I sat up late last night when I got home, and I watched the final Lions Test against the Boks. I think talk of the match being a ‘dead rubber’ was unfair. Sure the series was lost for the Lions, but they definitely had their pride to play for (see what I did there?). These tours are hard for the Lions: the odds are always stacked against their squad in terms of real preparation and team bonding, and so it was always possible they would really get it together for the last Test, especially against a Springbok team with 10 changes.
Even Evil Eddie Jones thought so before the game.
Last night the Lions played all the footy. Ricky Flutey showed real class at 12 (making Shane Williams’ second try), as did Rob Kearney the fullback and unstoppable No.8 Jamie Heaslip of Ireland stood out. They deserved the win, after going close last week. Hell, even Phil Vickery produced a great comeback performance against ‘The Beast’ up front. I really enjoyed watching the game, and it actually relaxed me a little bit about us playing the Boks now.
This Tri Nations is going to be tough, but very hard to call. Before the Lions tour I thought the Boks looked awesome and would whitewash it - after all we had been poor to shit, and the Wobblies were looking to build fast under Dingo Deans, but now I am not so worried.
Aussie had a flattering two Tests against Italy, and did not put France away. South Africa have enough depth and fire in the belly to beat all visitors on their home turf, but they have to travel away too ... and I can't help feel their ill discipline may become a monkey on their back this season. Last night their new cap N0. 6 Heinrich Brussow seemed set on picking fights constantly, and Pierre Spies chased biff as much as he could once subbed on. Add Matfield, Botha and Burger to this motley crew and they will see red. Brad Thorn may be busy.
Sure their superboots like Frans & Morne Steyn can kick to Mars, but I still fancy our back three (whoever they are) to catch, kick or carry it back at them.
I guess the real flavour this year is rebuilding. All three sides seem to have a core of quite experienced players being bolstered by a new flock of bolters or debutantes ... Super rugby certainly throws up freaks every year. And that puts all the teams in the same boat, only halfway through this World Cup cycle of four years.
We certainly go in as underdogs, but that is overdue. Let Peter de Villiers sweat it out as the favourite’s coach, then trip over his words under pressure.
I’m now very much looking forward to the 3N - it should be a classic given the uncertainty and tension over form, mixed the bristling physicality of all three squads. That recently concluded Lions Tour of South Africa produced a great mix of brutial forward power and expansive back play, plus the return of test mauls and excellent lineout & scrum play. ... that mix of skills and body type that do make rugby a great game, especially at the pinnacle of Test level.
So now we can stop bashing our All Backs and get behind them for the next few months. After all, givien our recent history, we are supposed to be peaking now, two years out from the World Cup. Instead, we are rebuilding, soul searching and looking forward. Maybe this is Ted’s master plan?
Sunday, 5 July 2009
Tuesday, 30 June 2009
Brian Moore: Penis
Why should I say any more than that, when he does it so well himself. 3-0? Four Moore Years!
I can’t wait for him to come out here for our 2011 “World Cup of Campervans” as he called it. No doubt he’ll get room service up in his BBC Ivory Tower suite.
I can’t wait for him to come out here for our 2011 “World Cup of Campervans” as he called it. No doubt he’ll get room service up in his BBC Ivory Tower suite.
Wednesday, 17 June 2009
Vive L‘Ovalie.
Excellent. I was always looking forward to the Wellington test against France because I figured it would be a match between two first string teams. It has not panned out that way; NZ have had a shocker of selection rout, and France’s supposed second stringers (well, less Clermont-Auvergne and Perpignan players) beat us.
I was in Cardiff for the quarter final defeat, and saw this as our chance to redress the balance in the All Black’s favour. It has not panned out that way, and now we are fighting to save the series. We are also trying to stop a team getting 3 from 3 against us. What other country can claim that as a record?
We write Les Bleus off at our peril. We can’t just lump the Top 14 in with the English Premiership and label it all “boring Northern Hemisphere rugby”. They came to play. They beat us. They, literally, maulled us.
I’d replace the Powerade logo on those training tops with ‘Must try harder’.
Now Henry & Co. have to deliver. They have a tendency to nail their colours to certain players very quickly, elevating them to the Test team one week, then dropping them next week when it does not come off. I know we are depleted by injury, but bar Cory Jane & Bard Thorne in Dunedin, we were piss poor and off the pace. Complacent. The brains trust have had a week to counter Picamoles, Ouedraogo and Dusautoir, as well as the rush defence that blitzed us.
Chabal is a side show. If our loosies don’t front up, we’ll lose again.
No.s 1,2,3,6,7,8,9,10, 12 and 13 all need to dig deep. And can we end the Toeava experiment? If a coach says his future is at 15 then why persist with dumping the kid in at centre in Tests? No wonder he can’t settle. Looking forward to Smith & Nonu paying together - its a chance for them to step up and prove they are a winning combo.
Its not the end of the world as its so early in the season, and the reaction was always going to be more along the lines of serious navel gazing than real fan outrage because its the French. You can’t hate the French ... they play the kind of rugby we espouse as our own. Enjoy it. There is nothing wrong with losing to a better, classier team. Frankly, if the French play as well this week, and beat a lacklustre NZ side again, I would not be sad.
If the rain stays away it should be a cracker, and I hope the atmosphere builds to match the game’s significance. I hope we throw the proverbial kitchen sink at them - treat it as a knockout match and drop them on the canvas. Ding ding. KO. And then the first Lions/Springbok Test is on at 1am. Ouch.
Vive L‘Ovalie. Allez les noirs!
