Dopey IRB misses the point of good publicity

You’ve got to hand it to the IRB – when it comes to missing an opportunity to benefit from the magically far-reaching tentacles of the internet, they’ve gone to new lengths this weekend.

We’ve been flicking around YouTube trying to find a video of the moment that summed up Ireland’s unbelievable win over Australia on Saturday.

It happened in the first half, as the Wallabies star scrum half Will Genia tried to take a situation under control at the back of a maul.

He didn’t reckon on Stephen Ferris, Ireland’s Ulster back row, arriving on the scene, lifting him up and carrying him about ten yards as the rampaging Irish forwards piled through to force a turnover.

It was an incredible moment, and we wanted to experience it again today.

All to no avail. A couple of searches on YouTube revealed links to the clip - or so we thought. When we clicked through we were met with the old chestnut:

You’d think the IRB would be happy to glean maximum exposure just at the point in time that the attention of much of the sporting world momentarily focuses on its game, which for the vast majority of the rest of every four-year cycle is consigned to a niche spectacle in a handful of developed countries around the world.

But no, it seems that someone in rugby’s governing body has the job of combing YouTube every morning siphoning off the videos that might actually help to raise the profile of the sport worldwide.

As wilful ignorance of the realities of the digital world go, this one takes the biscuit. You get the feeling a mole would struggle to be quite so short-sighted.