“Rugby without fans is a film without dialogue”
FANS. RUGBY fans. What would we do without them? Sadly, we are now finding out. Rugby is being played in ghost grounds, with just a mere splattering of coaches and coaching back-up, a few television technicians and a row or two of journalists. It is uncannily quiet and profoundly unsatisfying, even though some of the rugby being played – by Exeter, Wasps, Leinster and Ospreys – has been excellent.
But without the colourful cavalcade in their hundreds or thousands or tens of thousands, in the stadiums and towns and cities where the matches take place (or in their tens or hundreds in the amateur game), it seems that half the spectacle and almost all the sense of occasion has stayed at home along with them.
Where have we missed them most? Everywhere. Imagine the noise that would have greeted Leinster sealing the Guinness Pro14 against Ulster. And say the last Wasps game of the regular season, on 4 October against Exeter, had
