A number of Premiership clubs in 2013* – Gloucester, Saracens and Leicester – who have title aspirations and fly-halves in the Elite Player Squad necessarily require a competent second-string 10 during the international window. The expectations for such a player are not onerous.
*Next year this list could include Bath, Northampton and potentially even Sale if Cipriani’s recent uptick in performance can induce amnesia amongst the selectors for long enough.
Almost every negative epithet that was ever used to disparage Charlie Hodgson as an England 10 are, in the second-string fly-half’s case, compliments he should aspire to. The remit is simple: game management and ensure that his team doesn’t lose ground while the first choice is unavailable.
The belief that Ryan Lamb could perform this role is the reason that Leicester acquired him. He signed this deal because at three previous teams he had failed to be a net positive in a full-time role.
- In 2009, when he left the club, Gloucester finished 7th. In 2010 Gloucester were 3rd.
- In 2011, when he left the club, London Irish finished 6th. In 2012 London Irish were 7th.
- In 2013, when he left the club, Northampton finished 4th. This season, the Saints are currently 2nd.
His Tigers career could’ve started better. In the week leading up to his first start he was called out by his club captain after forgetting which day he was playing and in the subsequent weeks performed at a level which had management prefer twenty year old Owen Williams over him.
Then in October this year he received a one match ban for “striking” the Gloucester hooker and England Under-21 player Koree Britton in an ‘A’ League match. Adding injury to ignominy, it later transpired that the “strike” had cracked a bone in Lamb’s hand.
As Leicester director of rugby Richard Cockerill said in a BBC interview: “I expect better from a player with his experience and with…[Toby Flood] going away [for the autumn internationals], it compromises the squad. I’m disappointed in him.”
Although he was disappointed, he shouldn’t have been surprised. Lamb, it turns out, has previous form. In 2009 he admitted common assault and was fined £1000 for punching a student who had wound him up in a Cheltenham nightclub. His solicitor, Paul Whitcliffe, in mitigation tried to excuse his client’s behaviour with the defence that Lamb was upset at being left out of Gloucester’s first team. Then in 2011 at the London Irish end-of-season party, Lamb was hit in the face with a bottle and injured during a brawl outside a Clapham bar with some football fans.
The GIF at the top of this article is a reasonable synopsis of the mental fragility that has plagued Lamb throughout his career. After intercepting the ball and before being tackled and turned over, he has nearly three seconds to make a clearance kick. At 27 he should be mature enough not to make this type of mistake. It didn’t cost Leicester in this game, but it should never have been a possibility – the Tigers already had a five-pointer in the bag.
To guarantee progression to the knockout stages of the Heineken Cup has historically required 20 or more points. Since 2003 only Toulouse (2011/12 – 18 points), Toulon (2010/11 – 17), Stade Francais (2009/10 – 18) and Munster (2007-08 – 19) have gone through with less. And no team since 2003 with 21 points has ever failed to progress.
Montpellier arrived at Welford Road with five points. With seventy-eight and a half minutes played, they were on course to leave with five points. When Ryan Lamb intercepted the ball with 90 seconds to play, a kick to touch would’ve drained another minute and eliminated almost any chance of their point total changing.
On five points and with three games to play, Montpellier would recognise the statistical unlikelihood of qualifying. And given their Top 14 mid-table position and a match against Toulon before Christmas, they would be likely to field a weakened team in this weekend’s return fixture. Leicester would go into that game on eleven points, needing only ten points to historically guarantee progression. A very manageable total given that their other remaining fixtures are against Ulster at Welford Road and away to Treviso.
The turnover from Lamb’s mistake led to a fourth Montpellier try and two point swing as they also moved into losing bonus point territory. Perhaps it wouldn’t be enough for Montpellier to eventually qualify, but any team that scores four tries at Welford Road and no longer faces overwhelming odds is going to fancy their chances at home, and select a team accordingly.
If he can’t avoid simple mistakes and game manage effectively, the coaching staff will soon decide that he has no place in a title-chasing squad.
Update: Montpellier have made 14 changes to the team which lost at Welford Road
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