Epic finishes for Northampton Saints and London Welsh prove play-off’s worth

Play-offs are not the most popular means of determining who wins a league title, as is the case in English rugby’s Premiership.

They might be acceptable for its use, as in football’s Championship, League One and League Two, of deciding the third (or fourth) team to earn promotion.

Friday night lights for Northampton’s 21-20 win over Leicester at Franklin’s Gardens

But, detractors of play-offs argue, for nine or ten months of a season to come down to a knock-out format could easily penalise the best and, to date, most consistent team of the year.

I have a certain sympathy with that point of view. Saracens fans may bemoan the fact they have to travel to Twickenham in just under a fortnight to win a crown which in most other sports would have been theirs by rights after they finished nine points clear at the top of the table.

Were they to lose the final to Northampton, at least they wouldn’t feel as robbed as Gloucester in 2002-03, who finished 15 points clear but who lost out to Wasps in the final.

Still, everyone knows the rules at the start of the season, and anyway, when play-offs produce the kind of spectacles we’ve seen this weekend, any lingering doubts surrounding their place in domestic rugby should be cast aside.

I was at Franklin’s Gardens on Friday evening for one of the best matches of club rugby I’ve ever watched, as Northampton staged a brilliant comeback to knock out defending champions Leicester.

Franklin’s Gardens panorama

The Saints have been my adopted English team since I moved to Northamptonshire, and I was pretty disappointed when they lost last year’s Twickenham final to the Tigers.

Friday threatened to go the same way – Leicester, England’s most successful club in recent years, running away with it. When they went 17-6 up at half-time, I thought the game was up.

And when,with just over 20 minutes on the clock, Salesi Ma’afu was red-carded for a punch, it looked like the Saints would be unable to overcome the deficit, which at that stage was still eight points.

By then, the 14,000 crowd was growing tetchy. But it was still as loud as it had been at kick-off, helped by a sizeable (if not sold out) contingent of away fans desperate for their side to retain East Midlands bragging rights. And when George North crossed for Northampton’s first try with a quarter of an hour remaining, the atmosphere only intensified.

The final act was perfect for Saints fans, who hadn’t witnessed a win over their closest rivals since 2011. Wave after wave of pressure finally took its toll on Leicester’s dogged defence, as the ball was spun wide for Tom Wood to step inside and crash over with barely two minutes left on the clock.

Northampton had the slenderest of leads – Stephen Myler’s conversion attempt hit the upright – and their first lead of the game. They had trailed for all but 12 of the preceding 78 minutes, but, successfully negotiated the final few plays to secure a remarkable win.

It was pandemonium in the stands, and I was the happiest I’ve been at a domestic rugby game since Ebbw Vale beat Toulouse in 1998.

Northampton Saints fans acknowledge their team’s lap of honour at Franklin’s Gardens

This afternoon, it was London Welsh’s turn to pull off a sensational, last-ditch, come-from-behind win. Their opponents at the slightly less feverish Kassam Stadium were Leeds Carnegie, who led by seven points from the first leg of their Championship play-off.

The first 50 minutes was quite dull, to be honest, with Welsh ahead on the day but behind on aggregate. And when Leeds racked up 13 quick points to put their overall lead at the same margin, I was on the verge of switching off and heading out into the sun.

Good thing I didn’t. Almost out of the blue, Welsh scored two excellent tries, with near-namesakes Seb Stegmann and Ollie Stedman touching down within two minutes of each other. Gordon Ross missed one of the conversions but slotted an even-later penalty to give the hosts a two-point aggregate win. Wow.

You’ve got to think that the fact both games were play-offs added a crucial element to the drama. It certainly amplified the occasions, as well as the victors’ elation and the losers’ disappointment. Both matches were pure theatre.

And in both instances, the best two teams, the two who finished first and second in the league table, are in the final. Northampton take on Saracens at Twickenham, while London Welsh face heavy favourites Bristol in a two-legged decider.

Both my teams will be underdogs. But if they show the same fighting spirit as they did late on in their respective games this weekend, who’s to say London Welsh next season won’t be playing in a Premiership whose trophy sits proudly in the Franklin’s Gardens trophy cabinet?

My highlights of 2013

Judging by my 2013 ticket collection (below), I possibly wasted a bit too much time watching sport this year. Anyway, I thought I might as well pick out a couple of highlights and try to relive the glory… In chronological order:

January 20: Leicester 9-5 Toulouse, Heineken Cup

Because who doesn’t love watching sport in the snow?

Tigers officials clear snow from the Welford Road pitch

February 9: France 6-16 Wales, Six Nations

A terrible game, but it got Wales’s victorious Six Nations campaign off and running.

France 6-16 Wales, Stade de France

March 16: Wales 30-3 England, Six Nations

Goes without saying. What a performance!

Wales lift the Six Nations trophy after successfully defending their title

June 22: Royal Ascot

My first time at the races, and all three of us who went finished up. Nice.

Royal Ascot 2013

August 16: Mo Farah wins the 5,000m, World Athletics Championships, Moscow

A stunning “double double” for Mo. Made all the sweeter by the disappointment of a Frenchman sitting behind us who had spent the whole race telling us how badly Farah had misjudged the race.

Mo Farah wins his second gold of the 2013 World Athletics Championships in Moscow

September 29: Pittsburgh Steelers 27-34 Minnesota Vikings, NFL, Wembley

One of the best NFL International Series matches there’s been.

Wembley for Steelers @ Vikings

October 5: Cardiff City 1-2 Newcastle United, Premier League

Exciting game – my first football match for ages – and great seats. Thanks Chris!

