Interesting debate on merits of a grand final in union from yesterday's Times by it's own union and league correspondents ...
THE TIMES
Is this grand final just a gimmick that decides nothing?
YES
WHATEVER the outcome of this afternoon's Zurich Premiership Grand Final at Twickenham, the only real winner will be Gloucester. That is not to denigrate the achievement of London Wasps should they emerge victorious, or the attempts to provide a high-profile end-of-season finale, but no one in their hearts can deny that good ol Glaws are the true champions of England.
They have proved it over the nine months of the league season, one that has tested their collective stamina and resolve, their resources, the depth of their squad, the skills of the management and the nous of Nigel Melville and Dean Ryan, their shrewd coaching duo.
They have been set and have met a series of demands that make the league unique and compelling and for Gloucester to be denied due recognition and acknowledgement in a one-off jamboree would be insulting and shameful. What is more galling is that it could all be gone in the blink of an eye.
What has been achieved at Kingsholm this year is sensational. Gloucester won the regular season (notice the Americanisms creeping into the sports vernacular?) by 15 points, emphatic confirmation of their domination of the domestic scene. They did it in a style that was universally admired, with a blend of dashing youngsters and hardened pros and a splash of continental colour allied to the yeoman oaks of England. Out of 22 games they won 17, drew two and lost only three.
So why do they have to prove once more that they are the top dogs and possibly end up without tangible reward for their efforts in a match that could be decided by an unlucky bounce of the ball, a controversial refereeing decision or an injury? Why do we need the play-offs to justify what is plain for all to see? Why do we need them at all, especially in World Cup year, when everyone agrees that the players desperately need a break?
The structure needs simplifying, not complicating. Year in, year out, a different dimension is added or an amendment is made that serves only to confuse and baffle. League championship, cup final, top five in Europe: that is all that is needed.
Straightforward, easy to understand and a season that would therefore end by the beginning of May. And while we are on the subject, automatic promotion and relegation should be enshrined in rugby's constitution.
What we do not need are the continual comparisons with American sport as if somehow they have got all the answers. Nor, for that matter, rugby league a sport that after 100 years is still largely confined to two North of England outposts and two states in Australia and flatlines on the international register. And can anyone show me an American sport that has been successfully exported?
Wasps and the marketing men at Premier Rugby will trot out the well-rehearsed argument that everyone knew where they stood at the start of hostilities, so quit the bleating. That may be so, but it does not make it right. This week, Gloucester were putting on a brave face. In their own hearts, they know that they are the champions, yet if the record books show something different, it will be hard to swallow.
The play-off concept would make more sense if we followed the French model and had a domestic season consisting of two pools of say eight clubs each, with the top four playing off. It is the hybrid that irritates. All this is not to say that Zurich, the sponsor whose contribution to and support of club rugby has been immense, does not deserve its place in the sun. So why not the winners of the Zurich Premiership against the Celtic League champions? Now that would be a grand final.
MARK SOUSTER
NO
BLEATINGS by Gloucester players have reached a cacophony. We wuz robbed, they cry. Losing the championship final to London Wasps is in danger of becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy for the team who finished top of the Zurich Premiership by a country mile and must now go the extra yard.
If Gloucester have been heeding those blinkered commentators, who have declared them true champions, they need to wake up quickly. The championship race is no longer to the swiftest. Wasps; durability could carry the day and the trophy, and why not? A mundane competition, particularly given the sports competing attractions, needed spicing up.
When the clubs, Gloucester included, scrapped the first-past-the-post system for the play-offs, it was about making the end of the season meaningful and exciting. The words are those of Martin Johnson, for whom four successive league title romps with Leicester obviously lacked something.
It is not as if these particular goalposts have been shifted in midseason. Clubs knew last August where they stood, yet the carping continues, succeeding only in talking down a showcase final that should be about promoting excellence and the potential for the club game.
On the other hand, when did rugby union do anything other than kick and scream about change that may just be for the better? There remains a haughty arrogance that what works in rugby league cannot possibly be any good for union, conveniently ignoring all that the 15-code has borrowed from its counterpart, from professionalism onwards, and now a Grand Final decider. The play-offs, into their sixth year in league, had their critics initially, but nothing more was heard after the success of the first Old Trafford final. Wigan Warriors were top of the table in 1998.
They were not declared moral champions after 23 games, nor did they appeal for sympathy. They went out and squeezed past Leeds Rhinos in the sudden-death sprint for the title; Gloucester take note.
Henry Paul, of Gloucester, is familiar with the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, having won two Super League finals and lost one with Bradford Bulls in 1999 to St Helens, despite finishing top that year. Bradford accepted their fate. They played the system and lost. Thriving in the pressure-cooker atmosphere, with everything at stake, is also the stuff of champions Gloucester again take note.
Admittedly, league does not have as many big occasions as union, but the Grand Final has quickly come to rival the traditional Challenge Cup final in popularity. The top-six play-off system is handicapped in favour of teams finishing higher up the table, whereas union has gone for a piffling top-three concept that explains some of the opprobrium.
A more extensive play-offs system is the logical next step. That would mean restructuring the season and if ever a sport required its season shaking up, it is rugby union, with its crazed calendar and lengthy periods of inaction for Premiership clubs.
Perhaps, then, the empty seats at Twickenham today would be filled for a match with more significance than any staged there outside England's fixtures. Wasps are not impostors. They have earned the right to be there. The team that has peaked perfectly against the side whose consistency has been their hallmark and dare not throw the title away now. Detractors can grumble all they want. It is a fascinating denouement.
Gloucester, outstanding over 22 games, must be the same for their 23rd, like it or not. True champions will be today's victors; see the name on the trophy.
