Paul Dearlove's column:
Do the French deserve
their reputation for foul play?
15 January
2009
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Paul Dearlove: Fighting talk |
In the latest of his exclusive
weekly columns for FRC, Pau captain Paul Dearlove
talks rucks, mauls and balls as he gives us an insider's
view of the French love for 'le combat' on the rugby pitch -
part I.
When I told people I was going to France to
play rugby, those 'in the know' told me to watch my eyes and
my 'boys', as the French had a knack of getting access to
both. Apart from the incongruity of keeping an eye on my
eyes, I wondered who had the energy during the game to worry
about grabbing another man's genitals or sticking their
fingers into his eyes.
Duly warned, I packed 'my boys' into some
tight running shorts - no use in waving them around asking
for trouble - and liberally applied Vaseline to my eyebrows
and cheeks. Out I went and I’ve got to admit that it didn’t
cross my mind once during the game. Nobody attacked my eyes
or my genitals.
This isn’t to say it doesn’t happen. There
have been games where people have grabbed me between the
legs and other times when you can feel an opposition hand
massaging your face and a finger jabbed into your eye, but
it is rare. In today’s game, both in Top 14 and Pro D2,
there are at least three officials (often five or six as
France has in-goal judges and the TV referee) and most
games, even if they are not televised, will be filmed by
both teams. The game itself has also moved on. Gone are the
pile ups of yesteryear. Breakdowns, although not as clean as
the Super 14, are now tidier affairs.
There are, however, areas of the game where a
thug can find an outlet for his rage. Counter-rucking has
led to an increase in head-butting and shoulder-charging
[Counter-rucking refers to when the ball is slowed down at a
ruck and the opposition has an opportunity to regroup and
attempt to blast those at the ruck out of the way. This was
a significant reason why South Africa and England contested
the World Cup final – both were adept at counter-rucking].
As an aside - For those of you with a DVD
copy of the World Cup final watch the violence with which
Bakkies Botha hits breakdowns. Victor Matfield got man of
the match, but I’d have Bakkies in my team any day.
Another ugly side to rugby in France is La
bagarre, essentially an all in brawl. This is
unfortunately reasonably common - last season we would
average one every four or five games - and it seems to have
the tacit approval of referees, administrators and fans.
Last season we had a
massive brawl in our home game against Toulon. For those
interested in watching Tana Umaga take a red card, Andrew
Mehrtens and Dan Luger throw some pretty impressive bombs,
George Gregan screaming from the sideline (having taken a
yellow card five minutes prior) and other rugby rock stars
involved, here is the
Youtube link.
The clip also has another bagarre from
the same weekend in the Agen versus Mont de Marsan match.
If you were trying to find me... thankfully
I’m not playing having injured my knee a couple of weeks
prior. I don’t throw anything more dangerous than insults or
the occasional handbag anyway.
Next week in Part II – more on the ugly side
of rugby in France.
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