Newcastle win at Cardiff City Stadium

December 28: Ebbw Vale 45-0 RGC 1404, Championship

Sport-wise, where it all started for me. Good to finish the year watching the Steelmen dominate yet again.

Ebbw Vale v RGC 1404

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Some others:

London Welsh v Sale

Harlequins v Munster

Euroleague basketball, O2 Arena

Leicester Tigers v Harlequins

Northampton v Leicester

Cardiff Blues v Edinburgh

Northampton v Ospreys

 

…and here are those tickets. I love sport.

My collection of tickets from 2013 sports events

London Welsh finally relegated from Premiership

It’s been on the cards for a while, but London Welsh’s relegation from the Premiership was confirmed following their 31-14 defeat to the Northampton Saints at the Kassam Stadium yesterday.

(They could survive if the Championship winner is not deemed to be fit to take their place in the Premiership – it would be hugely ironic if Welsh were to stay up that way following last season’s off-the-field battles – but Newcastle are the clear favourites to make an instant return.)

The Exiles have done well – performed bravely, the ultimate unwanted sports compliment – this season, considering they had to wait until the summer before their promotion was finally confirmed, considering the unequal financial playing field in the Premiership, considering they were docked five points for an official’s indiscretion.

Indeed, a positive start to the season, in which they racked up 19 points from their first 10 games – more than enough to avoid the drop – gave their fans hope they would follow the example of the Exeter Chiefs and stay up against all expectations.

But Welsh haven’t won since December, picking up only four losing bonus points since. Two of those – away at Gloucester, and the only match I was able to get to, at home to Sale – should really have been wins, but a lack of experience of top-flight rugby told in the end.

London Welsh have used the Kassam Stadium in Oxford this season

In the last few days, London Welsh’s CEO Tony Copsey has both stepped aside and key financial backer Kelvin Bryon has announced he won’t continue to fund the club, hitting out at the RFU and Premier Rugby for not providing equal funding for promoted teams. It has become unviable for them to continue to play at the Kassam Stadium, and the club will decide whether to play their games in Oxford or move back to Old Deer Park in Richmond next season.

It’s been quite a ball for London Welsh this season, and they have defied expectations to be as competitive as they have. But, surely, the RFU has to be prepared to support smaller clubs rather than give them much less generous handouts if the game is ever to be truly evolve.

London Welsh deducted five points

London Welsh are two points adrift at the bottom of the Premiership after being docked five points by the RFU for fielding an ineligible player, scrum half Tyson Keats.

I was fearing it might have been worse for the Exiles, but with only five games to go, Lyn Jones’s side now have their work cut out to avoid an immediate return to the Championship…

It means their fellow exiles London Irish, based along the M4 corridor in Reading, are pretty much safe in 10th place.

Hearts-in-mouth time for London Welsh over Tyson Keats hearing

London Welsh could be all but relegated on Tuesday.

Their RFU panel hearing looking into allegations they fielded an ineligible player – scrum half Tyson Keats – could dock the Exiles points, sending them to the bottom of the Premiership table, and with a tough run-in of games to come.

Welsh are still 11th in the 12-team league, on 22 points. Sale have 19 points and London Irish have 24. Ninth-placed Worcester, on the back of a win this weekend, should be safe on 32.

Welsh will argue Keats, a New Zealander, is eligible to play for England on account of British grandparents, meaning his registration as an English player would not have been in error.

It means for the second time in less than a year, London Welsh’s status will be decided off the pitch.

For more information on the charge and the defence to be mounted by the club, read this overview on ESPN Scrum.

• Championship team London Scottish were docked three points this season for fielding an ineligible player in one game. Keats played in nine.
• Exeter were deducted two points for fielding too many overseas players in a game against Leeds in 2011.
• In 2007, Leicester were docked a point for having played Ian Humphreys, who was temporarily registered with another club.

A step closer to relegation for London Welsh?

London Welsh’s thrashing at Exeter at the weekend, coupled with a win for London Irish meant Lyn Jones’s side hovered precariously just one place outside the Aviva Premiership relegation zone.

But, with six games (four of which are away) to go, and with the Exiles being just three points ahead of bottom side Sale, there comes news which could spell doom for Welsh’s hopes of top-flight survival.

And what a way to go it would be. Here’s the statement from the London Welsh website:

London Welsh RFC are to appear before an RFU Competitions Hearing charged with fielding an ineligible player in a number of Aviva Premiership matches this season. The matter was brought to the RFU’s attention by London Welsh after the club conducted an internal investigation earlier this month.

The case relating to the registration of scrum half Tyson Keats will be heard on Tuesday, March 5 by a panel of Jeremy Summers (chairman), Premiership Rugby Chief Executive Mark McCafferty and Dr Julian Morris at the offices of Slater & Gordon, Chancery Lane, London WC2A 1HL.

The club’s former Rugby Manager Mike Scott is the subject of  a separate RFU Disciplinary Hearing relating to the registration of the same player and has been charged under RFU Rule 5.12  for ’conduct prejudicial to the interests of the Union or the Game’. That case will be heard at a later date.

The club would like to stress that no fault in this matter resides with the player.

London Welsh CEO Tony Copsey said: “This is obviously a serious matter which the club has not only brought to the attention of the RFU but is also working closely with the RFU to provide full cooperation whilst the case is being prepared and ultimately heard next week.

“Due to the sensitive nature and the impeding hearing the club is unable to make any further comment at this time.”