Larkham has been retired from test rugby since 2007 and now plays in Japan, though he may soon be returning to his home nation as a coach. Larkham’s impact on the sport as a player won’t soon be forgotten, though, with Wallaby fans relishing memories of his greatest moments and opposition supporters cursing some of those same moments. You can find a pretty good written tribute to the legendary playmaker here, but we’ll let you see his magic for yourself:

The event was a success, and the top rugby sides invited rose to the top with Utah edging California in the grand final, but the event underscores a tension in the growth of the college game. With some exceptions, the best college rugby sides in the United States are not from famous sports brands. While storied California-Berkeley is a school with a recognizable sports brand, other strong national contenders come from smaller fan markets such as Arkansas State (to say nothing of soon-to-be college rugby powerhouse Life University) and schools with moderate fan bases such as BYU and Utah.

Consider, for example, the most recent report (from last year) of the top twenty college sports programs in terms of revenue generated. They are:

1. Texas
2. Ohio State
3. Florida
4. Michigan
5. Wisconsin
6. Penn State
7. Auburn
8. Alabama
9. Tennessee
10. Oklahoma State
11. Kansas
12. LSU
13. Georgia
14. Notre Dame
15. Iowa
16. Michigan State
17. Oklahoma
18 Stanford.
19. Southern California
20. Nebraska

Of these, only Penn State and Tennessee were among the 16 sides in the national Division I tournament this year. Both lost in first round and failed to make the quarterfinals. In the past five years, only two more of the twenty top revenue-earners have made the national rounds (LSU in 2009 and 2010, and Ohio State in 2006). None of the top 20 revenue-earners has even won a collegiate championship, though Penn State and Stanford has finished second (multiple times for Penn State).

In short, the big-money colleges in the United States have some catching up to do on the rugby union front. The question, then, is should they be developed to attract audiences from the schools’ bases, or should the attention stay on the already-strong programs from colleges with smaller fan bases? A purist’s perspective might be to let the quality of a rugby program determine what schools get into the big events such as the recent sevens invitational, but it is naive to ignore the commercial logistics of modern sport.

For those in college rugby interested in capitalizing on other college sports brands, the much-discussed reorganization of many of the United States’ college athletic conferences this week is of interest. While USA Rugby is not traditionally aligned with traditional sporting conferences and a new elite college competition focuses on top rugby programs rather than top brands, a few small groups of schools have opted to try to mirror the traditional American sporting conferences instead of participating in USA Rugby’s national championship structure. The difficulty with this approach, though, is that once again the best rugby is not played in the schools aligned with the typical American powerhouse conferences. The famed Southeast Conference of American football glory boasts only two sides among its 12 schools that have appeared in the collegiate rugby national rounds in the past decade. The well-known Big Ten conference does slightly better with four of its 12 programs making the national rounds over the past ten years.

So if rugby sides were aligned along traditional American sporting conference lines, what would be the top conference? An argument can be made for the less-renowned Mountain West. Of its ten sides, six (Air Force, BYU, New Mexico, San Diego State, Utah, and Wyoming) have made the national rounds in the last ten years, with one more (Colorado State) making the tournament before that. Three of the 16 sides in the 2010 tournament were from Mountain West schools. Two MWC schools (BYU and Air Force) have won national championships in the last decade, and one more (San Diego State) won a final before that–no small feat when you consider that only five different sides have won the national tournament since its inception in 1980. Considering that the MWC would be the SEC of rugby if American rugby organized into traditional American sporting conferences, it becomes apparent that it would be a challenge to reconcile the discrepancy between quality college rugby and big sporting money.

So while some work toward selectively peppering rugby invitationals with big college brands that produce less-than-stellar rugby and others call for formation of recognizable athletic conferences, the problem remains: Great college rugby and big college sporting money are some distance from each other at the moment. Is it possible to bring them together, and is an effort to do so even in the interest of the sport in the United States?

