Rugby is not a game designed to be played in 40 degree heat
Playing a Super Rugby game in sweltering conditions in the middle of summer is risking the safety of both teams, writes Andrew Slack.
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When the first child is seriously injured after being clouted by one of the many missiles that are fired into the stands during a T20 cricket match, authorities will act. Safety protocols will be hurriedly created, but they will be all too late for that first kid who got conked and is left to suffer the consequences.
Similarly it seems, Rugby authorities will only wise up to the fact that the game was not designed to be played in midsummer when a high profile player collapses from heat stroke, or whatever other ailment afflicts you when you’ve overcooked your engine by being forced to run around in 40 degree heat.
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World Rugby, SANZAR, RA and every other rugby body shouts from the rooftops how seriously they take player welfare and they have the laws to prove it. A player can cop a two week suspension for making a tackle which slips up from the shoulder and glances the head of an opponent with all the ferocity of a laidback mosquito. The head is sacrosanct they scream. What about the rest of the body? Demanding your players earn their bucks in the Australian summer puts every bit of you at risk. Madness is one word for it. Hypocritical is another.
Thankfully and luckily, the Reds and Brumbies emerged largely unscathed from Friday night’s match in the oven that was Canberra Stadium, and produced a pretty high quality contest considering the conditions they were asked to endure.
Reds fans know something about having to endure, after the sparse pickings in recent seasons. The failure of the 2020 team to begin with a win might therefore have some reverting to the “here we go again”chorus. I’d park the pessimism for the time being.
Much has been made of their youth, but there is class in this squad, as well as experience in key spots, solid depth in all positions and a hint that while a lack of composure probably cost them the match in Canberra, that element will only improve with each outing.
No doubt Brad Thorn will shout the message before Saturday’s game against the Lions in Johannesburg that whether you’re playing in tropical conditions or freezing snow, Rugby remains an eighty minute game and going through the motions in the opening ten minutes and straight after halftime will reward you with similar heartbreak to that felt by Friday’s three point loss.
One hopes his other complaint will be discipline. The Reds should win all the games in which they win the penalty count, but giving away soft penalties will cost, as Taniela Tupou should realise. Tupou is a crucial cog in the Reds machine but his lazy offside penalty early in the second half when leading 17-7 was the catalyst to Tom Wright’s try which restored the Brumbies momentum and ultimately destroyed the Reds until it was too late.
There was plenty of hype before the match surrounding the debut of number 8 Harry Wilson. One report likened him to the legendary Mark Loane. The comparison is crazy, as on the evidence in Canberra, it seems his passing and off-loading skills are far superior to the former Wallaby and Queensland captain. Loaney didn’t get his nickname “Crowbar”, (as in you needed one to ever get the ball off him) because of his desire to pass the pill to his teammates.
Wilson was one of the Reds best while the promising thing was that nearly every Reds player had moments where they showed they were up to competing at this level.
Fans though are tiring of promise and want delivery. Week 2 coming up and the heat is already being applied.
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