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'It would be an awful way to win a game'

Henley Hawks skipper Jake Albon

A brilliant act of sportsmanship from Henley Hawks has reminded everyone that rugby’s traditional values are still alive and kicking.

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With their round 14 National Two South clash with Barnes locked at 17-all the clock was in the red at the end of the contest.

So when referee Ben Rayner blew a penalty against the visitors inside their own 22, home supporters were expecting fly half Matt Dalrymple to point to the posts.

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Shaun Edwards

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Shaun Edwards

However, what almost no-one – including the referee – had realised was that Barnes flanker Jasper Cameron was unable to roll away on the ground because he had been knocked unconscious making the tackle.

Henley skipper Jake Albon takes up the story from there:

“It was a very tough physical encounter with two sides that really went at it from start to finish,” he said.

“The lead had gone back and forth as the game went on and when we reached the last play of the game we put a few phases together and went down the field into their 22 where we were given a penalty.

“I was still getting up from the bottom of the previous ruck but soon realised that everyone was very emotional.

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“The penalty had been given before the ref realised that Jasper was down unconscious with a head injury.

“He was down four or five minutes and thankfully after some treatment was absolutely fine.

“That did at least give us time to get our heads together and decide what was the best course of action. There was a few ideas floated around and we thought about starting with a tap-and-go.

“But I had a chat with our forwards coach and a few of the other boys on the field and we decided to tap the ball and kick it out to end the game rather than taking a shot at the posts.

“I’m not 100 per cent sure we would have got the penalty as it was on an angle on the left side of the posts but it wouldn’t have been the right thing to do.

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“The main thing was that Jasper was alright and we all were able to head off to Christmas with no bad feelings.

“It would have been an awful way to win a game and I certainly can’t imagine how losing it that way would have felt. Looking back I’m happy that the right decision was made.”

Henley’s tremendous act of sportsmanship was made all the more laudable by their league position – fifth – and the fact that four clubs seem likely to this season win promotion from English rugby’s two fourth-tier divisions following the demise of National One Old Elthamians.

However, according to Albon the tragic death of second row Dave Hyde, who collapsed following Henley’s early-season clash with Old Albanian, has given everyone at the club a wider perspective.

“It’s the halfway point of the season and we’re trying to push to the top of the table and get promoted but some things are bigger than rugby,” he said.

“We’re glad that Jasper is OK; everything we’ve been through this year and the superb support we’ve received from the wider rugby community was maybe at the back of our minds without us realising it and it just seemed the right thing to do.

“You can view success in lots of ways – and not just with league points – and the way our club has rallied round and got out there every week after everything that happened has been tremendous.”

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B
BC 16 minutes ago
Black Ferns reward 18-year-old's form in team to face Wallaroos

Yes, I think that NZ have to work on their forward play if they are going to go the whole way again. I don’t know too much about your forwards but there do seem to be some familiar names still being selected that have come up short in the past. You have considerable talent in the backs but you will need the ball. There is much truth in the saying “forwards win matches and the backs decide by how many”. I would agree with your comment about Leti-I’iga and Woodman has a lot to assimilate in very few matches as a possible 13, perhaps the hardest position to play. I shall watch your match on Saturday with much interest, though not in the middle of our night.


Unfortunately two of Ireland’s top forwards have been ruled out by injury. I’m not sure they have enough depth to cope with that in the latter stages of the WC.


The performance of France at Twickenham was a surprise, you never know which French team will turn up. Having said that, for most of the match they were second best, but some slack tackling, complacency?, and their Gallic pride got them close on the scoreboard. I was there and whilst eventually grateful for the final whistle, we never felt their late flourish would prevail. When the Mexican wave starts after 25 minutes, you know the crowd thinks it’s already all over. You are right though, do not write off the French, they have strong forwards and flair in the backs. Give them an inch and they will take a mile. On their day they are a real handful for any team.

4 Go to comments
B
BigGabe 50 minutes ago
'Love him or hate him, Henry Pollock has got the rugby world talking.'

Fair commentary. I am not sure it would probably work against him though, since his temmates have come out and said that they enjoy it. Similarly, Irish fans seem to enjoy Lowe’s celebrating and English fans their “plastic energy” players.


