Owen Farrell received criticism over the weekend for his manipulation of the shot clock during Saracens’ narrow 15-12 win over Bath.
Awarded a penalty under the posts with less than five minutes remaining and the scores level, Farrell invoked the ire of the home Bath support by running down the shot clock – and by default the match clock – before tapping over the simple penalty. It proved to be the match winner.
The logic was clear. Leave Bath with as little time as possible to score after a simple kick to take the lead. Many have cried a lack of sportsmanship, but such gripes are naive. Farrell was perfectly entitled to take up as much time as he was legally allowed for the kick.
Referee Luke Pearce offered the former England captain regular reminders of how much time he had left over the tee. “40 seconds. 30 seconds.” So on and so forth.
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In this case, given the time-wasting, such communication benefitted Farrell. But is it always helpful?
Speaking to a kicker as they line up a shot at goal has become a regular phenomenon since the introduction of the shot clock. Grounds do display the timer on the big screen, but there have been cases where this did not line up with the referee’s watch, most notably during Connacht’s victory over the Sharks earlier this season.
During the Six Nations, Pearce engaged in dialogue with Ireland’s Jack Crowley while he was lining up kicks against Italy.
Given the tradition of fans remaining silent to respect the kicker, is it right for referees to potentially disturb what is, for some at least, a sacrosanct part of the game?
On one hand, given a history of discrepancies between ground clocks and officials, players would certainly prefer to be disturbed if it avoids false belief that they have sufficient time. If the stadium clock is correct, though, is it not up to the player to keep one eye on it?
Referees have clearly been told to speak to kickers, despite the tradition. Given it is a new area of the game and the history of technology going wrong, that is unlikely to change. Kickers will have to get used to the noise.
Northampton displayed their trademark transition attack against Harlequins
Northampton Saints, Leinster’s Champions Cup semi-final opponents next weekend, warmed up for their Croke Park visit with a thrilling 41-32 defeat to Harlequins in the Premiership.
Playing in front of a crowd close to 60,000-strong at Twickenham, Saints ceded ground in the battle for top spot in the Premiership playoffs in a contest which saw 10 tries, 73 points and bonus points for both sides.
In many ways, Saints will be frustrated to have softened their grip on the league lead given ‘Quins spent nearly an hour of the game down to 14 men thanks to yellow cards brandished to Danny Care, Louis Lynagh and Tyrone Green.
In another apparent moment of Premiership officiating madness this season, Care was fortunate not to be sent off in the second half after diving over the top of a ruck to kill the ball following a Saints line break. Referee Karl Dickson appeared to move his hand towards his pocket but quickly changed his mind, telling his TMO that Care’s actions didn’t warrant another card upon review. The view was outlined on commentary that Dickson opted against a card when he realised Care was the culprit in order to avoid a second yellow and subsequent red card.
Nonetheless, despite their frustrations, Saints displayed some of their now trademark transition attack which troubled ‘Quins and could well ask questions of Leinster. Ollie Sleightholme’s first-half try from deep was as clear example as any of their counter-attacking skills.
Potential family reunion on the cards at Ulster
A potential family reunion is on the cards at Ulster after interim head coach Richie Murphy acknowledged that his son, Jack, is in discussions with the province about a move up the M1.
Jack Murphy, who went to school at Pres Bray, played under his father during the recent U20 Six Nations where he was Ireland’s starting outhalf for much of the campaign.
However, given the backlog of outhalves at Leinster – the Byrne brothers, Ciarán Frawley, Sam Prendergast and Charlie Tector – the future of Murphy, among others, has been the source of speculation.
“The latest is he’s been talking to Ulster, definitely,” said Richie Murphy of his son’s future. At present, Ulster only have Jake Flannery and scrumhalf Nathan Doak on their senior books as outhalf cover for next season.
“He hasn’t signed any contracts or anything like that,” explained the elder Murphy. “He’s looking at college options and we’ll see how that progresses over the next couple of weeks.”
Regarding Richie Murphy’s future, while it is understood that he is in a strong position to take up the head coach role on a permanent basis, reports recently suggested that Japan-based South African Frans Ledeke would take up the main role at Ravenhill.
“I have had conversations with Ulster and they’ve all been positive towards next year so it’s still at that stage,” said Murphy, indicating a final decision has not yet been made.
“I’m quite happy with what I’m doing. I suppose when there’s not certainty, it opens up to speculation.
“But speculation, I can’t deal with that.”
Number: 221
Englishman Travis Clayton was selected by the Buffalo Bills with the 221st pick of the weekend’s NFL draft. Alongside Louis Rees-Zammit, Clayton is the second former rugby player to move over to the gridiron this year.
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“We’ve come through so much as a group and every single one of us – management, players, people who aren’t here today and all our supporters – everyone means everything.” – Brittany Hogan after Ireland beat Scotland to secure World Cup qualification.
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