If English football's transfer market has seemed deep in a summer slumber this year, then its rugby counterpart appears to be practically comatose.
It's in rugby's nature for deals to be done over player movement long before the season ends, barring the odd exception such as Andy Powell, so this is nothing new.
We were aware, therefore, who would be where come the kick off of the 2010/11 season well in advance. We knew, for instance, that Saracens' monetary muscle had strong-armed David Strettle, Richard Wigglesworth, Matt Stevens and Deon Carstens to Watford.
We knew Lewis Moody was making the unorthodox switch from Welford Road to the Rec, yet it will still take some adjustment of the eyes to accept him rampaging around in blue, black and white.
And we knew, albeit with less fanfare than the aforementioned comings and goings, that London Irish had signed a player by the name of Daniel Bowden from New Zealand.
Bowden is just 23, has played for all the age groups sides in New Zealand, and can play fly-half or inside centre. Insiders at Irish's Sunbury HQ say the kiwi No.10 has had Mike Catt purring (sorry) at some of the things he can do on the training paddock, which will be music to Exiles fans' ears after a season seeing their backline marshaled by either the flakiness of Ryan Lamb or the stodginess of Chris Malone.
Having stepped fresh out of the Super 14, the competition that has produced a New Zealand side playing rugby from another planet at present, expectations will be high that Bowden can get Irish playing that type of rugby in the newly monikered Aviva Premiership.
It's a hefty task to take on, but it's not his to conquer alone. The English top flight was panned last season for its lack of quality, limited ambition, overuse of the boot and general dearth of creativity.
It revived itself in the latter part of the campaign, but if the players have been watching the All Blacks in the past few weeks, they will have seen how quickly it is possible to get to grips with the new interpretation of the breakdown and use it to rip teams apart.
The game has moved on. Again. The benchmark has been reset this summer in terms of how modern rugby can be played and it will be telling to see how the coaches and players in the Premiership respond.
Go into their shells and resort to the same old, same old, and English rugby on an international level will suffer. Adapt to the latest bout of tinkering in a positive way, and this could be a season to remember for the Premiership and the red rose alike - even if it takes a young Kiwi who slipped the All Black net to show us the way.
READ DANNY COYLE EVERY WEEK AT RUGBY.CO.UK
Date published :
04 Aug 2010 - 10:43:31
08/02/2012 01:49:58