While you mull that, have a look at the full footage from Day 2 of last weekend’s seven-a-side invitational, which showcased the best college rugby on offer in the United States as well as the challenges involved in trying to squeeze top rugby out of some of the big college brands:

The action on the park has been thrilling, but the post-match broadcasts have also been pretty lively at times. On at least three occasions, players turned the air blue for viewers around the globe with a little bit of language not typically shared on family-friendly television and radio. As we get ready to enjoy the knockout rounds of the Super 14 competition, we thoughts we’d warn you that you may need to keep the youngsters away from the broadcast after the match in case there are more incidents like those documented below from Green and Gold Rugby and elsewhere. (Note: Clips contain rude language–obviously.)

Early in the year, the cameras caught the Reds’ Van Humphries in an inspirational monologue that wasn’t intended for the airwaves:

Nathan Sharpe of the Force was a little bit more direct in treating the media to a little bit of extra colorful language:

Unwilling to leave all the cursing to the Aussies, Ma’a Nonu of the Hurricanes made sure to top them all in a radio interview late in the season (the gems start about 40 seconds in):

You may have to watch out during the match, too, though, and not just for the players. A lot of rude things get said about referees, but this time match official Bryce Lawrence was the one dishing out the language:

Enjoy the knockout rounds as the Super 14 season closes down this month–but you may need to turn down the sound!

Why dwell on the topic so much when there is so much else to discuss? Well, over this site’s history, these are the top ten search engine keywords that have taken readers here:

Also, the most-visited page on this site, other than the main page, is an article (now outdated) from 2008 about free access to rugby union matches.

We get it. There are a few people out there who want to see rugby union free of charge on the Internet.

If you’re of a similar mind, there’s good news. Life University Rugby announced this week that starting tomorrow, all of its home matches will be broadcast online.

To watch the first broadcast, go to the club’s video site at 2:00 p.m. EAstern U.S. time tomorrow (Saturday, 15 April) and watch Life’s Rugby Super League quarterfinal match against the Chicago Griffins. Be sure to visit a bit early, though, because the site requires you to create a free account to have a look.

Let us know what you think, but remember: beggars can’t be choosers when it comes to free rugby union broadcasts in the United States, so don’t be too picky about the format or the quality. In the meantime, here’s a sneak peek at the home side:

The Waratahs just barely got by the Sharks this past weekend–got by just by their fingertips, in fact. Late in the match, Sharks fullback Stephen Treblanche’s pass to unmarked teammate Ryan Kankowski was swatted away by Waratahs outside back Kurtley Beale, stopping a line break that was on its way to the white line. Beale earned a penalty and an enforced ten-minute rest for his troubles, but the Sharks camp believes a penalty try would have been more appropriate.

Renowned Australian rugby commentary site Green and Gold Rugby offers a useful discussion of the controversy, including some key points of law regarding both intentional knock-ons and penalty tries. Green and Gold’s insight regarding whether or not Beale truly robbed the Sharks of a sure five-pointer are helpful, but the site’s comments on when an intentional knock-on should be awarded raise a more general issue about the difficulty involved in assessing a penalty for a deliberate knock-on. As Green and Gold indicates, the law states:

A player must not intentionally knock the ball forward with hand or arm, nor throw forward.

If the knock-on is intentional, a penalty is awarded. If unintentional, of course, the result is a scrum. A big difference, even when the situation is not as dramatic as it was when Beale committed his knock-on. The law makes perfect intuitive sense, as swatting a ball away is a cynical offense that should be punished much more strictly than an accidental case of butterfingers. But there is one problem. It’s challenging enough for a referee to see everything on the park, even with the help of assistant referees. But the “intentional” wording requires a referee to see inside a players’ mind.

The Green and Gold discussion does a good job of mentioning some ways Beale’s intent might be judged, such as the position of his body, the motion of his arms, and his pursuit of the ball after the knock-on occurred. However, all of these indicators could be construed as ways to judge Beale’s acting ability as much as his legitimate intent, so the question remains: How does a referee judge a player’s intent? Few other laws are construed in the same manner. While intent might be used in a decision to award a yellow or red card, intent doesn’t seem to be a factor in awarding penalties for infractions like offsides, late tackles, and so forth.

So, regardless of how you view the Beale situation, our question is: Should referees really be in the mind-reading business? And if not, how do you judge a deliberate knock-on more empirically? By whether they got both hands to the ball? By body position?