Oof, that Stormers comment..as a Stormers fan, it hurts to be a Stormers fan. We can be so good, but also we can collapse like a house of cards. I do think that there is a line, I would agree with you. But I also very much think that the rugby public blows it out of proportion when someone gets exuberant (Lowe annoys the daylights out of me, but that’s his game and he is good at it. I am sure plenty of people find Faf annoying too). I’m not sure rugby will go the way of the NFL though, I do think that on a cultural level rugby playing nations (and the cultural demographics that go into playing rugby) differ vastly from the US. The US as a nation is very much about bravado. Similarly, the argument about rugby devolving into football, it is a sport that rewards theatrics so naturally theatrics enter into the culture. I don’t see rugby going that way, there is something different about rugby and the people that it attracts. Perhaps it is the gladiatorial aspect, or the lack of insultingly large paychecks. I am not sure, it would be interesting to conduct a study on this to be honest.


Yes, my examples go back quite far and are sporadic inbetween. But this makes me wonder - does rugby not have so many showboats because it doesn’t attract showboats or because it doesn’t allow showboats?

13 Go to comments
W
Werner 1 hour ago
URC teams aren't proving Stephen Donald wrong

3 things:


1) I don't think you have an understanding of what sort of politics goes on in SA, you are assuming it's very competitive and performance focused same as NZ, I can tell you it's a lot greyer and more ambiguous but green and gold goes along way in greasing wheels. Often revenue at the state and national level are prized more by some in the SARU despite the impact of accepting it, but you will never heard them own it.


2) While we're comparing national teams performance to gauge the ‘domestic’ comps, you do realise that both Ireland and Scotland are higher in rankings and have better recent record than Fiji and Australia who are in the SRP right? And when was the last time either of them made a final in SR? 2014! But here's the thing…. I never said URC is better than SRP, imo they are about the same each with their benefits and different style. Where as you harp on about how crap URC teams are but not why SRP is better. Have SRP teams faired better against European teams? No? So how do you know and ‘demonstrate’ this inferiority? both have a range of good and bad countries competing (URC has slightly more higher ranked teams). Both are dominated historically by one country and team (Leinster/crusaders). So what is this demonstrable fact I'm missing? What's the point of difference other than subjective opinion


3) let me understand this, the only decent team in the URC is Leinster as they are good enough to make Eurochamps finals but not good enough to make the finals of the URC the last 2 years. So they despite beating Leinster (the EC finalists and good team) the other URC teams are still crap?

50 Go to comments
P
PR 1 hour ago
'Love him or hate him, Henry Pollock has got the rugby world talking.'

There are degrees of taunting. In my opinion Pollock is slightly OTT. Nothing offensive, just what Australians call “a goose”. Like James Lowe and Ben Earl. Celebrating wildly and often towards the crowd throughout the game. “Plastic energy” as Bongi calls it. It’s the kind of behaviour that turns a hostile crowd more hostile and motivates opponents even more - so probably works against your own team. Pollock is young and having the time of his life so his antics are understandable but I think most people find that kind of showboating annoying - hence the ‘love him or hate him’ tag.


The reason why the behaviour of Pollock makes headlines is because it is still quite rare in rugby. Your examples go back to 1974, 2003 and 2022. Of course there are chirps between players during a game but what Pollock is doing is more like the showboating you see after a touchdown in NFL. He’s not the only one of course. Just about every Stormers try comes with an elaborate handshake or routine. Perhaps the future of rugby is more like NFL but I reckon it will always be annoying to a lot of people.


Also, unless you are Matt Williams or Gregor Townsend, 6-2/7-1 was never against the spirit of the game. It’s an argument brought up by pundits to get attention or frustrated coaches who are trying to justify poor results. Most coaches, players and supporters get it. Even World Rugby gave it the thumbs up. It should be celebrated for its innovation.

13 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ Brendan Fanning: 'Leinster have the best-resourced squad in these islands but can’t make it pay.' Brendan Fanning: 'Leinster have the best-resourced squad in these islands but can’t make it pay.'
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