost preordained draw. Llanelli and Pau buried the sword as well yesterday. All's dandy then.
Well, not entirely. Even forgetting the violence that marred those original fixtures a fortnight beforehand, and the ERC fudge that followed (behind the classic smokescreen of "lawyers, lawyers, there are lawyers in our midst") there's still a nasty aftertaste in the air. Take the fall-out from the Tony Rees suspension.
The Cardiff lock was suspended on Friday for 90 days by the ERC. No fudge here, and fair play to them. But Cardiff are simmering with a sense of injustice, and it's aimed at Harlequins for citing Rees after the game, and the victim (note, "victim"), Welsh-born lock, Gareth Llewellyn. This is the world of rugby in its worst light.
I've watched the video recording of the incident involving Rees and Llewellyn countless times. Cardiff, trailing by seven points moving into injury time, were attacking from right to left when their hooker Jonathan Humphreys was driven back in the tackle by Llewellyn.
Such was Humphreys' strength that he was able to turn while landing and pull Llewellyn with him. Cardiff arrived in force, and Llewellyn was trapped on his back, with his face up. Rees was the sixth forward to arrive. His left foot connected with the body of the prostrate Rees; then his right foot did. Crucially, the ball had reappeared at the feet of the Cardiff scrum-half Steve Wake when the sole of Rees' left boot came down again, this time on Llewellyn's face, which turned and moved on impact clearly for all to see.
The Sky commentator was moved to comment on "some savage rucking there by Rees". However, curiously in the light of their midweek re-enactment and comment on Mick Galwey's punch of Keith Wood in the first round, Stuart Barnes and co were not inclined to any further examination of the incident. Selective or what?
Llewellyn reacted in some way, at which point Rees's knee came down on the still prostrate Harlequins lock as he pinned Llewellyn to the ground. Bizarrely, as a touch-judge came in to try and pull them apart, play continued for another 35 seconds, and two more passages, as the two players lay entwined on the ground.
An enraged Llewellyn later returned to the pitch for his side's `warm-down' with blood streaming from a wound near his eye. At his behest, Harlequins studied the match video and cited Rees for violent play. The ERC board viewed the video and found Rees guilty of "wilfully kicking an opponent", suspending him for 90 days.
Cardiff reacted indignantly. Alex Evans, their elderly director of rugby, comes across as a very nice man who gives his utterances due consideration. Which is why I couldn't believe the quotes attributed to him on Friday. He spoke of rugby being a man's game, and not for "cissies", the clear implication being that Harlequins were cissies. I found the remarks reprehensible. Cardiff yesterday appealed the suspension of Rees, who is no doubt now a hero to some of his club's supporters.
Indeed, it was interesting to note the blue and black clad fans at Musgrave Park on Saturday when left with the two Dolphin bars to themselves, both of which were showing Sky's live coverage of the Bourgoin-Harlequins game. They hissed not only when Quins coach Andy Keast came into view, but Llewellyn as well. Clearly, some deem him a `traitor'.
It is clear from all of this that there are still some elements within the game who see the macho code of omerta as far preferable to the course of action taken by Llewellyn and Harlequins. It's not manly to squeal in public. Better to resolve it on the pitch, where men are men and cissies are soon found out.
Before we start getting too smug about this, it's worth recalling some of the reaction to Peter Clohessy's suspension for stamping Steve Jameson in a Young Munster-St Mary's AIL game. Some of this, too, was classic shoot-the-messenger stuff.
Bearing in mind the events of two years ago in Paris, after which Clohessy was suspended for stamping Olivier Roumat, Clohessy himself might have been better served by a less myopically-loyal response within sections of Limerick rugby and Young Munster, in particular. There are, assuredly, some less myopic people in both Young Munster and Cardiff who would have prefered a more balanced reaction, but they couldn't be heard above the din of blind outrage.
With the advent of professionalism and greater television exposure than ever before, rugby needs to clean its act up like never before. This means stamping out the stampers, not sanitising the game for cissies. Remembering that rugby is still a minority sport, ask any parent of any young aspiring rugby player which they would prefer, that stamping on the head of an opponent should be exposed, or that players/clubs should never take recourse to video evidence against an opponent?
If rugby were to retain its macho code of omerta rather than expose wilful kicking of an opponent then, frankly, rugby can stick its game where the sun doesn't shine. Cissies of the world unite.
Harlequins, Keast, and Llewellyn, especially, will no doubt be on the receiving end from the travelling Cardiff boo boys for the return match at the Stoop next Saturday. It is partly why I'll be quietly rooting for Quins. Oh dear, what is happening to me? I'm starting to root for the English, even against the French.
Not so long ago, when Quins used to attend the end-of-season Old Belvedere sevens, the snooty and arrogant Londoners were by some distance the most disliked participants. But professionalism seems to have been good for Quins and the English clubs. These European competitions have shown the national characteristics of the European game far more than the Five Nations ever did. And they've shown up the English pretty well.
They haven't been involved in free-for-alls or post-match, bar-room brawls - it helps when you're winning, mind. Their crowd don't bay at opponents or referees (chants of "cheat" by Pontypridd fans at the excellent Gordon Black's expense were grossly wide of the mark) or spit, shove and rattle bars when they lose - as Begles did when losing to Connacht. They've also infused some of the best characteristics of overseas talent.
The English have made the greatest strides this season. Better fitness levels, and improved daytime professional training must be a factor as well. Whatever, they have lost only one of 16 games, have plundered two wins on French soil and with three, or maybe four, home quarterfinals beckoning, the odds on a first English win in the European Cup narrow with each passing week.