I was in Cardiff for the quarter final defeat, and saw this as our chance to redress the balance in the All Black’s favour. It has not panned out that way, and now we are fighting to save the series. We are also trying to stop a team getting 3 from 3 against us. What other country can claim that as a record?
We write Les Bleus off at our peril. We can’t just lump the Top 14 in with the English Premiership and label it all “boring Northern Hemisphere rugby”. They came to play. They beat us. They, literally, maulled us.
I’d replace the Powerade logo on those training tops with ‘Must try harder’.
Now Henry & Co. have to deliver. They have a tendency to nail their colours to certain players very quickly, elevating them to the Test team one week, then dropping them next week when it does not come off. I know we are depleted by injury, but bar Cory Jane & Bard Thorne in Dunedin, we were piss poor and off the pace. Complacent. The brains trust have had a week to counter Picamoles, Ouedraogo and Dusautoir, as well as the rush defence that blitzed us.
Chabal is a side show. If our loosies don’t front up, we’ll lose again.
No.s 1,2,3,6,7,8,9,10, 12 and 13 all need to dig deep. And can we end the Toeava experiment? If a coach says his future is at 15 then why persist with dumping the kid in at centre in Tests? No wonder he can’t settle. Looking forward to Smith & Nonu paying together - its a chance for them to step up and prove they are a winning combo.
Its not the end of the world as its so early in the season, and the reaction was always going to be more along the lines of serious navel gazing than real fan outrage because its the French. You can’t hate the French ... they play the kind of rugby we espouse as our own. Enjoy it. There is nothing wrong with losing to a better, classier team. Frankly, if the French play as well this week, and beat a lacklustre NZ side again, I would not be sad.
If the rain stays away it should be a cracker, and I hope the atmosphere builds to match the game’s significance. I hope we throw the proverbial kitchen sink at them - treat it as a knockout match and drop them on the canvas. Ding ding. KO. And then the first Lions/Springbok Test is on at 1am. Ouch.
Vive L‘Ovalie. Allez les noirs!
Monday, 8 June 2009
Welcome Back Luke
He tried the best he could in Cardiff in 2007, then headed off to chase a Heineken Cup with Sale (Dad would never let him play for the Canes you see).
Now he is back, and getting the Travellator into the All Blacks first XV, barely having cleared customs, and only having taken part in the BaaBaas Wallaby Love Fest.
Good luck to him, I say. He is a player that has the ‘X’ we all love to watch, but can we please stop harping on about him being the BandAid for No. 10 while DC is sunning it up on crutches in Southern France ... remember that he has spent two seasons at 13 for Sale, in the plod of the Guinness Premiership. Give him a chance sure, but give Donald a chance too.
The NZRU better not get sucked in to a bidding war for Sonny Bill. Bugger him. He has to prove himself too, and if he really wants to be an All Black he will. But he has to come to us.
Don't know if much can be read in to that Wallaby win. They will not get any time and space against us and the Boks. Last time they will post more than 25 points this year.
Bring on the French. Oh lala!
Now he is back, and getting the Travellator into the All Blacks first XV, barely having cleared customs, and only having taken part in the BaaBaas Wallaby Love Fest.
Good luck to him, I say. He is a player that has the ‘X’ we all love to watch, but can we please stop harping on about him being the BandAid for No. 10 while DC is sunning it up on crutches in Southern France ... remember that he has spent two seasons at 13 for Sale, in the plod of the Guinness Premiership. Give him a chance sure, but give Donald a chance too.
The NZRU better not get sucked in to a bidding war for Sonny Bill. Bugger him. He has to prove himself too, and if he really wants to be an All Black he will. But he has to come to us.
Don't know if much can be read in to that Wallaby win. They will not get any time and space against us and the Boks. Last time they will post more than 25 points this year.
Bring on the French. Oh lala!
Monday, 1 June 2009
Who’s No. 1? Not us.
South Africa are World Champs, World Sevens Champs, and now the Bulls are back-to-back Super 14 winners. They are by any measure the best rugby nation in the world.
New Zealand? Not sure where we stand. I think it could be one of those ‘fair to middling’ years for the All Blacks. You know, those years where we will keep (but not blitz) the Bledisloe Cup, but not get the Tri Nations ... that will go to the battle-hardened Boks, fresh from taming the Lions.
The loss by the Chiefs looked very ugly on the scoreboard, but I don’t think its fair for any Kiwi fans to gripe about them getting there - it was no fluke. The Canes looked like walking wounded as that semi final ended, if they had managed to win, they would have been eaten in a final.
No Carter. No McCaw. No Williams. No Sivivatu. Should be an interesting season, and one that may (I said ‘may’) allow some fresh faces to stand out. But at least they didn’t pick Luaki.
I can’t wait for the second test against France on June 20 in Wellington - it will be the rematch for Cardiff in 2007. We better watch out ...
New Zealand? Not sure where we stand. I think it could be one of those ‘fair to middling’ years for the All Blacks. You know, those years where we will keep (but not blitz) the Bledisloe Cup, but not get the Tri Nations ... that will go to the battle-hardened Boks, fresh from taming the Lions.
The loss by the Chiefs looked very ugly on the scoreboard, but I don’t think its fair for any Kiwi fans to gripe about them getting there - it was no fluke. The Canes looked like walking wounded as that semi final ended, if they had managed to win, they would have been eaten in a final.
No Carter. No McCaw. No Williams. No Sivivatu. Should be an interesting season, and one that may (I said ‘may’) allow some fresh faces to stand out. But at least they didn’t pick Luaki.
I can’t wait for the second test against France on June 20 in Wellington - it will be the rematch for Cardiff in 2007. We better watch out ...
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