Dylan Hartley v Wayne Barnes v Richard Cockerill

Despite the fact it was entirely his fault, and it’s hardly the only disciplinary blemish on his career, I can’t help feeling slightly sorry for Dylan Hartley.

Not because I believe his story about his eloquent “f****** cheat” being aimed at Tom Youngs as opposed to referee, and Stuart Broad-lookalike, Wayne Barnes.

Twickenham was stunned by Dylan Hartley’s red card – especially at my end, where we couldn’t see the colour of the card Wayne Barnes showed

But the fact a second of madness – undoubtedly borne out of a frustration at the way the first half of the Premiership final had ended, with a Stephen Myler mistake and a collapsed scrum giving Leicester the chance to extend their lead by three cheap points – has cost Hartley his Lions place and, possibly, Saints the title.

Even so, you’ve got to commend Barnes for having the guts to show Hartley a straight red card for an incident which a less authoritative referee (and, dare I say it, most football referees) could easily have got away with pretending it had never happened. It’s good to see some officials sticking up against abuse.

The RFU should be praised, too, for the speed in which they convened a hearing and handed Hartley an 11-week ban. It gave Rory Best the chance to get on the plane to Australia straight away, even if it was disappointing Warren Gatland didn’t decide to heed my advice to #callforKen (Owens).

 
Anyway, the RFU has to deal with Leicester coach Richard Cockerill who, let’s face it, is guilty of almost as much as Hartley.

Cockerill came racing down the steps from his coaching position to berate the fourth official after what he believed – probably wrongly – to be a late hit by Saints second row Courtney Lawes on Tigers captain Toby Flood. In effect, Cockerill was also questioning the competence of the officials, if not outright accusing them of cheating. Respecting the referee applies as much to players on the field as to coaches off it.

Oh, and it’s been a bit overshadowed, but the game itself wasn’t bad either.

Rugby playoffs: are they fair?

Thanks to sporting play-offs, it’s been an exciting couple of weeks in my adopted county of Northamptonshire.

Last Saturday, Northampton Town FC made their first trip to Wembley for 15 years for the League Two play-off final. Thousands of fans descended on the capital – although it’s probably best to gloss over the result.

This Saturday, it will be a similar story, as the Northampton Saints face East Midlands rivals the Leicester Tigers in the Premiership final at Twickenham. The match is a sell-out.

Both the football and rugby teams can be grateful the play-off systems in their respective leagues allowed them a day in the sun: Town finished sixth in League Two, while Saints ended the season fourth in the Aviva Premiership.

Leicester Tigers defeated Harlequins 33-16 at Welford Road in the Premiership semi-final

And let’s not forget London Welsh only earned their place at English rugby’s top table after taking advantage of last season’s Championship play-offs.

So I suppose I shouldn’t be complaining too much about the play-offs. I was at Welford Road for the Tigers’ victory over Harlequns and I’m off to Twickenham on Saturday, where I will be able to cheer on my local team.

But how can it be fair that Northampton, who finished three places and 12 points adrift of table-toppers Saracens, should be able to wipe out that advantage over the course of an 80-minute semi-final?

Six times since the introduction of the play-off system to choose the English champions was introduced in 2002-03 the table toppers have not lifted the Premiership trophy. Six times the team which proved to be consistently the best squad over the course of the best part of nine months had their glory snatched away over the course of a couple of late-season games. And six will become seven on Saturday as either Richard Cockerill or Jim Mallinder’s men are crowned “champions”.

Of course, supporters of the system would argue the mark of a true champion is one who can perform when the pressure is on. However, isn’t that the point of a cup competition, rather than a league? Does it sort the men from the boys? Does it weed out the chokers – Gloucester have topped the table three times without winning the league – and reward those, Wasps most prominently, who peak at the right time?

The play-offs certainly add extra interest to the final stages of the season in both football and rugby, and in football, it is surely more acceptable that the league winners should not have to face the play-offs.

You can see why the Premiership favours their system of bringing the curtain down on the season in front of a sell-out Twickenham, especially as the cup competition no longer runs. Arguably, it also helps even up the season for those teams which lose players during the Six Nations and the autumn internations (though shouldn’t the same arguments therefore apply to relegation?).

But a major part of the problem, too, is the fact that, unlike the equivalent top flight in football, there could otherwise be very little to play for at the top of the table by the end of the season. With half the league qualifying for the Heineken Cup, teams in third, fourth and fifth could have almost nothing to play for in the season’s final weeks without a knockout phase to come.

So are there any solutions? It’s difficult: teams which finished top used to get a bye straight to the final, but it often meant their momentum stalled and they suffered for that.

Could you give the higher-ranked teams a points advantage in the semi-finals? No, ridiculous idea – it would be both arbitrary and encourage negative, defensive play.

So maybe, to misquote Winston Churchill particularly badly: the play-offs are the worst form of deciding the champions except all the others – at least until we get some reform of European competitions (the subject of another future rant).

Still, if the Saints go marching into Twickenham on Saturday and defeat the Tigers, I doubt the merits of the play-off system will be at the forefront of my mind.

**Disclaimer: I realise the Premiership is not the only league which uses play-offs!

Entertainers of Olympiacos see off Real Madrid

I went to my first basketball games on Sunday. The final four of the Euroleague – CSKA Moscow, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Olympiacos – faced off at the O2 in London.

As is the case with handball, European football clubs seem to adopt basketball teams in a way which can appear strange to British eyes.

The O2 is a pretty quality arena

Before the weekend, I’d always been a bit sceptical about basketball: it seemed to be each team scored on pretty much every possession, which made it pretty boring.

Would you believe it, I was wrong! It was a great experience and I loved it. Real Madrid and Olympiacos contested the final, which was a bit of a see-saw affair: the Spaniards, led by Rudy Fernandez, jumped into a 27-10 lead by the end of the first quarter, before a dominant comeback from the Greeks – cheered on by a huge number of travelling supporters – saw them eventually take the spoils 100-88.

The third place play-off had been a thriller, won 74-73 by CSKA, and while the final was not on a knife-edge to the same extent, the quality of basketball was high and the game exciting.

Admittedly, I’m not exactly 100 per cent on the rules, but the atmosphere was infectious and, despite my initial intention to support Real Madrid (based on my El Clasico allegiance), I couldn’t help be overwhelmed by the majority of the fans inside the 20,000-seater venue.

Not to mention by one particular Olympiacos chant, which is sung to the tune of The Entertainer by Scott Joplin.

Lions squad verdict: the forwards

See also Lions squad verdict: the backs

Dan Cole

What a unit – one of the best scrummagers in world rugby, even if the English pack did get schooled in the Six Nations against Wales

Cian Healy

Another prop whose name had been pencilled into the Lions squad list for some time, although he blotted his copybook somewhat with a stupid stamp on Cole in the Six Nations

Gethin Jenkins

A wonderfully mobile front rower (and I’ll take any excuse to repost a video of him humiliating Ronan O’Gara) whose Six Nations performances demonstrated his relative weakness, the scrum, was not really anything of the sort

Adam Jones