It’s a tricky question, and one we’d rather ask than answer. Mull it over as you watch the below video, and please post a comment if you have a solution worked out!

Incidentally, Green and Gold also points out that there was a similar incident on the same weekend involving Will Chambers of the Reds where not even a penalty was awarded, as you can see here (we won’t comment on whether Chambers’ teammate Quade Cooper might have had sticky enough fingers to hang on to the football):

And if you’re not yet convinced that the deliberate knock-on issue is a bit murky, consider this referees’ discussion of another dubious example from 2008.

This Saturday is a pleasant exception to that trend, as Brigham Young University will play the University of Utah Saturday in a match that will be broadcast live worldwide on BYUTV. The match should be a big one, as BYU are the defending Collegiate Division I national champions and Utah are perennial national contenders. BYU and Utah will kick off at 1:00 p.m. local time (Noon Pacific U.S. time, 3:00 p.m. Eastern U.S. time).

To see the match, check whether your television provider has access to BYUTV or watch it live online on BYUTV’s online streaming site.

In the meantime, here are some highlights from BYU’s 2009 season to give you an idea of what’s in store for Saturday:

Based on this weekend’s first round of matches, we’d have to say the new interpretations look like a success even if there were a few high penalty counts as players get used to the new guidelines. In fact, we’re already hoping that the new guidelines catch on worldwide. We may get our wish, considering that the new interpretations may be seen in international tests in a few months. But we’ll let you be the judge after taking a look at these highlights from three of the weekend’s matches:

Bulls v. Cheetahs:

Blues v. Hurricanes:

Brumbies v. Force:

If you live in the United States, it’s easier than ever to catch the action because BBC America is covering a match each week. Setanta Sports is also covering the competition in the US as the network enters its last month on the air in the United States, but BBC America is available to a lot more US households as it is not a paid subscription channel.

If you’d rather give yourself a bit more control over the tournament’s outcome, you can play it yourself with the BBC’s online Six Nations game. The game is a very simple one you can play with your Web browser, but it is surprisingly addictive. Beware–you may be surprised to find yourself spending hours enjoying the various “drills” and trying to top your score in the simulated matches.  Don’t say we didn’t warn you!

While you wait for the tournament to start tomorrow, here are some highlights from its last two incarnations:

2009:

2008:

Instead of trying to capture McLaren’s contribution to the sport, we’ll just let him speak for himself here:

A less gruesome incident in a Heineken Cup match last week, however, reminds us that the next area of “dirty” play meriting disciplinary attention may be a much less violent one.

Defending Heineken Cup champions Leinster picked up a bonus-point win over Brive Saturday by a comfortable 27-10 margin, but it wasn’t easy going all the way through. In the 37th minute, Leinster were ahead only 7-0 when center Gordon D’Arcy chipped ahead near the sideline. His kick was likely a bit too long as it was easily caught on the full for a mark by the opposition … but not before D’Arcy was floored face-first after bumping into the arm of a Brive player whie pursuing his kick.

A penalty kick was awarded to Leinster with the choice to be taken from either the spot where the kick was taken or where it landed, as is appropriate for a late tackle or charge on a kicker. The only problem was that, as a frustrated Brive captain indicated in vain, it didn’t look much like anyone actually tried to stop D’arcy. He may have touched an arm, but … well, we’ll let the words of a Setanta Sports television commentator, who was covering the match for the Irish network, speak for themselves: “They’ve been done. They’ve been conned by experienced Mr. D’Arcy there.”

Now, we can’t read D’Arcy’s mind, but discussion on a Leinster supporter forum compared him to Michael Phelps.

One might argue that a little bit of gamesmanshaip to draw a penalty is part of the sport, and that it doesn’t hurt an opposition player the way eye-gouging and other serious offenses do. On the other hand, though, one might argue that penalty “simulation” might need the type of increased attention from disciplinary bodies that it is beginning to receive in soccer/football.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t track down footage of the D’Arcy incident available online for you, but we can offer a glimpse of what rugby union could start to look like if simulated foul play isn’t dealt with proactively:

To be fair, the Leinster-Brive Match wasn’t all flops. Here are some more exciting moments from the match to restore your faith in the sport: