Rugby Union: Respect gone out of the window as race for title intensifies

Northampton's Ben Foden lost his cool on Sunday

Ralph Ellis highlights a few unsavoury incidents from last weekend's Aviva Premiership and wonders if players are losing the respect or whether officials need to be tougher...

The FA are stepping up the Respect campaign as a new year begins with instructions to referees to make more use of team captains to put a stop to dissent. Apparently it's an idea they borrowed from Rugby Union.

And that is pretty ironic, because right now the sport which used to preach to everybody else about discipline and respect for officials is letting its own standards slip - and there's no sign of anybody at the RFU wanting to do much about it.

Can you imagine the reaction if a top England footballer finished a vital top of the table contest by exploding with rage at the nearest linesman? But that's what Northampton Saints and England full back Ben Foden did on Sunday after his side had lost by an odd point to Saracens, and nobody in authority seems to have been too much bothered.

Saints' coach Jim Mallinder was more measured in his criticism of referee JP Doyle but still insisted: "He got a number of decisions wrong that could have been the difference between winning and losing".

Meanwhile Leicester's Richard Cockerill was demanding better training for refs on how to control scrums, and then belittled the performance of official Andrew Small with the withering line: "We try to be professional and then we have to deal with that. I don't mind being beaten but I want the rugby to decide, not the bloke in the middle making poor decisions."

Tell me the difference between that and Roberto Mancini's clearly jocular suggestion that Kevin Friend had "eaten too much for Christmas" when he took charge of Manchester City's defeat at Sunderland. Yet is there any suggestion of Cockerill facing a rugby equivalent of a disrepute charge? It seems not.

The creeping trend of dissent is maybe a reaction to how tight the battle for the Aviva Premiership is becoming this year. Harlequins are hanging on to a one point lead at the half way stage, but the market for the regular season winners can't choose between Quins, Saracens and Leicester for who will finish top.

Last year Harlequins bucked a trend of several seasons by leading the table at Christmas, and not only finishing top but going on to win the Grand Final. It's interesting that they don't seem to be squabbling with referees as they aim to retain the title - perhaps a measure of how they have dealt with the pressure of expectancy. "Everyone is aware they have to step up another gear," is how England captain Chris Robshaw explains it.

Quins are 3.052/1 to be Grand Final winners for a second season - with Leicester Tigers just favourites at 2.9215/8 and Saracens equally well backed at 3.02/1. Northampton are currently spread between a back of 9.08/1 and a lay as high as 42.041/1 but believe they shouldn't be ruled out.

It will be a proper race to the finish - so expect passions to boil over a few more times. But don't expect anybody at the RFU to do anything more than sweep it all under the carpet.