Discipline at rugby games

Friday, 4 April 2014 00:59 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

As I write this there a buzz about town as Sri Lanka prepare to take on giant killers the Windies in the T20 semi-finals. Thus there is very little talk about school rugby and for a change it has taken a back seat. Only two games are scheduled for Saturday with Kingswood taking on Science in Kandy and the Joes playing Royal. On their day the Joes are capable of upsetting any side and will obviously look at ironing out their weaknesses. Royal under new coach Martis are out to prove a point but do not look a championship side. It’s still early days as all the sides have just played two matches each and the usual lack of match practice and teething problems of a new team was very much in evidence. Over the past few years the school rugby set up has improved in leaps and bounds so much so that there is always the possibility of an upset result as the bulk of the teams are of a similar standard. So far on form Trinity has looked awesome and are the team to beat and are yet to make an appearance in Colombo. The coaching staff members are very involved in the game and at most times are barking out instructions after every move. Whilst one can empathise with them one cannot condone their over involvement in the game during play. At times there have been heated exchanges between the coaching staff and the match officials on the sidelines, the bulk of them pertaining to entering the field of play at any given opportunity. In the last RC/Pathana game this was very much in evidence and it’s time that there were clear rules set out by the authorities. In a similar incident, the Super Rugby’s governing body SANZAR is to investigate a complaint against NSW Waratahs coach Michael Cheika after a sideline incident in Durban over the weekend. It was claimed that Cheika had a brief verbal confrontation with one of their cameramen. Cheika was asked after the game as to why he had walked down to the pitch. He said he had wanted to get a message to his captain, who was serving 10 minutes in the sin bin. What is also interesting is that a number of school players keep on talking to the referee, indicating the transgressions of the opposition at breakdown points or at the set pieces. The quality and professionalism of the referee comes into play as he then has to make a choice. Ignoring complaints could be foolish and over enthusiasm in looking at the opposition gets the referee branded as not being neutral. In the Waratah’s super rugby game against the Sharks, it was alleged that the Sharks captain was continually in the ear of the referee. Thus Cheika felt that he had to get the message to his captain to do likewise. In the final analysis, there must be a clear set of guidelines and all players and the coaching staff must abide by the same. The authorities must have the will and the muscle to punish offenders and in enforcing the rules we have been found lacking in sunny Sri Lanka. (The writer can be reached via [email protected].)