About 800km away, almost precisely due north of Marseille, lies the cathedral city of Reims, probably better known as the capital of the world’s most famous sparkling wine region. The distance between the two cities roughly represents the size of the gulf between the two teams on Friday, with the French failing to uncork the champagne rugby which many of us had feared would make it a long night.
In the event the home team fizzled out completely, irrespective of their red card; much to the chagrin of their supporters there was no sparkle. From early on it was clear that it was Ireland who were producing the good stuff, taking the game to France with pace and panache they shredded Shaun Edwards’ defensive system. At the finish Ireland’s supremacy was complete, splintering the French maul almost at will.
The referee Karl Dickson gave a capable, calm performance, and it would be churlish to nitpick his decision-making. It wasn’t perfect, which is an impossible achievement, but he got the big calls right and let things flow.
Mind you, the decision to award a try to France’s Paul Gabrillagues was because TMO Ben Whitehouse couldn’t find any definitive evidence to overrule Dickson’s on-field decision, which seemed largely based on information from assistant Jordan Way of Australia. It was a lot less than a clear grounding which we watched on the replays. You win some, you lose some.
France will also look at a few calls, including the early whistling of “advantage over” when Damian Penaud looked about to go clear of the Irish defence, albeit a long way out. It was unusual in that the tendency of all referees nowadays is to over-play advantage, ad nauseam in fact.
Ireland's magic night in Marseille
And then we had the involvement of the bunker, prompted by two ill-conceived and dangerous high hits by French second row Paul Willemse. The first one was on Andrew Porter, who needed a HIA before resuming. It looked a red to me, but the foul play review officer – to give the bunker its official title – England’s Ian Tempest, chose not to upgrade from yellow. I am able to name Tempest as, in a welcome change, the identity of the bunker official is now disclosed by World Rugby in the match official list. At last, transparency.
Having got away with one, it wasn’t the cleverest thing in the world for Willemse to repeat the dose, this time on Caelan Doris. Two yellows meant a red, and it was also upgraded by the bunker. The player can have no complaints, and may well miss the rest of the championship; that is if his boss, Fabien Galthié, hasn’t already washed his hands of him.
Interestingly, Rassie Erasmus spoke recently of head-high hits, telling us that they can, and must be, coached out of the game. While it is a surprising intervention, nonetheless, it might be an extremely important one. It acknowledges the role of the coach in this vexed area. What we need is for all leading coaches to endorse Erasmus’ remarks – having coached it “in” it is now time to coach it “out”. Maybe, just maybe, things are changing.
In Rome, England came out on top against Italy, the latter scoring a few scintillating tries in a match which otherwise was just a colossal bore. The men driving the chariot showed zero ambition other than the formation of long caterpillar rucks, the ball when it eventually emerged was kicked, and then, of course, kicked back again.
It is most definitely not what people pay to see. The match was not a huge challenge for New Zealand referee Paul Williams, although he might well have judged a forward pass, and a double movement, in the lead up to England’s Alex Mitchell touching down. I’d have agreed with him if he had but these were tight calls.
If we thought that match was boring, the first half events in Cardiff were insufferable. More caterpillar rucks and kicking dominated proceedings. Wales had forgotten to turn up, and Scotland were in front, 27-0, with less than 40 minutes left.
And then came perhaps the greatest transformation in Six Nations history as Wales took the game by the scruff of the neck and attacked their visitors from all points of the compass. Another New Zealander, Ben O’Keeffe, was in charge, and, having had a first half armchair ride, he suddenly found himself in a very different match. With intense pressure mounting on the startled Scots, O’Keeffe handed them two yellow cards as they conceded 14 penalties on the trot. They were extremely fortunate it wasn’t more.
And so we wait for next Sunday and the visit of the Azzurri to Dublin. That and the other matches to come are all in the should win column, but they are also potential banana skins, particularly Twickenham. Debutant Frenchman Pierre Brousset is scheduled to referee this Sunday but he’s still anxiously recovering from a calf injury which forced him off recently in Connacht v Bristol.
Finally, credit where credit is due. The match official team, led by World Rugby’s Joël Jutge, have worked extremely hard in preparation for the tournament, and they’ve started well enough, on the front foot so to speak. After round one that is not at all a bad place to be.
