End of season tours under the spotlight
With the Six Nations out of the way the focus for the Northern Hemisphere sides now is their respective tours, which has, without much surprise, sparked a row between two of the top nations in the world.
Such is the scale of the feud that the International Rugby Board (IRB) has been called in to settle the problems that have arisen between Ireland and Argentina.
England have tried to get out of their tour to South Africa, and France are using their trip to New Zealand to rest most of their front line players who will still have club duties. Wales, too, will use their tour to Australia as a chance to rest key players and develop those fringe squad players who could be vital at the World Cup.
Ireland are set to embark on a two-Test tour to Argentina, with the first Test scheduled for May 26th, although that depends on who you speak to. As it seems the Argentinian Rugby Union are not fully aware of this test, with no venue set.
“This is ludicrous. It is not a matter of being professional or amateur. It’s a matter of courtesy and we have been in endless correspondence for months without any joy,” said Philip Browne, the Irish Rugby Union’s chief executive to The New Zealand Herald.
“Unless we get a response from the Argentinian Rugby Union within the next day or so, we really have to question whether we can go on this tour. The match is nine weeks away and they need to provide a satisfactory response very rapidly.”
The second Test, scheduled for June 2 in Buenos Aires is not the problem, as the ARU are aware of that one. As for the second test for all the Irish Rugby Union know it could be anywhere in the country, if at all.
An ultimatum from the IRB headquarters in Dublin has not had any immediate effect on the matter.
“We are chasing them but their administration is severely undermanned. We’ve told them straight that we can only wait for so long,” said a board spokesman.
However the main issue is not where Ireland will be playing, if they indeed do play the first test, but instead it is the strain of end of season tours, especially in the year of the World Cup.
No longer are these tests battle between the best the countries have to offer but instead for the touring side they are often well under strength. They try and dress it up as a development tour but in fact it is just a case of resting their over used players.
What makes these tours even more farcical is the fact that Ireland, Wales and England will all be playing against sides who they will meet in their World Cup pools, Ireland and Argentina, Wales and Australia, and England and South Africa.
In fairness to these sides why would they risk taking their full side and showing their hand just months before the games will start to matter in the pool stages of the World Cup.
