Tuesday 30 June 2009

Watching the Lions - the Welsh way


This is a tad out of date now - but see previous post

'Will sell my wife for beer' screamed the bloke's T-shirt in front of me as I settled down to watch the opening Lions Test in a Pembrokeshire rugby club.

Normally it would have been an act of boneheaded stupidity for an English tourist – complete with slightly-too-red sun tan and sandy swimming shorts – to stroll alone into a Welsh rugby club. But this was Lions time, an opportunity for Celts and Englishmen to call a truce, sit side by side, holler at the ref and hurl abuse at the opposing Southern Hemisphere side.

And boy did these Welsh lads know how to hurl abuse – all of it delivered in a sing-song manner about an octave higher than my ears are used to.

And then there were the barmaids. Let's just say the one who served me had the sort of formidable frame that would have troubled even Tendai Mtawarira in the scrum.

Through the mist of beer, blue language and sighs at the Lions' missed opportunities, however, a thought involving Bath Rugby arose – and it was all courtesy of the beer monster in front of me.

If this guy would be happy to exchange his spouse for a crate of lager – as his T-shirt declared – then what would Bath Rugby be willing to exchange for a piece of top-tier silverware?

In order to secure that elusive Guinness Premiership title or Heineken Cup, would the club be willing to forego its two captains, its good name and its short-term stability?

For it seems to me that, paradoxically, the bad news that has poleaxed the club over the summer months could well yield good results.

The club's good name may well have been tarnished in the short-term because of all the allegations and resignations that have been flying around, but the fruit that grow from this bitter tree may well turn out to be sweet.

And there is evidence that this is already happening.

Before Michael Lipman's departure, Bath had some fine back row players but were seriously lacking in depth. Now they have added South African international Luke Watson and Australia A flanker Julian Salvi – both of them proven leaders – to their battalion of loose forwards, instantly giving the back row a meatier, smarter appearance.

For all his brilliance, one Michael Lipman does not equal a Luke Watson and a Julian Salvi. Ergo, Bath have done well out of their captain's departure.

Trauma can bring you closer together or tear you apart. And the hope for Bath fans has to be that the club's summer of discontent will have brought the remaining players closer together.

If that has happened – and head coach Steve Meehan seems confident that it has – then Bath could well be hungrier, more focused and more fired up for the 2009-10 campaign then they were this time last year.

Let's just hope the thoughts prompted by that misogynistic T-shirt turn out to be true.

For more, visit www.thisisbath.co.uk/bathrugby

No comments:

Post a Comment