CHRISTOPHER IRVINE
THE TIMES
Is this grand final just a gimmick that decides nothing?
YES
WHATEVER the outcome of this afternoon's Zurich Premiership Grand Final at Twickenham, the only real winner will be Gloucester. That is not to denigrate the achievement of London Wasps should they emerge victorious, or the attempts to provide a high-profile end-of-season finale, but no one in their hearts can deny that good ol Glaws are the true champions of England.
They have proved it over the nine months of the league season, one that has tested their collective stamina and resolve, their resources, the depth of their squad, the skills of the management and the nous of Nigel Melville and Dean Ryan, their shrewd coaching duo.
They have been set and have met a series of demands that make the league unique and compelling and for Gloucester to be denied due recognition and acknowledgement in a one-off jamboree would be insulting and shameful. What is more galling is that it could all be gone in the blink of an eye.
What has been achieved at Kingsholm this year is sensational. Gloucester won the regular season (notice the Americanisms creeping into the sports vernacular?) by 15 points, emphatic confirmation of their domination of the domestic scene. They did it in a style that was universally admired, with a blend of dashing youngsters and hardened pros and a splash of continental colour allied to the yeoman oaks of England. Out of 22 games they won 17, drew two and lost only three.
So why do they have to prove once more that they are the top dogs and possibly end up without tangible reward for their efforts in a match that could be decided by an unlucky bounce of the ball, a controversial refereeing decision or an injury? Why do we need the play-offs to justify what is plain for all to see? Why do we need them at all, especially in World Cup year, when everyone agrees that the players desperately need a break?
The structure needs simplifying, not complicating. Year in, year out, a different dimension is added or an amendment is made that serves only to confuse and baffle. League championship, cup final, top five in Europe: that is all that is needed.
Straightforward, easy to understand and a season that would therefore end by the beginning of May. And while we are on the subject, automatic promotion and relegation should be enshrined in rugby's constitution.
What we do not need are the continual comparisons with American sport as if somehow they have got all the answers. Nor, for that matter, rugby league a sport that after 100 years is still largely confined to two North of England outposts and two states in Australia and flatlines on the international register. And can anyone show me an American sport that has been successfully exported?
Wasps and the marketing men at Premier Rugby will trot out the well-rehearsed argument that everyone knew where they stood at the start of hostilities, so quit the bleating. That may be so, but it does not make it right. This week, Gloucester were putting on a brave face. In their own hearts, they know that they are the champions, yet if the record books show something different, it will be hard to swallow.
The play-off concept would make more sense if we followed the French model and had a domestic season consisting of two pools of say eight clubs each, with the top four playing off. It is the hybrid that irritates. All this is not to say that Zurich, the sponsor whose contribution to and support of club rugby has been immense, does not deserve its place in the sun. So why not the winners of the Zurich Premiership against the Celtic League champions? Now that would be a grand final.
MARK SOUSTER
NO
BLEATINGS by Gloucester players have reached a cacophony. We wuz robbed, they cry. Losing the championship final to London Wasps is in danger of becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy for the team who finished top of the Zurich Premiership by a country mile and must now go the extra yard.
If Gloucester have been heeding those blinkered commentators, who have declared them true champions, they need to wake up quickly. The championship race is no longer to the swiftest. Wasps; durability could carry the day and the trophy, and why not? A mundane competition, particularly given the sports competing attractions, needed spicing up.
When the clubs, Gloucester included, scrapped the first-past-the-post system for the play-offs, it was about making the end of the season meaningful and exciting. The words are those of Martin Johnson, for whom four successive league title romps with Leicester obviously lacked something.
It is not as if these particular goalposts have been shifted in midseason. Clubs knew last August where they stood, yet the carping continues, succeeding only in talking down a showcase final that should be about promoting excellence and the potential for the club game.
On the other hand, when did rugby union do anything other than kick and scream about change that may just be for the better? There remains a haughty arrogance that what works in rugby league cannot possibly be any good for union, conveniently ignoring all that the 15-code has borrowed from its counterpart, from professionalism onwards, and now a Grand Final decider. The play-offs, into their sixth year in league, had their critics initially, but nothing more was heard after the success of the first Old Trafford final. Wigan Warriors were top of the table in 1998.
They were not declared moral champions after 23 games, nor did they appeal for sympathy. They went out and squeezed past Leeds Rhinos in the sudden-death sprint for the title; Gloucester take note.
Henry Paul, of Gloucester, is familiar with the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, having won two Super League finals and lost one with Bradford Bulls in 1999 to St Helens, despite finishing top that year. Bradford accepted their fate. They played the system and lost. Thriving in the pressure-cooker atmosphere, with everything at stake, is also the stuff of champions Gloucester again take note.
Admittedly, league does not have as many big occasions as union, but the Grand Final has quickly come to rival the traditional Challenge Cup final in popularity. The top-six play-off system is handicapped in favour of teams finishing higher up the table, whereas union has gone for a piffling top-three concept that explains some of the opprobrium.
A more extensive play-offs system is the logical next step. That would mean restructuring the season and if ever a sport required its season shaking up, it is rugby union, with its crazed calendar and lengthy periods of inaction for Premiership clubs.
Perhaps, then, the empty seats at Twickenham today would be filled for a match with more significance than any staged there outside England's fixtures. Wasps are not impostors. They have earned the right to be there. The team that has peaked perfectly against the side whose consistency has been their hallmark and dare not throw the title away now. Detractors can grumble all they want. It is a fascinating denouement.
Gloucester, outstanding over 22 games, must be the same for their 23rd, like it or not. True champions will be today's victors; see the name on the trophy.
CHRISTOPHER IRVINE
