Loose Pass: Picking and choosing, the Farrell dynasty and the interference of TMOs

Sale Sharks' under strength team, Ireland coach Andy Farrell and the TMOs are the topics of discussion.
This week we will mostly be concerning ourselves with picking and choosing, the Farrell dynasty and the interference of TMOs…
Europe devalued
The commentators were unequivocal at the start of the Leinster v Sale match: “People don’t want to pay money to come and watch second-string teams. It’s a bit disappointing.” Or words to that effect.
Leaving aside the fact that said second string gave the would-be European champions a huge scare on their own patch before Leinster’s international class showed, he absolutely had a point. But is it an actual problem? Or is it, more to the point, a symptom of a problem?
Philippe Saint Andre was also pretty unequivocal last Thursday, lamenting the added burden of South African travel times into the crammed schedule and calling it an ‘aberration’.
And for Sale, you can sort of understand it. The Sharks are making an assault on the Premiership title this season, but their Christmas involves a face-off against champions Saracens followed by a trip to in-form Northampton Saints. Then there’s a winnable game against Bristol at home, and then, as you do, it’s off to Cape Town for a match in the height of a South African summer before the European champions La Rochelle come a-calling the following week – most probably with both needing a win needing any chance of progressing. Sale’s internationals will then be off to the Six Nations for a couple of months, possibly with a couple of club matches sandwiched in between.
It’s not all that strange then, that the Sharks rested a few players now. Others haven’t yet, although Bayonne’s team at Munster was by no means first-choice despite their valiant draw, but with quite a few teams now looking at an away round of 16 tie in the Champions Cup at best, how will the teamsheets for the third and fourth round of fixtures look?
It’s easy to imagine Connacht weighing up the pros and cons of fielding all big guns at Lyon in January, for example, while Stade Francais will likely decide to focus on their – currently reasonably healthy – Top 14 campaign rather than risk a load of injuries in Dublin at the hands of Leinster. Likewise might apply to Racing 92 at Bath, or even Toulouse at Ulster, with an eminently winnable match at home to Bath in Round Four. Will the Bulls take a weaker side to Bristol knowing that a home tie against Bordeaux in Pretoria one week later is one they have a huge home advantage for?
Meanwhile, assuming Exeter beat Glasgow, will the Chiefs definitely send all the top players to Bayonne – who might also well take the chance to rest a few players? If La Rochelle fail to beat Leicester in Round Three, will we see all their best away at Sale?
This is not a criticism of these teams per se. Player welfare is paramount, and teams have the right to choose their focus and manage squads accordingly. The French season is tortuously long, yet it’s clearly the league with the most colour and the most fan-friendly. No wonder French clubs, in particular, are ambivalent on Europe/Africa. English teams have less excuse, but as resources are pinched, that aspect of strategic selection becomes more important.
The solution? The obvious one would be to play tournaments in blocks, not intersperse them with each other. But unless the Top 14 and URC shed a couple of teams, it’s never going to happen. But despite some of the obvious quality and drama on display this weekend, it’s tough to consider the European tournaments as the zenith of all clubs’ ambitions when some of the participants see it as a chance to rotate. It’s not an aberration, but it’s still not all it should be either.
Lions in waiting
Clearly, there’s still time for it all to go awry, but there’s no obvious alternative to Andy Farrell for the next British and Irish Lions tracksuit after he signed a contract with the IRFU almost tailored to the possibility; speculation can probably end here.
🗣️ “Coaching Ireland has been a hugely enjoyable experience and I am proud to extend my association with the IRFU."
☘️ Ireland head coach Andy Farrell signs new long-term deal. 👇 https://t.co/JP5vgUe3VK
— Planet Rugby (@PlanetRugby) December 14, 2023
What would be a more interesting discussion is who he takes with him. Does he take his former Lions head coach, Warren Gatland, along for another ride? Does he reach out to former league colleague and Lions veteran – and now France defence coach – Shaun Edwards? Will Fabien Galthie say ‘oui’ if he does? Does Gregor Townsend now get a chance to sharpen the Lions’ attack? Does Farrell reach out to trusted lieutenants at Ireland – as Gatland did once or twice – for the sake of continuity? That would include long-appreciated attack coach Mike Catt, along with one of the Lions’ greats Paul O’Connell. Will Eddie Jones be interviewed in secret?
Answers on a postcard, please…
The effects of the TMOs
So much that is negative has been both written and said about TMOs over the past few months, much of it justified, much of it right, little of it seeming to be heard by governing bodies.
Over-caution and a lack of empathy on head contacts is a problem, but the other noticeable aspect is perhaps even more of a curse.
Loose Pass watched six European matches and one French match this weekend past, counting the number of tries denied/awarded by a TMO decision. Seven matches, 12 tries disallowed. That’s a huge number – although you can probably make the net number as nine, being as the TMOs also found three tries to be awarded when the referees on the spot clearly had not a clue. And several tries were also confirmed – i.e., the ref had given a try but wanted to check anyway.
Four more were disallowed for what were clear infringements. But for five, you were winding back play phases, looking at different parts of the field, finding all sorts of minutiae and reasons not to give points – La Rochelle, in particular, must be incandescent at the way their potential match-clincher was chalked off.
Is this really what the TMO was for? It feels far too pervasive at the moment: nothing personal here, but the Exeter-Munster clash should not have been dominated by close-ups of the impassive face of Mathieu Raynal as he conferred.
We need a review. Quicker than the average TMO try review in fact.
READ MORE: Champions Cup Team of the Week: Eight teams represented in our line-up